September 2015

It’s Friday morning and Pandora is heading from Wickford to Deep River to be hauled for a few weeks while I work on her to get ready to make the trip south. While most folks are just about ready to haul their boats for the winter, now that the iron doors of summer are about to close (this weekend is Labor Day), I am trying to get everything ready for our run south and a winter of sailing.

My list, and it’s a long one, includes painting her bottom and finishing up a lot of little details like adding more LED lights as well as trying to settle on the proper propeller.  The one that is on the boat is very nice if a bit over pitched for the engine.  That means that I can’t get a lot of RPM out of it when I am in a pinch.  Yes, it makes for good speed and fuel economy but I can’t get extra HP out of her when I need to.  Anyway, the boat once had an Autoprop but the previous owner took it off because he says that it damaged not one but two transmissions.  I put one on my last boat and was really happy with it so I’ll have to see what I can do.   Fortunately, the owner still has the Autoprop and agreed to send it to me.  Of course, I don’t want to risk a wrecked transmission but it’s something that needs to look into.   I should have the other prop soon and will consider what to do next.  The good news is that I can always take the Autoprop off and put the old one back on, if I decide that I don’t want it, even when the boat is in the water.  It’s not simple but can be done.  More to come on that.

I am also having the backstay split with isolators so that the stay can serve as an antenna for the SSB radio.  I am really looking forward to having the SSB back in service.  I miss hearing the weather router Chris Parker and also participating in the morning nets.

As I write this I am approaching PT Judith and will soon turn west toward the CT River and home.  The wind is from the NNE and blowing between 15-20kts so it will be behind me for the whole run and I should make good time.   The current at Watch Hill won’t be with me when I arrive there but at least I’ll be going fast and should still make decent time and get home today in time for dinner.

We are really making time and moving along at better than 8kts with just about 10kts apparent wind on a dead run, wing and wing with the main and jib, a good speed by any measure.   And that’s with a slimy bottom as things foul up pretty fast in August in Wickford with warm still water.

Yesterday I visited Rodger Martin, the designer of Pandora, at his office at Newport Shipyard and enjoyed hearing about some of his current projects.   He’s a very nice guy and clearly loves talking about boats.   I particularly loved hearing his South African accent. I was interested to learn that he designed the newest Outward Bound open boats that we have seen up in Maine.  They are open boats and clearly not comfortable like Pandora.  However, they serve the program well give the “find yourself” and “getting back to nature” focus of the Outward Bound programs.    It was fun to see a computer rendering of one of the boats on the wall in Rodger’s office.We talked a bit about the process of designing the Aerodne 47 and I was surprised to learn that it has the smallest sail to displacement ratio of any boat that he has designed.  In spite of having a modest sail plan, the boat is very fast and stable.  That’s good and particularly appealing to Brenda.

This launch has a gas turbine which weighs about 1/3 of a diesel of similar power.   That, combined with carbon fiber construction, makes for a very fast launch.  The bad news is that it sucks gas at a horrifying rate.  Well, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.  And, as the launch is a tender to a big yacht, he’s probably not asking. Rodger has a passion for fast sailboats and has a long history of designing ocean crossing racing yachts.  This prototype, designed to show proof of concept for a larger version to challenge the clipper ship record from New York to San Francisco, sure looks like it can make tracks.  Look at the keel canted out to weather.  I wonder what happens if the wind suddenly shifts or dies?   With all that weight out on the end of that long keel, the result would surely get your attention.After my time with Rodger I couldn’t resist walking the docks at the shipyard to enjoy the view.    Bolero, the iconic ocean racer, is always a head turner.  What nice lines.  Pandora has at least one thing in common with her.  They both have inflatable dinks.
I asked Rodger why he felt that folks were moving away from sailing and into power boats.  His answer was interesting as he thinks that the designs today have moved away from boats that can sail well in light air so most find themselves motoring everywhere.  That’s an interesting perspective and I expect that there is some truth to that.  It’s clear that Pandora doesn’t suffer from that problem.   NIce design Rodger!

Speaking of fast, this sleek cold molded ocean racer, quite a contrast to Bolero, looks like it’s screaming along, even while she’s tied to the dock.  The carbon mast and boom are a deep burgundy.  Take a gander at the port holes cut out in patterns.  It’s like a floating piece of art.   However, Brenda would notice right away that there isn’t a dodger, a non-starter for her, self described “sailing cream puff” that she is. Love the open transom. I saw Crossbow sailing off of Newport the other day. This isn’t a boat for a casual afternoon sail.   I wonder where she will be headed when they finish fitting her out. Don’t loose your balance or you’ll slip right out of the open transom.The carbon bow sprit seems to be adjustable.  What a piece of engineering.A lot of hardware for the 1% folks moored here.To cap off a great day in Newport a friend treated me to lunch at the NYYC Harbor Court.  This was the long time home of the Brown family, of Brown University fame.

There are amazing gardens out back.  Love the lotus growing in the pond.   The flowers are as large as a basket ball. These water lilies have leaves that are about 2’-3’ across. Love the view from the reflecting pond to the club house.  Can you imagine living here when it was a private home?As I finish up this post, I have rounded Pt Judith, with 15-20kts on my beam and am moving along really well, at almost 10kts.  It’s pretty amazing and I don’t even have a reef in and the heel is only about 10 degrees.    At this rate, I should be to Watch Hill Passage in less than two hours.   Amazing.

Anyway, things are going to get very busy with Pandora on the hard for the next few weeks.  With the summer sailing season drawing to a close and winter just around the corner, there’s lots to do.

End of  the season or the beginning?  Sunny Caribbean, here I come.  Well, that’s if I can get everything done.

I think I can, I think I can…

It’s Tuesday morning and Pandora is all alone up in Wickford.  I’ll be rejoining her later this week for a run back to Deep River where she will be hauled for a few weeks.  I’ll be getting her ready for the run to Annapolis then to Hampton VA and ultimately on to Virgin Gorda and our winter of sailing in the Caribbean.  I am getting excited about the coming months but have to say that all the details of getting ready to go and prepare a “new” boat for such a run is a bit daunting.

Crew is lined up already so there will be four of us running Pandora south from Hampton in early November.  So, how would you like to be near Cape Hatteras in early winter?  Hmm…

Anyway, it’s too early to be talking much about warmer climes when it’s still plenty warm here in New England.

Since Brenda and I returned from our week long run up to Nantucket we have been aboard again for a weekend with my old college friend Tom and his wife Lisa. We just spent only a short time together but it was a lot of fun and nice to catch up again.

I also hosted some folks aboard Pandora for an afternoon sail around Newport recently as part of a fund raiser for the CT River Museum.  I have been volunteering there for the last year and am enjoying it a great deal.  Here is a shot of my friend Rodney, able crew, at the wheel as well as our guests for the day.  We had a great time.  I have mentioned that Pandora has AIS, both a receiver and transponder, and I am still getting used to knowing that she shows up on other folks plotters as other AIS equipped boats do on mine.  It’s a nice feature and a great way to increase safety.

It’s nice to be seen.  As an added feature, you can see me on any service that tracks AIS, even on your smart phone.  I chose to install “Marine Traffic” on my iphone and.  So, as I write this post, this is a screen shot of Pandora in Wickford Harbor. Pretty neat.
If that’s not cool enough, how about the track from my day of sailing with Rodney and the gang.  It’s the first time that I have ever “day-sailed” out of Newport.  We had perfect wind and covered a lot of ground, over 40 miles in an afternoon.The program has some nice features including “my fleet” where you can choose to track specific vessels anywhere they are, world wide.  Pandora is in my “fleet” and I signed up to get an email message when she leaves or arrives in a harbor.  As we sailed around Newport my phone was buzzing “Pandora has arrived” and “Pandora has departed” all day long.  Anyway, I thought it was pretty neat.

Speaking of Newport, Brenda and I visited Newport Shipyard,  THE home for megayachts in Newport, on our last visit and walked around the yard enjoying the sights.  I particularly enjoyed seeing Vendetta, Billy Joel’s 57′ commuter yacht.   She’s a beauty with her barrel back stern.  She’s been for sale for a number of years and is listed at a cool $1,295,000.  Pocket change…  Speaking of singers. I’d like to listen to the VHF radio and hear “Elvis has left the room” no make that the harbor.  I wonder what the owner was thinking when he or she decided to name their cat “Elvis”.  She’s a regular fixture in the marina as we have seen her here before. There’s no end to the beautiful yachts in Newport.  Most are huge but some, like this small Carriacou sloop, are just beautiful, if not big.  These sloops, most not nearly as yachty as this one, are natives to the island in the Caribbean near Grenada.  Perhaps we’ll see some of these boats over the winter. Brenda and I also visited this wonderful little print shop in a residential area of Newport, “The Third & Elm Press.  The owner, who’s been there a really long time, makes prints and cards the old fashioned way using equipment that’s well over 100 years old.  There is nothing “modern” about this place.   I don’t think that she takes “Apple Pay”.You don’t see printing presses like this every day.  Not a great picture but you, well, you get the picture…I have walked past this spot hundreds of times over the years but never entered.  The Seamen’s Church Institute.  This place has a long history of helping seafarers in Newport.  These days “help” is in the form of showers and a spot to sit and reflect or at least relax away from the bustle of downtown Newport.   I understand that they also have rooms for rent.  Neat spot. They have a wonderful area to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee. And a really nice library. There’s even a modest collection of ship models.  All of vessels associated with Newport.  How about this torpedo boat?  I always like cut-away models. Even though I have been to Newport many times over the years, I never tire of seeing the sights.  I won’t be back to Newport by boat again till next summer but I will surely enjoy yet another visit soon as it’s surely Pandora’s kind of town.

Speaking of soon, soon will come soon enough as I am visiting with Rodger Martin at his office in Newport later this week.  Rodger designed Pandora so it will be fun to to learn more about his work and hopefully get some good info for a post.  Stay tuned.

Well, time’s up and the day is not getting any younger.  Time to wrap this up.

More to come…