https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/ Recent content on Peregrine Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) Sun, 12 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/lets-shave-step-by-step/ Sun, 12 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/lets-shave-step-by-step/ In most STEM classes, you do not get full credit for solely providing the correct answer to a homework or test question; you must show your work. Explaining your thought process reveals whether you actually understand what’s going on. One of the stupidest breakthroughs for Large Language Models (LLMs) a couple years ago was the “discovery” of Chain-of-Thought reasoning. Specifically, some researchers found that you were more likely to get a correct answer to your question if you first fed a special phrase into the LLM’s mouth: “Let’s think step by step”. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/first-overnight/ Sat, 20 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/first-overnight/ A Dream Deferred We bought Peregrine in January of 2023. My goal last summer was to spend one night on the boat with my wife and kid. This didn’t happen, partially due to the 7 straight rainy weekends in the Fall. So, that goal carried over to this year’s season. I’m happy to report that, with a little extended family help, we did it! Not only did we do it, but we survived, and nobody has vowed to never do it again. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/second-season-start/ Sat, 27 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/second-season-start/ Splashdown Peregrine splashed at 8 AM on Friday, April 26th. It’s nerve wracking to see the boat hanging in the slings. This is only overpowered by the suspense of seeing if the boat has sprung a leak during the winter when it’s dropped in the water. Thankfully, everything went fine. Even better, the engine started on the first try! Antifreeze coming out the exhaust Back to Port Washington The next day, my dad and his brother (my uncle) joined me to take Peregrine from Jersey City back to Port Washington. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/2024-winter-2/ Fri, 26 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/2024-winter-2/ The second half of the winter carried on exactly as one should expect. I found a bunch of unexpected problems and ended up doing totally different projects than I planned at the outset. The Bilge: Redux I never understood why one of my batteries was shot; instead, I just replaced them in the last post. Well, there are no mysteries on the boat, and problems never solve themselves. I discovered that my electric bilge pump was trying unsuccessfully to pump water. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/2024-winter-1/ Mon, 15 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/2024-winter-1/ Between the holidays and some time off in between jobs, I got to spend a significant (for me) amount of time working on Peregrine. I was very thankful to have Peregrine in Jersey City. It was also weirdly surreal to sit on a boat, in a parking lot, with high rise apartments around you and a view of the World Trade Center. Peregrine in a parking lot At the start of the winter season, I wrote down a list of projects to work on. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/journey-to-the-hard/ Sat, 28 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/journey-to-the-hard/ The rest of the sailing season was kind of a bust. It rained 7 weekends in a row. It was so bad that the Times wrote about it. I did manage to take some coworkers out with me which was pretty fun, although Peregrine did also carry its first seasick crew member, on my watch. While not directly related, I started to notice some sewage smells when we were going over some waves, but I didn’t have time to investigate. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/shackle-me-timbers/ Fri, 25 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/shackle-me-timbers/ One thing (of the many) that my dad noticed when on Peregrine was that the square steel bolts at the transmission that hold the propeller shaft could very well come loose. The same thing could also happen to the anchor rode shackles. I bought some steel “seizing” wire from McMaster-Carr: Round Bend-and-Stay Multipurpose 304 Stainless Steel Wire, Matte Finish, 1/4-lb. Spool, 0.041" Diameter 8860K15 I did a mediocre job of seizing the transmission. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/party-time/ Fri, 18 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/party-time/ We had some friends in town, so my wife and I took 3 people out with us for the day. At 5 people total, this is the most we’ve fit on Peregrine. I think we could’ve comfortably fit 2 more. The weather was perfect: mid 80s and like 10 knots of wind. We sailed out to Execution Rock and then anchored by Barker Point to swim for a while. On our way back, I stupidly let the jib furler line fall in the water. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/anchoring/ Sun, 06 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/anchoring/ My dad was still in town, so he joined my wife and kid for a day out on the boat. As has become a theme, there was no wind. We motored out to the Sound. The boat seemed quicker, thanks to my barnacle scraping. On talking with my dad, I realized I’d probably been running the engine too slow, too. The max torque for my Beta 16 HP is at 2600 RPM, and I’d been running at 2200 RPM. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/captains-captain/ Fri, 04 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/captains-captain/ My dad was in town, so we went down to the boat. He recently got back from sailing from Baltimore to Charleston to Bermuda and back to Baltimore on his 40 foot yawl. Needless to say, he knows a thing or two about sailboats. We didn’t take the boat out; instead, I had a list of things that I wanted my dad’s help with on the boat. We crossed some items off and uncovered other items: https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/kid-turning-point/ Sun, 30 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/kid-turning-point/ The other times that my wife and I have brought our kid to the boat, it’s been… difficult. The kid gets bored on the train, doesn’t like wearing his life jacket, wants to get off the boat the moment he gets on, and so on. Today was… different! We had a great train ride, there were no life jacket complaints, the kid was fairly occupied while sailing, and he even fell asleep on my wife for almost an hour. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/first-friends/ Fri, 28 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/first-friends/ Today was the first time bringing non-family on the boat. Two of my Data friends who had never met each other joined me on Peregrine. One met me at Penn Station. The other met us on the train in Queens. The conditions were objectively terrible. It was over 90 degrees out, and zero wind. The conditions were so calm that we spotted a sailboat that didn’t even bother to anchor while a bunch of kids swam off the boat. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/2023-06-11/ Mon, 12 Jun 2023 08:18:22 -0400 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/2023-06-11/ Today was a day of firsts, and they were all good firsts! I left with my wife and kid to catch the 9:17 AM train from Penn Station. There were no trains stopping at our 23rd and 8th stop, so we took the 1 from 23rd and 7th. We made sure to arrive later this time. At only 20 minutes early, we didn’t have to entertain the kid too much in the train station. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/2023-05-27/ Sat, 03 Jun 2023 14:44:17 -0400 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/2023-05-27/ First time bringing the kid to the boat. Traveling Traveling to the boat is complicated since we don’t have a car. I also don’t want to bring a stroller. There’s nowhere to leave it on land, and it’s too big for the boat. So, traveling looks like: Walk 2 blocks from the apartment to the subway station. Ride the subway one stop to Penn Station. Catch the LIRR from Penn Station to Port Washington (~45 minutes). https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/2023-05-15/ Mon, 15 May 2023 22:37:43 -0400 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/captains-log/2023-05-15/ We took the LIRR from Penn Station to Port Washington and then walked down to the Town Dock. Town Dock We had limited time, so we spent the first half of the day fixing things up and answering a number of open questions: I added clorox to the water tank. I set the MMSI number in the VHF. I looked at connecting the Garmin GPS to the VHF and decided this will be a winter project. https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/resources/pictures/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 hello@ethanrosenthal.com (Ethan Rosenthal) https://boat.ethanrosenthal.com/resources/pictures/ Outside Motoring on 7/4/2024 Your browser does not support the video tag. Approaching on the launch View from the spreaders On the hard at Liberty Harbor Marina In the travelift Your browser does not support the video tag. Annual haul Me, a couple weeks after buying Peregrine Folding prop with a fresh spray Cabin View of the cabin looking aft View of the cabin looking forward from the cockpit The galley Work From Boat setup Looking forward to the V-Berth The head and hanging locker The sink opposite the head The V-Berth Aft view of the V-Berth Sleeping setup in the cabin