The Noesis

with Capt. Rich Porter, Pali Kashi, and Jeff Williams

August 3, 2014

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I found out Rich Porter had a new sailboat when he tried to sell me his old one.

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“Join me in City Island,” he had texted, “we’ll make the C.I. Sailing Club!”

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I had reservations about owning a sailboat when I don’t even have a car,

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but Jeff and I took Rich and Pali up on the offer to join them for a day of sailing aboard the new boat.

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“It is a Pearson Ariel,” said Rich, “designed by Carl Alberg in 1961.”

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He said it was the one of the first production fiberglass sailboats ever made, for a growing middle-class of pleasure boaters.

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Pearson made 440 Ariels from 1962 to 1967 (the Noesis is number 109), and almost all of them are still in service.

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This Sunday the Long Island Sound was filled with boats; sailing, motoring, fishing

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and some so strange, we couldn’t figure out WHAT they were doing.

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“It’s the doctor with Ebola coming back to the U.S.” said Jeff.

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“I think I like this better than rowing.”

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The conversationed turned to various disasters at sea,

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and we tried to imagine what a 60 foot wave would look like beside the boat.

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It all seemed as distant from our current reality,

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as the ghost of New York City, barely visible on the horizon.

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The one thing I found disconcerting, and different from being in my shallow row boat, was the issue of submerged rocks.

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The area around City Island is notoriously rocky,

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and formations like ‘Big Tom’ could rip a hole right through Noesis’ lead keel.

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I crawled up to my favorite seat;

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the look-out.

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There was so much about being aboard the boat with Rich and Pali that reminded me of happy hours spent sailing as a kid.

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“When I start sailing, it’s all I want to do.” said Rich.

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It was true. Just as we were heading back to the mooring,

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Rich turned away. He wanted to show us ‘the melting house’.

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Rich described the wrecked boathouse with weird taxidermy deer peering out of abandoned windows,

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but the wind wouldn’t let us get too close.

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It didn’t seem to be helping us get home either.

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We were dead in the water; the doldrums; dead calm. It was actually kind of nice.

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We decided to take down the sail,

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and motor in.

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“I think I like this boat better than the last one.” said Pali.

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There was one last trick to perform.

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“When we go by that buoy, you have to hook it with the pole,” Pali said. “You only have one chance!”

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Jeff grabbed the buoy,

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and Pali shuttled us back to shore,

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just as the sun set.

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We could smell fried food wafting over the water.

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“I would have come to City Island just for this!” I said.

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Thank you Rich and Pali for a great sailing day!

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