Bill Pomerenk's Stuff
Boating
Little Boats
When we were kids/teens we did a lot of family camping, often targeting lakeside locations. For even more fun beyond swimming, we got a Sportyak dinghy and shortly after that, a Super Scamper sailboat. We must have been quite a sight with our Dad navigating a large station wagon, a large top carrier with the Sportyak flipped upside down over it, a camper trailer, and a sailboat strapped to the top of the camper! The Scamper was always a lot of fun. When we were little kids, on one vacation, Dad rented a Sailfish or Sunfish and took us out one at a time on a lake. Ken and I had a blast, actually sorta hoping we'd capsize just for the fun of righting it. Not sure Mom and Dad shared our excitement about that. Anyway, when we got the Scamper in 1971 we loved it, racing all over, at times just getting the end of the boom in the water on a close-hauled reach, and maybe even capsizing. The Sportyak on the other hand was the perfect does-it-all little boat. As a hard-shelled plastic boat it was absolutely unsinkable and seemingly indestructible. Its most basic mode was as a rowboat, and that was fun at times just tooling around a lake or maybe for a little fishing. Mount the transom on the back, and it could handle our 3.5 HP Montgomery Ward Sea King outboard motor, and later, a little electric motor. For sailing, there was a set of crossmembers that bolted to the gunwales, providing a place to step a mast, and at the same time swing-mounted leeboards. The Sportyak could never match the Scamper for speed and overall sailing fun, but Ken and I still enjoyed taking one each and racing each other. And you sure stayed a lot drier in the Sportyak! After the family lake vacations stopped as we got older, Sportyak and Scamper kind of just hung out at Mom and Dad's house, and eventually Scamper was just discarded. Sportyak, however, got a whole new lease on life as a tender. It started with Daddy's Dream (see below) moored in Oyster Bay, moved to the Nissequoque when Daddy's Dream moved there, and continued with Cool Change (also below). The little craft took a beating over the years, but hung in there through the 2021 season, after which we sadly discarded it. After 50 years of use, I'd say Dad sure got his money's worth!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Power Boat 1
CurrentSea was the power boat that served the family well from 1991 to 2005. The name is a nautical reference to the old saying that "a boat is a hole in the water into which one throws money". Not that CurrentSea was any different than any other boat, and was well worth everything we put into it. Although we always enjoyed just cruising with different members of the family, my brother Ken and I got pretty good at slalom skiing. We finally had to part with her in 2005 after realizing that we didn't go out enough to make fixing the broken outdrive unit worthwhile.
|
|
|
|
Sailboat
Daddy's Dream was bought and launched for the first time by us in 1998. That was the name on the transom when bought, and since Ken was the driving force in buying it, and has a daughter, the name stuck. At first she was moored in Oyster Bay Harbor, near our parent's home, but in 2002 we moved her summer mooring to the Nissequogue River, near Ken's house. She wintered in my driveway. It's mostly Ken and I that did the sailing; while we were in Oyster Bay it was around there and Cold Spring Harbor, and from the Nissequogue out into Long Island Sound. The water is much more variable out there, but occasionally we got that perfect day of good winds and calm seas that made all the effort of upkeep on the boat worth it. Eventually Daddy's Dream started showing her age, including a slow leak probably around the keel opening. We sadly decided to let her go in 2015, after many years of fun and challenges.
|
|
Power Boat 2
After letting Daddy’s Dream go, we elected to return to a power boat, since in general it was easier to use and maintain. In June 2016 Ken found a newer-model, used Sea Ray 182 on the south shore in excellent condition and made it ours. It was truly a pleasure having a boat that was in clean physical and working condition after dealing with older boats for so many years. Like the sailboat, she winters in my driveway and spends the summer moored in the Nissequogue. After a couple of seasons we finally named her. With a spin on the financial joke of Current Sea, and a nod to one of our favorite songs of the late ‘70s, we dubbed her “Cool Change”. With all the pressures of busy lives we still wish we had more time out on her, but if nothing else Ken and Terry have a beautiful spot near home to relax after work and watch the sun set.
|
|