Sixty-Something: It’s Time To Launch Boats On The East End

It’s that special time of the year for east end boat owners. It is launching time. The 2022 boating season is now happening as every day more boats are lowered into the local waters. For me this is my 19th consecutive year at Don Vanderveer’s Marina on Three Mile Harbor, East Hampton. However, the first since he passed away.

The first day of a new season on the water for a boat owner is like the first day of a ski season for a skier. The first couple of moves are awkward until muscle memory kicks in. I wasn’t that excited about the healthy increase on my slip fee, but I guess with Hamptons real estate prices and costs climbing there was a need to jack up the fees at the boatyard.

Thankfully I have a 22’ Catalina sailboat so the fuel price situation won’t affect me too severely. I use perhaps 12 gallons a month navigating back and forth in Three Mile Harbor before I can open my sails in beautiful Gardiner’s Bay. I am excited about renewing my usual day trips to Sag Harbor, Greenport, Orient Point, along with trips to Dering Harbor and Coecles Harbor on Shelter Island. This year I hope to get to Block Island via Montauk; it’s been a few years since I have sailed there.

The process of renewing the boat insurance, summarizing the winterized outboard, painting the bottom and cleaning the below deck area is part of the ritual of the second half of April. After nineteen years I have the process down to a science.

In these later years I do feel my age catching up to me, yet sailing the surrounding waters always makes me feel like a young Jack Kennedy. So here is a Jack Kennedy story told to me a few years back by Tony Duke. It seems Tony Drexel Duke was in a talkative mood during an interview and shared this amazing story.
His freshman year at Princeton he decided to set up a camp on the shore of Three Mile Harbor in 1937. That camp became known as Boy’s Harbor. He explained it was for the less fortunate boys in New York City.

He said, “At the time that meant mostly Italian, Irish and Jewish boys from the poor neighborhoods of New York City. When that was finished, I rented a nice big schooner to sail to Martha’s Vineyard from the Hamptons. The crew were my friends from Princeton. When we were approaching the cape, a Princeton classmate instructed me to detour to Hyannisport to pick up his buddy from Choate, Jack. Of course Jack was Jack Kennedy. After that week of sailing Jack and I became lifelong friends. Jack was a great sailor, he had a way with sailboats.”

Great story from a great guy. Anyone who ever met Tony Duke knows what a true gentleman he really was. In that interview he mentioned that the Duke of Windsor and his wife, Wallis Simpson were guests of his mother at their Southampton “cottage,” in August for quite some years.”

There are so many old stories of folks enjoying their boats in Gardiner’s Bay. I hope to experience some new ones this summer season. It’s going to be the best ever!