Switching into winter mode

November

With the boat on the trailer in the driveway and with the mercury dropping, I have to switch to winter pursuits.  My sea kayak is my ticket to being on the water in the winter, and since I was focused on sailing Grey Fox this summer, the kayak didn’t get much attention. It’s begging for me to use it.  “Use me… abuse me…  paddle me… ride me hard and put me away wet…”  And with crappy weather I’ll have some time to actually work on my mandolin playing, since the mandolin stares at me from its stand. “Hold my [peg]head… caress my neck… make my strings quiver…”   

I also have a punch list of small repairs or improvements to do on Grey Fox, which will keep me in the shop for a few hours fabricating and installing things like new cover-batten sockets, shoulders on the mainmast so it can’t jump out of its step in a capsize, a new and improved footbrace for rowing, and an improved two-section rig for the mainsheet (I want to get a little mechanical advantage).  Plus a very small amount of paint and varnish touch-up, but happily the boat didn’t get too many dings or scratches over the season. 

Author: Larchmont Jim

A 50-something investment banker from Larchmont, New York (about 15 miles from midtown Manhattan). Amateur small boat sailer, boatbuilder, kayaker, musician. I grew up spending summers sailing the New England coast on my grandfather’s beautiful 47’ 1952 Sparkman & Stevens wooden yawl. I’ve lived in Larchmont, a major and historic sailing center on Long Island Sound, for 25 years, but career and family obligations kept me off the water for all of my 30s and 40s, and only about 7 years ago did I get back on the water, first in sea kayaks, and then in small boats. View all posts by Larchmont Jim