It’s Pumpkin Patch Festival time in Egg Harbor!

Egg Harbor’s signature Milepost.

The 25th sailing season for Sarah has come to a close with the marina here at Egg Harbor officially shutting down on October 19th.  The fall season was spectacular with great color, decent wind, and seasonally cool temperatures. We took advantage of the good weather.

Sarah’s name pennant flying from the masthead.

Green Bay is chilly this time of year.

The Alpine Lodge seen from Sarah.

That’s Chamber’s Island in the distance.

As usual, we avoided trying to sail during the Pumpkin Patch Festival when the marina grounds are full of folks enjoying a few beers and brats.  But both before and after, we had a few great sails to finish the season, daysailing just off Egg Harbor, circumnavigating Hat Island and tooling along the shore enjoying the fall color.   The weather turns quickly here, so we took advantage of a lull in the winds and pulled Sarah from the bay on the 16th.  It was rainy, but fairly warm.  We prefer to drop the mast when the wind isn’t going to complicate the maneuver.

After getting her home, we did our usual fall cleanup, moving gear to the house and garage, power washing the bottom, waxing the hull, and cleaning the interior.   We always put her away clean and empty.  Then we drove her to her winter home in the shed at Eames Farm up in the village where she’ll spend the snowy months dry and safe.  We’re busy cleaning the gear now and making a few repairs here and there so that we’ll be ready when spring arrives.  I imagine we will get another year out of the bottom paint, but spring will bring quite a bit of varnishing and teak work.  I will also have to track down a couple of small leaks around fittings and replace the wiring to the mast.  The insulation is cracked and dry.  We were very pleased with the new Schaefer furler we installed this summer.  It worked great and proved easy to deal with when it was time to drop the mast.

Ready to go.

Home for a cleanup.

Tom and Kristen Siebenhuhner send along a few photos of Blue Moon whose season on New York’s Lake Seneca has come to an end.  Blue Moon enjoyed some terrific fiberglass work on her flag blue hull earlier this year and she certainly looks great.

Here you see her under her winter cover, which by the way, I think looks first-class.  Tom and Kristen are already looking forward to next year’s sailing aboard number 33.   Thanks for sharing the photos and the news.