I’s Monday here in Newport and we are enjoying a peaceful morning aboard Pandora.  The harbor is already busy with the constant coming and going of small craft as they ply the harbor buzzing from here to there.  The ever present harbor patrol just passed looking official with his black and aluminum inflatable.   With this many boats I expect that absent the harbormaster things would be pretty chaotic.  Today he’s towing a large log around behind his boat.  Better to get it out of the water than to be hit by some unsuspecting powerboat.  Yesterday he and one of his other “official” friends came to the rescue of two boats that had tangled their anchors near us, a common theme in this busy harbor. 

Brenda and I had out own “patrol” last evening as we took a “cocktail cruise” on our way to dinner at a nice little Italian spot downtown. For nearly an hour we slowly “putted” around enjoying the sights, and plenty of sights there were.

There is a marina in the harbor that caters to the “superyachts” and there are plenty in attendance.  To us it looked like business is very good as there wasn’t a single open slip in the place.  And, there were plenty to compete for the title of “my yacht is bigger and more opulent than yours”.   This one actually had a sign on it with the details.  She’s 90’ long and was just launched in 2013.  How about that for a varnish job?This gives a good feel for how massive these yachts are.  Plenty of room for “toys” inside of the stern of this baby.If you are into speed and multi-hulls, this should tickle your fancy.  Hard to say how long she is but the mast is tall enough to trigger a nose bleed.  I’ll bet she rips along.This view gives a feel for the variety.  How about this for a “clipper bow”?  And a great contrast to the motor yachts beside her.I was particularly struck by the contrast between this traditional sailing yacht on a mooring out in the harbor and her “mate” a ultra-modern go-fast racer.  It’s not uncommon to see two yachts rafted together.  Often it’s a huge motoryacht and a racing sailboat.  “heavens Roy, you can’t expect me to sleep aboard that little sailboat.  She can’t be an inch over  50’.  Reeaally!!!”  It seems that there is a trend among the “uberwealthy” to have multiple yachts.  But of course, Buffy wouldn’t have it any other way.Newport is also the home of IYRS, the International Yacht Restoration School.  IYRS takes students who want to learn yacht restoration and teaches them the skills to work on old classics.  It’s a terrific program and has turned out some great graduates that now work on some of the most iconic yachts.  In particular, Coronet, the last surviving yachts from the Victorian era is undergoing restoration.  She is being bankrolled by a wealthy benefactor who is footing the bill on this massive undertaking.  Coronet is over 100 years old and has been around the world several times.  She is 130’ long and just massive. This photo is of a poster depicting her in all her glory.  Quite a sight.Her interior was painstakingly removed years ago when she arrived here and is in storage.    The plan is to restore the hull and then put all the interior pieces back in place.  It is a massively expensive undertaking and it’s hard to imagine how one person can fund such a restoration.   It will be years until she is back in the water. 

Look at the massive timbers.  They are about 10” each. The stern is lovely and a LOT bigger than it looks here. For those with pockets that, you might say are “shallower”, IYRS also restores Beetle Cats, the iconic catboats loved by many.   They always have a few for sale.  The deal is that you can donate your old boat and then buy it back after it’s restored by the students.   They look great.They even have a good supply of boats that have been donated and are ready for a willing buyer to foot the cash for a rebuild.  A very appealing concept, in my book.  Hmm… pick one.  It’s just sooooo hard to choose…Anyway, thinking about wooden boats isn’t getting our day underway.  Perhaps we’ll take a tour of an equally unattainable restored mansion.     As the NY Lottery once said, “all you need is a dollar and a dream”.   Perhaps a few dozen million lottery tickets is more like it.

Well, I’ll just sail into the sunset on my little Pandora.  Yes, I’ll dream about that instead.

It’s Sunday morning and we are anchored in Newport harbor where we will be for the next few days.  Yesterday we motored down from Bristol into a light SW breeze, an easy run of about 10 miles.   It was remarkable to see how many boats were out on a perfect Saturday afternoon for a sail. I would guess that there were literally hundreds of white sails dotting the water.  And, the boats that weren’t out on the bay were motoring around the harbor.  What a busy place. However, in spite of the crowded harbor, we were able to find a place to drop the hook for the night. 

Along the way we were passed by the sole remaining member of the NY 50 class, Spartan, built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, a boat builder from Bristol that dominated the yachting scene from the mid 1800s through the 1930s.  Spartan, was rebuilt over several years in a no expense spared restoration.  I had seen her at the Wooden Boat Show at Mystic several years ago when she was fresh from her rebuild.  Yesterday she sailed by us with topsail flying.  Imagine a 70+ foot long daysailer.   Yes, she has some bunks down below but it’s not a big boat inside.  What a sight to see the huge sails billowing in the light wind. It was fitting that we should see Spartan as we left Bristol where we had been the prior day with the Essex Yacht Club cruise as we had visited the yard where she was built, the Herreshoff company closed in the 40s and now lives on as a museum dedicated to the many yachts that the yard turned out.  The museum has an impressive collection of boats built there.  In particular, they display the half models of nearly every design that the yard developed, some built and some just ideas of yachts he’d have liked to build.  Nat Herreshoff the dominant force at the yard for many years and a brilliant designer, was dubbed the “Wizard of Bristol” and was sought after by many yachtsmen of great wealth to have him design and build yachts for them.  The yard was a dominant force in the early America’s Cup yachts turning out many winners.

Nat’s designs were done first as half models which he carved out of wood and then they were measured  and the lines taken off so that a proper set of builder’s plans could be drawn and it was from these plans that the actual yachts were built.   The museum has a remarkable set of these half models on display.  There are a lot of them representing every yacht that the yard turned out throughout their rich history.  The walls were just covered by them. The tour was particularly interesting as we had an expert guiding us and giving us interesting anecdotes along the way.  They even did some work for the US government during the two world wars including the hulls design and construction of some flying boats.  In particular, the NC4 which was the first plane to fly across the Atlantic, albeit with stops for fuel along the way.  This is a particularly nice model of the design, if a bit blurry.And, it appears that the Navy did this short movie of the historic flight. I haven’t watched it though as I don’t want to burn up bandwidth.  I hope it’s good.

They also designed fast torpedo boats for the Navy including a design that is noted for being the first to launch a motorized torpedo at speed.

They have a remarkable collection of Herreshoff built boats on display, many of which are in perfect, like new, condition.It’s a wonderful museum worth visiting.   Check their site out. 

Now we will be in Newport for a few days prior to heading to Fisher’s Island for the wrap up event of the Essex Yacht Club cruise.

Today we will head ashore for a bit of exploring in Newport, a busy but fun place to visit.

Perhaps I should call it a “wrap”, put this post up, make some coffee and get on with my day.  Yes, a good idea and it’s a beautiful one at that.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Friday morning and was a chilly 63 degrees in the cabin when I got up.  I mention this as I wasn’t expecting to be “chilly” as I had recently installed a new Espar diesel heater to replace the old one that had given up the ghost and the plan was to turn on the heater at such times and enjoy the warm air.  How simple…

However, it’s never as simple as it should be with boats and as is so often the case, and getting things right has turned out to be a long drawn out process.  First, getting the parts took FOREVER to order as the dealer was busy, it would seem, with “bigger fish”.  I wanted to order it from a location that was fairly close to home and chose a dealer in New Haven.  Anyway, it is sufficient to report that it has taken a few months go get all the parts in place and FINALLY get the unit installed.

However, getting the unit operational didn’t work out as well as I had hoped.  The mistake I made was to try and use the old wire harness from the old “mort” heater and just match up the individual wires on a junction board instead of snaking all the new wires through the bilge.  My brilliant idea was to avoid ripping up the floor a project that I have done one too many times and didn’t want to repeat.  How simple, I surmised, to just label the wires, color for color, and note that the “new” red with white stripe wire in the new harness matched with the “old” brown with green stripe wire.  Simple, right?  NOT!!!

Here’s what the new-to-old wiring looks like.  An impressive mix of new and old.  It looks tidy enough to work…Besides, the heater looks great all snug in it’s new home, working or not.  Speaking of snug, working under the cockpit is really tight. It’s like wriggling in a cave, and a very small one at that.Anyway, when I installed the unit, before leaving on our trip, I came up short on a single plug for the fuel pump and had to wait till I was here in Wickford RI for it to be finally delivered. You’d think that the dealer would have provided a plug to go with the pump as the harness didn’t come with one in the first place. I guess that’s asking too much.  So, yesterday the part finally arrived and I decided to spend a little time getting everything in order.   Mistake…

After a few hours, I had plugged everything in and the heater wouldn’t start.  I called the tech support folks in Canada multiple times and finally figured out that it was the little red wire, one of many wires, that wasn’t working right.  I won’t bore you with the details except to say that I ended ripped up the floor anyway, which took a few more hours;  the very thing I had hoped to avoid by using the old wires.   That was clearly not a good decision at all.

So, after blowing the day messing with everything, I finally gave up and decided that I would just wait till I was back home where I will just rip all the old wire out and put in the wire supplied with the unit; something that I should have done in the first place. I’ll bet that my brother Bill, who’s good with such things, wouldn’t have taken such a shortcut.  I’d like to say “live and learn” but I fear that the future will show that while I have “lived”, I likely didn’t “learn” and will make such stupid mistakes again and again…

So, no heat this morning, and that’s why I am mentioning this at all.  Besides, it’s August and it’s supposed to be HOT.  Where’s global warming when you need it?

As you can imagine, Brenda wasn’t too pleased with me frittering away a beautiful day yesterday but happily, she has forgiven me and, as they say, “today is another day”.

For the last few days we have been on a dock at Pleasant Street Wharf,  our favorite spot here in Wickford.  It’s a favorite as it’s home to our great friends Eric and Sandy, old time friends, with the emphasis on the “friends” as opposed to “old” from our catboating days.  Sappho, a catboat and our second boat, which we sold to Eric over 20 years ago, is still here and in great shape, perhaps better than when we sold her so long ago.  Pretty amazing.   We had a great dinner with Eric and Sandy the other night.  It was fun to reconnect.  We hope that they will visit us in CT.  

While it’s not Sappho, our old catboat, there are plenty of these little yachts here in Wickford. Here’s one that sailed by the other evening.  It’s easy to see how catboats remain so popular.We also visited with our friends Teri, Mike and their daughter Julie who now has two children.  It doesn’t seem like very many years ago that Brenda braided Julie’s hair in the cockpit of Sappho when we were out cruising together.  However, if the truth were told, that was way back in 1990, 24 .lyears ago.  Time sure flys and it was so sweet to see her with her two boys.

We also visited my cousin Pat and her husband Bob who just built an amazing home overlooking the bay nearby.  I think that their garage is nearly as big as our home.    What a spot.

So, here I am, sitting in Pandora’s cockpit typing away thinking about our years past aboard and somehow everyone has grown up.  As my mother likes to say, “how is it that you have gotten so old when I am still so young”.  Me?  I really don’t feel like I am in my “upper mid 50s”.

The view from Pandora’s cockpit is lovely. Life is good… And, we are here yet again in Wickford among friends.

Today we head up to Bristol for another day with our Essex YC friends.   Last night we had a fabulous dinner with the group at the Wickford YC.   I ate too much.  It was a seafood extravaganza, prepared by our own EYC chef Michael.  We had quite a group. 

While many came by boat, some arrived via the “Tabernacle Choir Bus” from Essex, owned by one of our members.  It seems that the “church bus” is actually a party bus in drag.  The “tabernacle choir” is completely fictitious, made up by our member in a jolly moment.  I don’t expect that he will be stopped by the “Constabulary“ any time soon.   How about this shot of the “sacred” spot framed by a rainbow.  Perhaps they do have someone looking over them.  

I guess Brenda and I do too.   What a great day here in Wickford.

 

 

It’s Sunday morning and we are motoring into a light breeze on our way to Stonington CT and the first night of the Essex Yacht Club cruise.   It’s been years since we have joined a club cruise and as relatively new members of EYC, we are looking forward to spending time with everyone.

It’s been hectic getting ready to make this run as we have had non-stop guests for about the last week.  Don’t get me wrong, I love having visitors, especially if it’s family and to have our son Christopher and his friend visit for a few days was a great treat.  However, it’s remarkable to see how quickly the fridge empties only to be refilled to bursting and empty again.   And getting everyone on their way and preparing to leave for a few weeks is pretty intense.

On top that, Brenda hosted a group of lace makers, or “tatters”, twelve of them, for a day of, you guessed it, tatting.    If you don’t know what that is, you can always “Google that”.  My contribution for the day was to stay out of the way and to make well timed appearances to do the dishes when required.  That, combined with running out between the raindrops to get Pandora ready kept me pretty busy yesterday.   To see all those women of a certain age sitting around our dining table made me feel pretty estrogen deficient.   I didn’t quite have the nerve to say it out loud but I was thinking that the group should rename themselves “tits for tat”.   Perhaps better to keep those thoughts to myself.  Actually, Brenda corrected me that they actually did “bobbin lace”.  However, the joke wouldn’t work so I prefer tatting.

Alas, as usual, I digress…

So, here we are, underway and nearly to Stonington.   We had to get going very early today as the tide was going to turn against us later in the morning and I didn’t particularly feel like motoring into both the wind and current.

Over the last few days, as I was struggling to get everything aboard for our two weeks and accepting the reality that we were going to motor the entire way and likely do so in the rain, I couldn’t help but wonder what I was thinking as I signed up for a series of club cruise events, prepaid of course, knowing that I’d have to “get there or else” regardless of the weather.  As they say, “the most dangerous pieces of equipment aboard a boat are the clock and calendar”.  When you “just have to be there”, well, that’s when you get into trouble.  Add to that the loss of power at our home an hour before we were scheduled to leave for our trip that certainly complicated things.

So, here we were making last minute preparations, washing dishes and a bit of ironing (yes ironing), when the power shut off.  Out came the flashlight, digging into the depths of the fridge deciding what to bring.  Well, we did pretty well and only forgot a few items.  We’ll see what lurks in the dark recesses of the fridge when we return.  Perhaps the next time I open the fridge I’ll have to arm myself with a hammer, or worse.

It will be also be interesting to see what lights are burning after two weeks.  Who knows what was on, or off, when the power quit.

However, today, not a lot of trouble as it’s very calm.  However, I was stressing about the “have to leave today and be sure and make that first thing or else” deal and wouldn’t you know, it was raining steadily as we shoved off at 07:30 this morning.

Well, while it’s still overcast, at least it’s not raining.  That’s good and the next few days are going to be very nice, if a bit windless.   However, I am struck by the huge difference in cruising with a schedule verses the sort that we do all winter in the Bahamas, where we don’t go anywhere except when the wind is convenient.  Well, almost never.   Of course, there are always exceptions but that’s another story.

So, we’re off for two weeks and it will be fun to get to know others from Essex Yacht Club as we make our way, probably under power, from place to place.  It’s certainly way more organized than the sort of cruising that we are accustomed to but it will be a nice change of pace.

As I finish up this post, we are on a mooring in Stonington, home quite a few really nice boats.   Here’s a great little wooden powerboat near us.  I’d hate to pay for the varnish work each year. And, another great design by Bob Perry, who designed Pandora.   The Valiant 42 is considered one of the greatest cruising sailboats ever designed.  We have met quite a number of folks who own and love this design.  I think that they look particularly great in red.Of course, another classic is the Hinkley Bermuda 40.   This was, at one time, a best seller for Hinkley Yachts.  Alas, they stopped production a while back to focus on boats that were much larger.  I understand that this design is still being built, but by another builder that acquired the rights.Before I break, I should mention that Brenda and I particularly enjoy listening to names of boats that call each other on the radio. It’s pretty funny how often boats traveling together have names that somehow seem to go together.  We have heard some great combinations over the years and was reminded of this when I heard a boat on the radio today.  It was Liberty and they were calling Get Away.  How perfect, a boat “on liberty” calling one that wants nothing more than to “get away”.  Yes, that’s me and I am happy to be “getting away” for a few weeks.   

Yup, happy to be back aboard even if I was totally stressed getting ready to go.

Well, it’s Wednesday morning, it’s a beautiful sunny day and I am on dry land.  Hmm…

At least I was aboard Pandora for a few days, even if it involved a lot of motoring as I returned to the CT River from New Bedford MA over the weekend.   It’s hard to get a favorable wind to head west when the prevailing winds are from the SW and about the only time that winds have an easterly component is when there’s a front coming through.  Unfortunately, that comes with rain and clouds.  A great sunny day rarely has winds from the east in these parts.  I guess a weather man/person might say “never”.   Me, I can only surmise.

So, after overstaying my welcome with my friend Patty in Fairhaven, using her mooring for a few weeks, I retrieved Pandora and she’s now back on the CT River, if only for a short time.

Anyway, she’s now in CT for a bit of upgrades and maintenance prior to me and Brenda heading out to RI on a club cruise for two weeks at the end of the month.

Returning to the CT River, we were blessed with one of an easterly wind combined with a fair tide that carried us from New Bedford all the way to Essex and we were able to make that 70 mile run in a single day.  Of course, it helps to have the help of the tide in keeping things moving in the right direction.

While the wind was pretty good, we were headed with it so I still had to run the engine much of the way, albeit at a low speed.  I was happy to put some hours on my new Autoprop, which performed very well.  I will be interested to see what sort of mileage I get with that prop verses the evil Max Prop that gave me so much trauma.   I do get the impression that the improvement in performance is certainly in the 10% range with regards to fuel efficiency.  We’ll see.  Before I get all excited about “good” mileage, even with an efficient prop, we are talking about 6-7mpg.  Pretty pathetic, actually.  Good thing that Pandora’s a sailboat.  With wind, pretty good mpg.  I guess that would make Pandora a true “hybrid”.  That’s wind and diesel.  Many powerboats count their mileage in gallons-per-mile.   A boat burning 4-5 gallons per mile, going say, 11kts, would be getting less than ONE mile per gallon.   Pathetic actually.

Anyway, enough detail.  It’s been a while since I have made the run down Buzzard’s Bay, through Block Island Sound and into Long Island Sound. Having spent so many summers moving my boats through these waters , over the last 30+ years, but not recently, it’s a real treat to do it again.   I enjoyed seeing one of my favorite island homes perched on what is more of a rocky hump than an island at the entrance to Buzzard’s Bay.  I love the wind generator and the “ancient” columns.  It’s a nice contrast of the old and new.  Pretty nice spot.There are plenty of great spots to look at in passing Watch Hill and Fisher’s Island.  The old Simmon’s mansion, built by the founder of the Simmon’s Mattress company.  I guess old man Simmons sold a lot of beds.  Pretty good digs.  I was hoping to find some information on the mansion, perhaps the biggest on an island with lots of big homes, but alas, not much there except that it was built in 1934.  I guess that the depression was good for the mattress business.  It makes sense.  You’re depressed so you just sleep.   Good for Mr.  Simmons it would seem.   Interestingly, after all these years, they still make a mattress branded “Fisher Island”.    How quaint.   Anyway, nice house.Another beautiful building is the Ocean House Hotel, high up on a bluff in Watch Hill, this beautiful hotel is built on the grounds of a hotel that was built in the early 1900s.  The original hotel was open for many years but ultimately closed in 2003 as it was really beyond repair, a victim of age and changing tastes.  This is a postcard of the old hotel.  Pretty nice. It was always a destination of the wealthy but now you really have to have money to visit, and be particularly willing to part with it as the rooms start at $725 per night.  Yikes!!!   The original Ocean House had 159 rooms with the new facility only boasting 49 rooms and an additional 15 suites.  I guess that modern taste tends toward bigger if more expensive accommodations.   The Ocean House clearly continues to cater to the elite but now I guess the 1% crowd is an even smaller group.   I checked the availability for a room and it seems that there are plenty of  1%rs visiting as there isn’t anything available till September.   While the new hotel is very different, they designed it in keeping with the original spirit of the place.  Interestingly, it has the same number of windows, 247 if you are wondering.  I’d say that they have done a nice job of keeping the feel, and exclusivity, of the place.  Actually, it looks a lot more like the old hotel than this shot would suggest.  

This photo from the water shows how much it looks like the old hotel.  And indeed, that’s a lot of F$%@&*$ windows to wash. And, the porch, what a great spot to read the NY Times.

Speaking of the 1% and where they wile away their time reading, the homes on the point are pretty impressive.  And, at least a few residents must be concerned about their homes sliding into the ocean.  How about the biggest retaining wall you have probably ever seen?  I can’t even imagine how much that wall must have cost.  “Well Bob, if you have to ask you can’t afford it”.  Well put.A few years ago Brenda and I walked around on Watch Hill, near the hotel. Really nice homes.  Great gardens and wonderful views.   Nice neighborhood. While I had to motorsail the whole way from New Bedford to the CT River, it was very relaxing, even with the swell coming in from the east and even that mostly went away a few hours after the wind shifted from the east to the north.

I can’t even count the number of times I have passed through those waters in the 30+ years that I have been sailing between Cape Cod and Long Island Sound.  It was nice to do so again.

So, now it’s time to get serious about getting Pandora in order for running her south again in September.  The list is long.

However, first things first, and I have to cut the lawn.   “Get on it Bob!”