Just wanted to say I'm loving this New England wx - in the 70s, no rain, and NO BUGS!
No problem turning the cabin lights on at night, no need for screens nor bug spray.
Life is good!
J
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Bedford High School 40th High School Reunion - 15 Aug 2014
For the last five to ten years my class '74 has been leading the charge in having "the 70s" reunions, the brainchild of Maureen McAuliffe Sullivan. The idea is actually brilliant as we have friends, not in our specific class, who may be on our sports team or in a club or friends with our siblings. This way there is a possibility that you will see them at the reunion too.
It was good to renew friendships from long ago as well as build new ones. Unexpectedly, this gathering allowed me to find some prospective crew for long crossings. My freshman college roommate Jim Lunig (the first one to track me down 5-10 years ago), has become an accomplished sailor, negotiating the tides and currents of Narragansette Bay, the Vineyard and Nantucket. Another guy, Doug Tomlinson, had been sailing all his life as a kid on a small trimaran down on the Cape. He is now scheduled to get his big boat certification this winter down in the Caribbean. If have the stories he told about his sailing in the Cape are true, Doug will fly through his big boat certification with ease. Then there is Phil DePriest who has crewed a couple of deliveries with Capt'n Bligh.
So fun to reconnect with my twin brother from a different mother - Blaise Winter; we share a birthday. Also saw Blaise's brother Greg, Johathan Hurd, Sally Spararo, Janet Walsh, Steve and Ray Claflin, Steve Valliere and Alex Monger. Put a bunch of people together and it is just a matter of time that the engineers in the group tend to find each other. And that is what happened when I met Richard Fryer...again. Rich retired from the Air Force after 30 yrs as a Civil Engineer, which is not too much different than a Civil Engineer Corps Officer in the Navy. We must have talked for over an hour about our different assignments and locations.
It was a grand night, so many people to talk too, so little time. There has got to be a way to extend the time, maybe have a class get together the day before or afterwards, or book a 3 day ship cruise together. Just thoughts.
Jim Lunig, Blaise Winter, Johnathan Hurd and me.
Block Island and Newport 12-19 Aug 2014
After we dropped Jay off to walk to the ferry, we snagged an empty mooring ball, loaded our bikes into the dink and went ashore to explore the town. Block Isand is a summer vacation, beach town. Lots of little shops that sell the "standard" beach wares. Lots of bike and motor scooter rentals to be had. First stop was to see the Lighthouse on the SE point. The lighthouse was moved back fron the eroding cliffs in the mid 90s. The engineers lifted the lighthouse onto rails and moved it over 100 yds back from the cliff. The evolution was scheduled to take 6 weeks, but they accomplished it in only 19 days. Jo and I were stationed in Groton, CT at the time and were planning a trip to BI to witness the move. But, by the time we could plan a weekend to go, the move was completed so we missed it!
Wednesday the rain started at 0400, the wind followed close behind. Even though it was wet and windy, Aldo's bakery boat was making the rounds. The one thing one should not miss when in BI is a breakfast pastry from Aldo's bakery. They are wonderful!!
We waited for the wind to subside a bit and went ashore. We spent a couple of hours in the public library searching the internet and making reservations for our trip up to Bedford - for my 40th high school reunion.
By the time we left the library, the sky was beginning to clear. After a ride along the beach, we stopped at The Oar for some Mudslides (they came highly recommended by our insurance broker). By sunset the clouds had all disappeared. Edamame and Mudslides on the lawn overlooking the Great Salt Pond - a nice ending to our visit to BI.
Thursday morning, 14 Aug, we unhooked from the ball at 0815, to head for Newport. Leaving the channel, the winds were out of the NW at around 15 kts but the ocean swell left over from the storm was coming in from the SE. We popped the sails and had a rolly ride until we got under the lee of Pt Judith. We sailed all the way to Ft Adams, until the wind got to light to continue under sail. Called the Naval Staion Newport Marina, they had a mooring ball waiting for us.
Friday, we weren't scheduled to pick up the rental car until 1200, so there was time for boat projects. I called RayMarine to try to learn how to fix the auto pilot. I got a human this time ( I called them the day before but was on hold for 25 min before they switched me to voice mail to leave a message.)
Bottom line, I needed to send the computer unit in for repairs. Good news, their main office is in Nashua, NH, (30 miles from Bedford) and I could drop it off, so that is what we did.
After checking in at the Air Force Inns at Hanscom Field, we took a tour around where I used to live. Our house on Scott Circle either got totally rehabbed or was torn down to construct another 6 family unit. We drove by our old house in Bedford, 20 Sunset Drive. I must say it was the best looking house on the street. It is now painted slate blue which looks very nice. Then it was off to Steve's House of Pizza for a grinder and calzone. So nice to be in the land of GOOD pizza. Dropped by Home Goods to buy a small step stool which we will use at the helm station.
We also bought something we went looking for...a rolling cart. Tied to the back of the bike it works great for carry those bigger loads of groceries.
SCORE!
We paid for the ball at the NAVSTA for a month. Or plan is to visit Nantucket and The Vineyard and return to Newport for the Labor Day Weekend.
Our mooring field neighbors are The Spencers from Annapolis. Lovely fam with tween son, Troy. We shared drinks on their s/v SeaMonkey one night and hosted them for dinner another. I'm sure we'll see them again.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Cape May to Block Is
10Aug14
Sunday consisted of taking our bikes ashore, riding next door to the Cape May Coast Guard Station (where the USCG Enlisted Boot Camp is located) to shop in their Exchange. After off loading our wares back on the boat we rode into town to explore. A few hours later, Jay called and was ready to do fuel ops. Using a friend's two fuel jugs and my four jugs, we were able to get 35 gals.; enough to top off our tanks and carry 11 gals with us.
We got underway at 18:30 Sunday evening. Weather forecast, sent via email by my meteorologist father, indicated light winds for at least the first half of the trip - it was spot on.
Very nice making our first long range passage in full moonlight.
At 23:00 we were off Atlantic City, you could see the lights of the casinos two hours before and for two hours after passing AC.
11Aug14
Around 10:00 we were cutting across the middle ship traffic lane into NYC -the Hudson Canyon to Ambrose traffic lane.
It was dead, flat, calm. Easy to see ALL the deflated balloons. About every 5 minutes we'd pass another one! And that was just on OUR course. The ocean must be covered. Mylar is the worst. After merely photographing the first few we started altering course and hooking them. Thinking of you, Bonnie! Folks, DO. NOT. RELEASE. BALLOONS! It may look cute at a fair or wedding but they all end up in the ocean.
I'm in full alert spotting the next balloon.
Our catch of the day
The wind started to pick up earlier than predicted so around 12:30 we raised sail, killed the engines, and had a quiter transit. The wind built to 14 kts and held til just before sunset. Not wanting to wrestle the sail in the dark we decided to turn on the engine again and drop the sails. The seas hitting our stbd quarter made the ride a bit jerky and one slapping the port underside kicked the autopilot out of whack "rate gyro error" huh? Had to hand steer the rest of the way to Block Island (BI). All three of us were up trying to find the correct buoy to steer towards, making sure to correct for the 2.2 kt current flowing out between Montauck Point and BI. Once we were on the lee of BI the wind and waves subsided so as to make the entrance into the Great Salt Pond at night a lot easier.
We snuck into the Great Salt Pond at 04:45, picked up the first open ball we could find ( a private ball oops) and went to bed.
***********************
12Aug14
Sunrise! There are soooo many boats here in the pond, and it's a Tuesday. The harbor master guided us to an open ball and thank goodness he did. As boats arrive they are all swirling around like vultures waiting to see some one leaving their mooring.
We took Jay ashore in the dink, and he walked to the other harbor to catch the 10:00 high speed ferry to New London, where he then took the AMTRAC train back to BWI airport station. As a retired AMTRAC employee Jay rides for free. Not a bad deal. We are so glad we had Jay crew with us. It makes watch-standing much easier and his knowledge of the route to BI RI was invaluable. Thanks, Jay.
The folding bikes are really coming in handy. We gave mastered dinghy ops and can now assemble each bike in just a few minutes. We rode to Old Harbor and then SE to the Lighthouse.
More on that to come...
Sunday, August 10, 2014
CYCCM!
The Corinthian Yacht Club of Cape May.
A little bit of blue water sailing and we're here.
We left the mouth of the Sassafras River at 0600 Saturday morning.
So nice to be in the part of the bay where the bottom is sandy. No black goo coming onboard the boat with the anchor rode. Off to the C&D canal.
We rode the current up and through the C&D. As you can see above
We were doing 8.2 KT's at that point.
But the minute we poked our bow out into the Delaware River the flood current hit us in the face. We had to motor two hours in adverse current before the current shifted. We took a small channel along the western side to minimize the the adverse current and then we crossed over to the eastern side just south of Reedy Island dike. Now running with the current we were scooting along at 7.5-8.0 kts.
Sunny skies and no wind we had to improvise a little shade over the hatch opening. Jo brought her little umbrella and tied it in.
Nice thing is, since we raised the front end of the structural pipes so the hard top would drain properly, we now have fairly good visibility without having to pop ones head above the opening.
The last two hours getting to Cape May was a slog. The current had changed and was now opposing us. As we got to the southern tip of Cape May the water was boiling. With both engines on at 3000rpm (normally that would be around 8.5 KT's) we were fighting to get above 4 KT's.
We anchored at the Corinthian Yacht Club Cape May's mooring field at about 1830.
We will pick our friend Jay Corcoran on Sunday for our trip up to Block Island. Jay and Debbie were our long time neighbors back in Saltworks and they are members of CYCCM. Jo and I have raced for Jay on his J-105 for over 15 years and have raced out of CYCCM quite a few times.
We cleaned ourselves up, watched the sunset, honored colors (Coast Guard Station Cape May is directly east of CYCCM as they played taps) and went ashore to eat dinner as Jay had signed us in as his guests. Now nice to walk in and see folks we know! Had drinks with sailing friends Jodie, Lindsey, and Big Mark.
Maybe a little bike ride tomorrow?
Friday, August 8, 2014
8/8/2014 finally underway
Picked up the dink motor from Fawcetts. The carborator was full of water. Replaced all the fuel in the tank and bought a new fuel line. Underway to the C&D canal.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
TaDa! We are covered and enclosed!
When we bought Daruma we had factored in the purchase of a hardtop and full enclosure - and a year later, we are there. Last fall we we began gathering quotes for the hardtop. Sticker shock threw us into a winter lull.
There was a flicker of hope on the Lagoon Owners Group as Steve in Solomon's Island was putting together a group-buy of hard tops for 410s. He found a man in Ft Laud who would make a mold and then start the mass production. Sounded perfect. As Steve and Jo talked several times, and photos were exchanged, we realized we have a bimini frame like no other. Eeeeek. Thank goodness we figured that out before the truck rolled up with a hardtop inside.
By May we had a local man ready to start production - until a medical emergency. And then there was Justin! Justin Allen is an expat Kiwi boatwright and a perfectionist. Everything he creates is a masterpiece. We all met about 15 years ago as we worked together to install a cherry floor at neighbor Tad's house. The production was covered in a previous post.
Once completed, Christine Germane, and her team at Canvas Connection, jumped in to install hardware, pattern, sew and install our full enclosure. http://www.canvasconnection.org
John Spangler, curmudgeon sewer, and Jo used to work together 10 years ago when Chuck O'Malley owned a Doyle loft. John moved down to CC and Jo would help out and sew stack packs for CC.
We are finally ready to shove off. Bring on the rain and snow and you'll find Jo snug and toasty on the back porch.
Some of the panels, the hardtop with sliding hatch, and Jo's new stackpack. It seems she needs to now make a matching grill cover. And chaps for the dink. And...
And drain.
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