Cakewalk V

Who says we can't build things here anymore? This August, Derecktor Shipyard of Bridgeport launched and christened Cakewalk V, the largest private yacht built in the United States since the 1930's. Measuring 281 feet in length, with a beam of nearly 47 feet, the $82 million vessel is the newest toy for Charles Gallagher, a private equity investor from Denver.

With her six decks and massive beam, Cakewalk V might very well be the largest yacht (by volume) ever built in the U.S.. The largest yacht lengthwise was J.P. Morgan’s Corsair IV, a 343-foot steam ship built in the 1930's by Bath Iron Works of Maine.

Derecktor's Mamaroneck shipyard has been a staple of the landscape for years but it is limited in size. Their Bridgeport location opened about a decade ago with the intent of attracting larger projects, both commercial and private. From oil skimmers to large yachts, the drydock here can accommodate vessels up to 4,000 tons.
In October, I  got a zoom lens view of  Cakewalk V from across the channel in Steel Point. After a month of sea trials and outfitting, the crew was busy putting the final touches on her. Within days she was gone; bound for warmer waters to make her world debut at the Ft Lauderdale Boat Show.

Derecktor: Cakewalk V specifications
CT Post: Cakewalk Makes A Splash
Bloomberg Profile: Charles Gallagher
Bloomberg Profile: Gallagher Industries
Derecktor Shipyards

photo credit: (bottom) Derecktor

"Boating Local" Visits Noank

Tom Richardson of Boating Local paid a visit to Noank recently, and spent a few hours aboard Carina  for a tour of the local waters. We visited some obvious landmarks such as the local lighthouses, along with West Harbor on Fishers Island, and a few small islands that dot the charts.
For those of you not familiar with Boating Local, it was started by Tom and several others who previously worked for the now defunct Offshore Magazine (aka Northeast Boating). Based out of Buzzards Bay, the site covers boating and fishing for the entire New England coast. Along with marine-related news, they have done some excellent work profiling the harbors and towns from Connecticut to Maine.
I haven't spent much time in front of a camera and I must admit to being a bit nervous. Maybe not nervous, but certainly aware of the camera at all times and self conscious about it. I'm sure there were entire segments he couldn't use because of my constant slurring and tripping over words.
I did however gain a new appreciation for video work. It is not easy being on a rocking boat and putting together a film segment in a relatively small cockpit with the wind blowing. The camera itself was small, but there were tripods, battery packs, and an assortment of equipment needed to put this together.
One of the nice features about Boating Local is that along with the stories, there are often  video segments accompanying  them.  It is a nice touch that bridges the gap between periodicals and generic, stock  footage.

I'll be contributing some stories to Boating Local, and I am glad to be aboard.

Here are some recent profiles of New England harbors:
BoatingLocal: Destinations  
BoatingLocal: Homepage 
BoatingLocal Meets Soundbounder: Companion Story To Video

Essex Museum Fire

 A fire earlier this month at the Connecticut River Museum in Essex resulted in significant damage to this waterfront landmark. On the evening of August 11, firefighters from three towns responded to the blaze which engulfed all three stories on the east side of the building.

Built in 1878, the building served as a warehouse for the many steamboats travelling the river. Threatened by commerial developement in the 1970's, a nonprofit group organized and created the riverside museum which exists today. Focusing on both the Connecticut River and local maritime history, it is one of the nicer regional museums I have visited.

While the fire caused significant structural damage , the museum's collection of artifacts was saved. They were forced to shut down for a period, but the museum was open to the public once again this past weekend.

CTMQ: CT River Museum

CT River Museum

Soundbounder: Mary E

WTNH: Fire Damages Museum

New Ways To Lose

....I see new ways to lose, I never knew existed before.

Casey Stengel

Orient Beach State Park consists of 363 acres at the far end of Long Island's North Fork. Located slightly west of the Orient-New London ferry terminal, it is a narrow peninsula surrounded by oyster ponds and Gardiner's Bay. According to the park website, there is "45,000 feet of frontage on Gardiner's Bay and a rare maritime forest with red cedar, black-jack oak trees and prickly-pear cactus."

On a late afternoon last October,  I paid a short visit to this park for the first time in nearly a decade. I had about an hour to kill before I was scheduled to take the ferry back across the Sound, and hopefully, be home in time to watch the baseball playoff games that evening.

With spring now arriving, baseball isn't the only thing back in the news. There have been rumblings out of Albany that the state of New York will close up to 55 state parks and historic sites in an attempt to save money. Sadly, Orient Beach is one of the state parks listed to be closed. I postponed writing about this, believing it was just one of those bad ideas that would disappear in a week or two. Today, the first day of April, there is still a  possibility that this could occur. No April Fools joke about it!

Maybe it is just a sign of me getting older, but we seem to be in a decade of mixed messages and double-speak. We are told to save our money by going shopping; to use mass transit while services are cut; and at a time when Staycation has become a buzzword, local parks and public sites are scheduled to close.

Connecticut has not been immune from these bad ideas either. Money from the Long Island Sound License Plate Program was  grabbed by Hartford, and parks with surpluses, such as Harkness State Park have had their dollars transferred to the state's general fund. Meanwhile, park fees and fishing licenses have doubled in some cases.

The current economic crisis has brought on a lot of references to the Great Depression. I find it ironic that many of these parks were created in the 1930's. Today, we treat them as an unnecessary luxury, while we hand over billions of dollars to subsidize baseball stadiums. As much as I love the game of baseball, our fiscal priorities appear completely backwards. Sacrifices need to be made, but they shouldn't all be so lopsided. I may love to hear the sound of Play Ball!, but not at the expense of A Day In The Park.

Field Of Schemes:  Taxpayer Subsidized Sports Stadiums
New York Times: State Proposes Closing 55 Parks & Sites
Steve Fagin: Hijacking CT Park Fees; A Sharp Stick In The Eye
North Fork Vue: Fans Of Orient State Park
Newsday: NY Audubon: Don't Be Shortsighted About Parks
Saratogian: Senate Dems Say Parks Will Stay Open
Yonkers Tribune: $2 Billion Taxpayer Dollars Go To Yankees
From The North Fork: Orient Photos

You can stay updated on this issue by following me on Twitter.

Welcome New Haven Register

I would like to welcome the New Haven Register readers to Soundbounder. I started this blog in 2008 as I became frustrated with the lack of access to many coastal areas of Long Island Sound. Since then, I have broadened  the content to include everything from artists, to oystering. Despite spending many years along the Sound, there are constantly new things I learn, and places I discover. I hope to share them with you here.

So, welcome aboard! I hope you enjoy your visit as we drift and ramble along this ragged shore.

photo:Sunrise, Saybrook Point; March, 2010

Sad Day At Black Rock

I always hate stories like this. This weekend, someone went to St Mary's By The Sea in Black Rock and used a chainsaw to damage and destroy 15 sycamore trees that line the walkway of this attractive park. Some trees were toppled, while others received slices that circumvent the trunks and will eventually kill them.

Maybe I have watched too many detective shows over the years, but this doesn't seem like a random, teenage, vandalism act. Someone planned this, and when the nor'easter created a distraction, they made their move. 

While most of us were focused on the trees brought down by the storm, a more sinister destruction was taking place at the same time.

Black Rock Online: Vandals Target St Mary's

Tina Zappile Blog: Photos

Black Rock Garden Club: Reward Offered

CT Coastal Access Guide: St Mary's By The Sea

photo credit: Black Rock Garden Club 

Some Things In The News

Sphere: Public Speaking About Long Island Sound

New Haven Independent: Lighthouse Point Booze Ban

Nantucket Independent: Nantucket Lightship Sold

Stamford Parade Of Lights

Nassau Hiking & Outdoor Club: Upcoming Events

New York Times: When Is A Big House Too Big?

Environment CT: LIS License Plate Fund Raided

Mystic Holiday Boat Parade

CT Environmental Headlines: New Trail Near CT/RI Border

Newsday: Large Blackfish Caught In NY Harbor

Boston Globe: Books: Connecticut River

The Hour: Books: Kayaking Norwalk

Steve Grant: The Two Connecticut Rivers

Farewell To The Knickerbocker

The Knickerbocker Yacht Club is now vacant. The clubhouse with its hipped roof and second story deck silently looks out over Manhasset Bay. Resembling a foreclosed home, several No Trespassing signs are now taped to the large bay windows. After hearing the news that the 135 year old club had closed, I stopped by this month for one last goodbye. A utility worker making a phone call in the parking lot was all that broke the silence.

Yacht Clubs certainly do not inspire any populist imagery, but stereotypes of Buffy and Thad sailing in white slacks while maintaining a stiff upper lip are not entirely accurate. On Long Island Sound, yacht clubs tend to fall into one of three categories:

There are the exclusive clubs that do their best to hold on to the Guilded Age. These are often easy to spot with their clubhouses resembling some gold coast mansion, and their staff dressed like butlers. At the other extreme would be the working clubs whose membership often includes a high percentage of firemen, teachers, and tradesmen. These are normally do-it-yourself places where members volunteer their time along with paying dues. When the grass needs to be cut, it is a member mowing the lawn, not an employee or a landscaping company.

 The Knickerbocker belonged to a group that is somewhere in between these two extremes. These clubs often navigate a foggy channel between controlling expenses and maintaining a certain aura of exclusiveness. Members may own an expensive boat, but they also have tuition bills and a mortgage.

For years I belonged to a working club that was about a two hour sail from Manhasset Bay. I only sailed to the Knickerbocker a handful of times, but the visits were always special to me. I would motor my old banged-up 1968 Bristol 24 into the mooring field, hail a launch, and be welcomed to the club. It did not matter that my boat cost less than a used car, while the surrounding boats were priced similar to a starter home. I may have not met the financial or social requirements to be a member of the club, but I was accepted as a guest providing I followed their rules (proper attire in the dining room, no tank tops on the premises, no spitting).I could hobnob with the doctors and architects in a mahogany trimmed bar until I turned back into a pumpkin on Monday morning. Reciprocity between clubs was the great leveling field, if only for a weekend.

When the recession hit, it was easy to question my club's chances of survival. The rundown building, the old boats, and even older membership all suggest that the best days were at least 40 years ago. The Knickerbocker did not seem to have these problems. The model ships and half hulls adorning the walls seemed to suggest an immunity to changing times. But beneath the mahogany and cherry wood paneling, the Knickerbocker was struggling with the same difficulties as every other club. Higher expenses coupled with an aging and declining membership were a disturbing trend that every club from Watch Hill to Throgs Neck faced. The prosperity of the last 25 years helped suppress the symptoms, but the current financial crisis brought them to the forefront.

At one time or another, I think we have all secretly admired yet resented people in better places. A neighbor or colleague may be someone we desperately want to be, yet we begrudge their good fortune. When bad times strike, their failure becomes some sort of "moral to the story". But I felt no sense of schadenfreude when I walked along the empty dock at the Knickerbocker this month. The club had survived two world wars, the Great Depression, and September 11, but now it was gone. I thought to myself that if it could happen to the Knickerbocker Yacht Club, then it could happen to any of us. I leaned against the peeling white handrail, looked out over the harbor, and wondered "who's next?"

Map

This post is the first draft of a story which appeared in Newsday, 12/09  IF IT COULD HAPPEN TO THE KNICKERBOCKER

Some Things In The News

Bayside Anglers: Little Neck Bay Beach Clean up this Sunday Save The Sound: Beach Clean Ups In Connecticut Suffolk Times: Save Clark's Beach Bowsprite: Humpback Whale In NY Harbor Stamford Advocate: Lobster Catch Hits 25 Year Low Sphere: Commerce Department's Broadwater Press Release NY Times: Sinking Broadwater NY Times: South Street Seaport Bankruptcy NY Times: Rails To Trails Project NY Times: Fishing Limits Worry Charter Boat Captains New London Day: Speeding Concerns On The Mystic River CT Environmental Headlines: America's Endangered Rivers

An Oysterman's Lament

The Hartford Courant had a story yesterday about an oysterman in Westport. To call it a story about oystering would be somewhat misleading. It is a quick read that touches many subjects. With Thanksgiving upon us, I found it to be very apropos. The story is here. No Longer Archived A photo gallery is here.

Some Stories In The News

Here are some news items I read this week. New London Day: North Dumpling Island Energy Independence New Haven Register: Shoreline Trail Gets $100,000 Suffolk Times: Opposition To East Marion Hotel & Resort Connecticut Post: No Higher Fee For Fairfield Beaches Stamford Harbor Boat Parade Mystic Boat Parade Port Jefferson.com: Residents Petition Harborfront Developement Also, Tom Andersen at SPHERE has a story about Greenwich boat owners who do not like ospreys nesting near them.

Playland To Expand Shore Access

The New York Times and the Journal News both reported last week that county owned Playland Park in Rye will switch to an admission fee system next year for the amusement section. Budget shortfalls and amusement parks are not really my specialty, but what caught my eye was what the NY Times reported in the fifth paragraph of the story. The Times wrote: "The county will also open the park's shoreline from the Ice Casino to the Edith Read Sanctuary to the public for the first time and make it accessible year-round. Currently, only a third of the almost mile-and-a half stretch of beach is open to the public when the amusement park is operating between May and September." I visited Playland in October, and one of the first things I noticed was that a gate had been installed on the road that leads to the Edith Read Sanctuary. One could still walk past the gate, but the small lot that kayakers use was no longer accessible. It will be interesting to see just how "accessible" the shoreline becomes, but this certainly sounds like very good news. Another thing that caught my eye in the Times story was the comment made by Parks Commissioner Joseph A Stout. He stated: "This will create the longest stretch of public access beach on either side of the Long Island Sound" My first reaction was to wonder whether that is really true. It doesn't seem possible. Al Smith/Sunken Meadow Park in Suffolk County certainly has more beach. Even Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx has longer stretches of public access beach. Either the statement is false, or it is a carefully phrased comment that I am not fully grasping. I will have to look into this further.

Charles W. Morgan Hauled For Restoration

The Charles W. Morgan is to undergo a $2.5 million restoration at Mystic Seaport. The 113 foot vessel is the worlds last remaining wooden whaleship. Built in 1841, the Charles W. Morgan was last restored in the 1980s. The ship was hauled last month, and the restoration project is expected to last three years. Visitors will be able to view the project from a a large ramp that will run parallel to the hull. A New York Times photo gallery documents the hauling. photo:Wikipedia

Trail Of Fears

Even simple things become complicated. The New London Day had a story on Friday about residents along Groton Long Point Road opposing a three foot wide trail through the Mortimer Wright Preserve that would connect to Haley Farm State Park. The residents brought up a list of concerns ranging from traffic to contaminated wells. Call me naive, but I did not realize that these footpaths could be so destructive. The Day reports: "Resident Bobbi Jo Cini said Wednesday she has concerns about horses using the trail, fearing manure could affect her well and wetlands on the Wright property. She also said the town would need state Department of Transportation permits for a trail to cross a state road. Groton Long Point Road "is not safe" she said, as cars tend to speed and even get into accidents. "Who is going to be liable for that?" she asked. Resident Frank Jannarone , who mows the parking area for the trail, also opposed the proposal, saying the current trail system is adequate and used frequently. He also said mountain bikes could damage the area." Usually nature preserves are a win-win situation. They protect open space, and provide a natural environment for the public to enjoy. Adjacent landowners often benefit from them in the form of higher property values. Residents never have to worry about looking out their kitchen window at a cul-de-sac of McMansions and power lines. The trade off is that the land is open to the public. The residents in this story want to have it both ways. They like the privacy and the wooded environment that the preserve provides, but they do not want to encourage access. They prefer that the nature preserve remains a wooded extension of their own property. I cannot help but suspect that their environmental concerns are manufactured. Has there ever been a case of well water being contaminated by an occasional horseback rider? I am sure there are legitimate concerns that need to be addressed. No one wants the trail to become a hangout for vandals or teenage parties (the recent vandalism at Mianus River State Park comes to mind). No one wants the land to become a littered mess that does more harm than good. I would respect those concerns. What I do not respect is someone creating a bunch of false alarms in the name of environmentalism.