Heading south in grand style.
It’s Wednesday evening and I am all settled aboard my “ride” to Florida. The boat I am on is amazing. She’s 130′ and a real stunner. The captain has put me into the “nanny cabin” which is more like a nice hotel room than a cabin on a boat.
When I arrived I plunked my gear down in the “TV room” and before I knew it the steward has whisked it way and put everything into my cabin along with a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo along with a little monogrammed note pad of course, etc, etc.
I have a double bed, all to myself along with a full bath, complete with granite counters and there’s even a full size tub. Happily, there is wifi all the time via satellite so you’ll have to put up with my daily posts until we get to Florida.
Here’s my ride at the dock in Greenport. She’s the blue one. Beautiful. 
Tomorrow at around 7:30 we will shove off and visit the fuel dock. I am told that she burns about 1,000 gallons per day when underway. Our cruising speed is 12kts. She will make the trip about twice as fast as Pandora. She’s big, like a floating condo and a large one at that.
Early today I caught the ferry in New London to get over to Greenport, What a sight as we passed Electric Boat in Groton. There is a sub under construction. I guess that they build them in modules. Either that or someone forgot to solder the front and back together. I sure hope that they aren’t planning to launch in a the near future. 
Perhaps more than you want to see about partially finished subs but I sort of liked the shot from this angle. She sure looks like she means business. Nice crane.
Seeing a sub under construction was neat but seeing one steaming into the harbor was even better. I think that she was the New Mexico, the sub that I encountered last summer off of Groton as I passed by. I think it’s her because I had heard from the chief of the boat, who I have been corresponding with told me that they were in town, would be out for a week or so on maneuvers and then would be back. Well, it looks like they are back and I was lucky enough to be there when she arrived. 
As she passed I was able to get a great shot of the crew on deck. I expect that there is a very well established pecking order as to who gets to ride up in the sail. They probably don’t draw straws or play rock, paper, scissors. “get down from there skipper, I won your spot fair and square”.
Love the Victorian home, if that’s what it is, in the background. Amazing contrast.
Big boat. Long way from the sail to the tail fin, if that’s what they call it.
How about the gunboat riding shotgun as she came into the harbor. I waved to him and he waved back. Not sure he was smiling though. Probably not allowed. I wonder why they wear camo colored uniforms. If they are trying to blend in, it’s not working even a little bit. I’d think that a nice beach pattern with a delicate cerulean blue and sand tan motif would be much more fetching.
Anyway, it’s going to be an amazing trip and I can’t wait to get underway in the morning. I was warned that I’d have to watch what I ate aboard or I’d surely gain ten pounds on the trip. After dinner tonight, I believe that the risk is real. Grilled chicken breasts with fresh tomato and shiitake mushrooms with orzo along with asparagus and well, let’s just say that it was amazing. 
And my cabin. Wow! TV too. The steward even left the drawers open so I’d know that there was a place for me to unpack. 
The bathroom is larger than mine at home. Note: I use the guest bath as Brenda doesn’t like to share. I know my place. 
And there’s even a bath tub. And I don’t have to share with anyone. I wonder how much the water sloshes in a seaway? Hmm… Better not push my luck. 
Well, I had better sign off as tomorrow is going to be an exciting day. My watch tomorrow night and every night after that, will be from 04:00 to 08:00 with the captain.
Yes, I think I’ll take a shower. I’ll bet that they have a ton of hot water. I’ll find out soon.
What an experience and surely a lot more comfortable than Pandora. Good thing Brenda’s not here as this experience would surely spoil her for good as this is grand style indeed. I do promise to work hard too. I can do dishes, you know.
Time for a nap. Did I mention that I have a tub? Thought so.
Busy day tomorrow.
It will be interesting to see how voyaging aboard a yacht of this scale compares to Pandora. Yes, the food will likely be better. And, I am pretty confident that it will not be at all like spending time aboard with anyone wearing an eye patch.
I’ll bet that it’s safe to say that their dink has more HP than the Mini. “Honey?” “Yes, Buffy, what is it?” “Oh, I think that our Mini looks just adorable aboard Indiscretion but I just don’t feel comfortable as it was your ex that chose the color”. “That’s nice honey but can we talk about it when I’m finished reading Baron’s?”
How about this lovely? She’s well into the “mega” range and yet has the lines of a small sport boat. Note the crew on the bow. They look totally teeny tiny up there. I’ll bet her “carbon footprint” could squash a billionaire like a gnat. 
However, all the yachts here aren’t “mega”. How about the latest in a line of beauties owned by Billy Joel, Argos. I recognized the guy who takes care of Billy’s boats from an article I saw a few years ago in Soundings, a boating newspaper. Billy has very nice taste in boats. 
From any angle.
Scout, which I have seen in Newport, is a beauty. Yes, I’d enjoy a G&T aboard her.
And, if you can’t afford MEGA you can always put mega HP on your micro yacht. This one has 1,400hp. I’ll bet that she can outrun all but the fastest 1%.
In the parking lot near the marina there are some very nice cars that fit just fine in the neighborhood. Love these two, the Aston Martin and the beachy thing. Note the mega hydrangea behind them. It seems that flowers love the climate here too. 
The florist in town was getting ready for the weekend. All of these phalaenopsis orchids were in a room that said “all the flowers in this room are sold”. White sells well here.
Not to worry, there were plenty still ready for you to take home. 
The staff had to work out on the front lawn to arrange all the flowers that had been ordered. There were many dozens of red rose arrangements being prepared for just one Friday night party.
While it wasn’t white, a very nice mega planter in downtown Sag Harbor. I wonder what the statue guy thinks of what Sag has become? I’ll bet that he wishes he had held onto the property he owned longer so he could afford something mega himself. 
Nice view down main street for him though. 
And speaking of flowers, which I sort of was, we rented a car and drove around and visited some wineries. Along the way we spied this amazing field of sunflowers. I nearly rear-ended someone who had stopped to take a photo too. 
No, we hadn’t had too many tastings, not yet anyway. I’ll admit that we visited our first winery before noon. But, it was only a very little taste. Ok, it was just a little tastes of five different lovely whites. Just five or was it ten sips? Whatever… Besides, we had to be absolutely certain that we liked it.
No dirty wooden barrels in sight. 
What a relief. We only drink hygienically made wine, of course.
We drove along the south fork, up the north fork, took two ferries across Shelter Island and back to Sag Harbor. 
Let me tell you, it’s the most expensive per mile of any ferry that you will ever take. Each ride takes less than ten minutes, including docking. Total, one way, $30
Can’t recall the name but where else can you have two glasses of wine on a lovely afternoon and spend $40, with tip of course? However, if you are willing to have sparking water, it’s only $10++. Such a deal.
After that, well, we’ll be out of money and have to head home. Yes, this is indeed the playground of the “big kids” and I while I have more in common with the “little people” I do have a boat. Besides, my mom has always told me that I’m big and not even a little bit grey.
There is an amazing amount of hand labor that goes into one of their boats. Each little piece of fiberglass is hand cut and put into place. 
Interestingly, they don’t steam bend any materials, even the most complex curves. This was our guide explaining the way that they form the most demanding shapes using very thin veneer type “flitches” with glue between each “slice” and then they clamp the glued up part into a special form and left there until the epoxy sets. Don’t try this at home. Well, you could actually. The concept is simple, but like much in life, complicated to do when you get right down to it. 
Many of the most complex assemblies are cut out on a computer controlled milling machine. This is a remarkable piece of work, the dashboard to go into a 
And, speaking of Picnic Boats, and they coined the name, even Martha Stewart has one. Reportedly, this is a shot of her cockpit. 
Her boat is a lovely tasteful light green. Would you expect anything less from the “queen of style”? Personally, I was hoping for a more “stylish” photo from Martha herself. I snagged this from a 2010 post on a blog that she keeps. I wonder if she employs someone to write her blog. 
Anyway, I digress. Back to how they make these beautiful boats. Where was I? Oh yeah, about making parts with a computer controlled milling machine. As I was saying, even parts with very complicated compound curves are possible. It would take days to carve something like this out by hand. And they can make a shape like this out of most any material, granite, plastic and metal along with wood. 
These are port hole trim pieces. There is no way that an owner would be capable of maintaining a boat with this much wood unless they never used the boat and kept it under cover all of the time. Even then, I doubt that anyone would be willing to take the time to keep it just so.
Even keeping the cabin sole in this sort of perfect condition would be tough.
I don’t know how many coats of varnish they use. Our guide described the number of coats of varnish needed as “enough”. These doors clearly don’t have enough quite yet. 
Notice the sign on this boat under construction.. “no shoes on board”. For some reason, even when I ask, most guests aboard Pandora seem to forget that street shoes are for streets. To me, boat shoes don’t belong on Pandora if they have been worn on shore. Perhaps Pandora just doesn’t look yachty enough. This one clearly does or at least the Hinckley folks think so. I expect part of it is that if things get messed up they have to fix it themselves. Perhaps I should hand a vacuum cleaner to anyone that tries to come aboard with shoes. 
Each job has to begin somewhere. The interior panels are composite materials to keep weight low. Pandora’s interior is constructed in the very same way. It makes a very sturdy, light but very expensive boat.
Then all of the interior is put together and finished prior to the deck being put on. That makes sense as it makes moving things around much easier than having to cram everything in through the cabin door or through a hatch. They also make sure that there is a way to get every piece of equipment out of the boat for repair down the road. I recall trying to get an old water heater out of my Tartan 37 and having to cut the tank up to get it through the aft hatch. Ditto for fixing a leaky water tank. I had to cut the bunk open with a saw. Not a very elegant process on a “yacht”.
They swear by the water jet propulsion system. It’s a hallmark of Hinckley. Certainly in Maine, with all those lobster pot buoys, it’s good to avoid the exposed propeller. Their “jet” propulsion is made by Hamilton Standard. I can only imagine what these cost.
Curious how one of these pumps work? Hamilton Standard, the author of this video, is happy to share. The entire video may be more than you want to know? It’s probably better for inquiring minds, like mine. Some remarkably beautiful engineering goes into the boats. I don’t know how this swim platform/boat lift, works but it sure looks complicated. I think it folds onto the upper platform with the steps in the inset section. You tell me.
When it’s all done and finished with it’s sea trials, the boat goes back into the shop for a final “million dollar paint job” as they call it. I wonder how long it takes for a new owner to give it a first scratch. Alas, not to worry, if you can afford a Hinkley, you can afford to have it fixed.
On the last night of our cruise, we enjoyed a jacket and tie affair. I was ready to go and sporting one of my favorite bow ties as documented by my crew Rodney. Don’t I look like a guy who should have a Hinckley? Never mind, Pandora can outrun most any of them. 
Well, not every one. This new Hinckley 50 design would certainly leave me in her wake. 
Sadly, in spite of many boats under construction at the shop, every last one was a powerboat.