Cruising and Raft-Ups
One of the many benefits of City Island Yacht Club is its location; at the entrance to Long Island Sound. Whether you’re out for a day sail or a week vacation, CIYC is the ultimate in starting points.
Just a short sail away are some wonderful destinations, including Little Neck Bay, Manhasset Bay and New Rochelle. Just a little farther are day trips to the beaches of Captain’s Island and the July 4th fireworks in Hempstead Harbor. Overnight destinations include Oyster Bay, Northport Harbor, Southern Connecticut, Sandy Hook and picturesque Port Jefferson.
CIYC boasts a large and active contingent of cruisers of all types-from committed day sailors to weekend cruisers to serious long-range passage makers, and each summer we try to schedule events to reflect this diversity. Regardless of one’s goal or experience, we invite all sailors to share in the advantages of safety, discovering new places, and the collective knowledge and camaraderie of CIYC cruising.
Hempstead Harbor Raft-Up: A Gorgeous Day on the Sound
The Hempstead Harbor day cruise on Aug 25 was a great day! With good weather – blue skies, 80 degree temps and a gentle breeze, the Restless, Five Star, March Hare, Snowgoose, First Rate, Jupiter 2, Airplane, and Adagio made the quick, two hour jaunt to Hempstead Harbor. Our pin boat, Ed Woolsey’s Five Star, anchored first. Then, all other boats rafted up in an organized fashion with no dings in the gel coat or bruised egos. After getting settled in, we wasted no time starting cocktail hour with some great mixed drinks, beer, Proseco (Airplane’s specialty), and soft drinks. With the warm weather and a few drinks under our belts, several crew members jumped in the water and cooled off quite effectively. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my drone for aerial photos. Instead, Dave Z. volunteered to go aloft in the world’s most comfortable bosun’s chair and took some great aerial pix. Check out the video below. Once the grills were fired up, we cooked many thick steaks (thanks, Ira) and had a delicious dinner with a variety of appetizers and side dishes. I think that I sampled appetizers from every boat. Yum! One of the highlights was the cruise back to City Island. After a beautiful sunset, a full moon rose, the breeze picked up and we had a wonderful ride home.
Fun was had by all during the Cruise to Oyster Bay
CIYC OYSTER BAY Newsletter by Frank Palmieri
Fun was had by all during the Cruise to Oyster Bay and Sagamore Yacht Club June 16-17, 2018. No more need be said, but they told me I had to, so here it is.
The CIYC Cruising season opened with a cruise to Oyster Bay’s Sagamore YC, a 20 mile (approx.) journey from City Island on Saturday June 16th. Five boats participated including Restless captained by Roger Landau and wife Laurie with crew Saul Ostroff (brother-in-law), Clara Luna (Sister -in-law) joined by Gordon Murray, and Katherine DeFoyd; Excalibur captained by Charles Hurd with friend Wendy; Tara Captained by Christian Kramer and his wife; Rita captained by Arthur Sa with Jacqueline Kerr and CIAO captained by this author and wife Gigi joined by his son, Frank and his wife, Anna (taking pictures).
The weather could not have been better for the sail up except for the absence of one critical factor – wind. There was precious little of it and most of us ended firing up the iron wind. By 5 PM Saturday all boats were snug at their moorings. Sagamore YC particularly Dockmaster Eric Smith was most hospitable and grouped our boats in one area near each other on the quiet east end of the Sagamore mooring fields near the beginning of West Harbor.
Everyone met at the Sagamore YC clubhouse overlooking beautiful Oyster Bay by 6 PM and got to know each other a little more before dinner. The 5 boats carried 11 people, but several friends and relatives came by land and joined us for a total of 16. Charlie Hurd and this author discovered, after a few glasses of wine, that we were classmates in college 10 years ago (OK, so it was forty-one years ago-give me a break!).
Sagamore YC was most gracious in accommodating our group. We were greeted by the Commodore Constantine Baris during dinner. Because it was Father’s Day weekend, but they had asked we use the “short” menu which turned out to be a very nice selection of fish, chicken or ziti Bolognese. All the food was excellent. The house wine selections were also very good as I tried multiple samplings just to make sure. They had live band music on the terrace (for an extra$15.00 charge) which some of us took advantage of. That evening turned out to be cool with a fresh light breeze. Excellent sleeping weather at a quiet peaceful mooring.
The next morning two boats decided to explore Oyster Bay and have breakfast. After a 10-minute walk into town, we discovered an excellent place called “Taby’s” had a pleasant breakfast with myself, Gigi Charlie and Wendy.
Some boats left late morning while others lingered for a bit hoping for a better turn of wind on the return trip but for most of us, the iron wind again held sway. All boats were back to CIYC by Sunday evening.
City Island Yacht Club Cruising Committee is pleased to announce two cruises for the 2018 season
- June 16-17, 2018 Oyster Bay
- July 14-15, 2018 Centerport
Cruises will leave Saturday morning off the CIYC dock and meetup
at the destination on Saturday evening for drinks and dinner.
We will arrange for a mooring at the destination, but you need to
register at least one week ahead.
For more details, please contact the Cruising Committee Chairman,
Rear Commodore, Ira Bigeleisen at:
(818) 620-2534