SUNDAY, JULY 4, 2010
Sailings
Happy 4th of July !!
I arrived at the dock ready to go out to the boat and watch the fireworks from all of the surrounding communities. I was greeted with this sunset and realized there would be no competition.
They are trying though, it sounds like a war zone out there. Rhode Island made it legal to buy and use fireworks and there is some serious competition going on. But the sunset still has beaten them all.
The past week at the mooring has been one of sailing, finding things to fix, or make better and going back out to try them out.
A little info on where I am at. I am on a mooring at the Standish Boatyard in Tiverton, Rhode Island. I am moored in the Sakonnet River. The Sakonnet River runs from Buizzard's Bay on its south end to the Mount Hope Bay on its north end. It forms the eastern border of Rhode Island, the island that Newport is located on, not the state, and is bordered on its east by the towns of Tiverton and Little Compton.
Last Sunday, June 27th was Belmira's Maiden sail. With Jordan, Chris and Chris' son Andrew for crew, we set out southbound down the Sakonnet River. We covered about 19 nautical miles down to Church Point and back. It was mostly a beat down river into southwest winds and a pretty smooth run back. Just a fun run with jib and jigger.
Worked on finishing up the lazy jack install on Monday. a pretty steady 15 knot wind made that an interesting project.
Tuesday was another work day. Repaired a valve on the head and finished and installed a new mooring pennant.
Wednesday I went north into Mount Hope Bay and covered 17 miles with a steady 8 knot wind out of the north. Trying to work out tacking with Jib and Jigger. She sails well and when it is time to come about she comes up well into the wind but doesn't like to complete the turn. I think I need to be doing something with the mizzen when I come about but I am not quite sure what it is. The mizzen seems to be acting like a rudder that wants to keep her off the wind. There are several ketches here at the boatyard. I need to find one of their skippers and ask for some advice.
Thursday was a run around for pieces and parts day. But there was another nice sunset.
Joe came by on Friday and we headed south down the Sakonnet River. This time we had a pretty steady 8 to 10 knots from the Southwest. We sailed with Jib, Main and Mizzen and had no trouble keeping her rail in the water. Almost made it to Sakonnet Point but we had a time table and had to turn back. Had a good downwind run back to the mooring a total of 18.6 miles in 5 hours.
Saturday was a lazy cruise out of Mount Hope Bay, into Narragansett Bay around Goat Island and back again. Wind was good and I covered 16 miles getting mostly 6 knots with Jib and Jigger. By the way my speedo on the boat isn't working so all the distances and speeds I am giving are from the GPS so my speeds are over ground.
Tomorrow I plan to go exploring and maybe spend the next 2 nights anchored out somewhere. Stay tuned for an update.
I arrived at the dock ready to go out to the boat and watch the fireworks from all of the surrounding communities. I was greeted with this sunset and realized there would be no competition.
The past week at the mooring has been one of sailing, finding things to fix, or make better and going back out to try them out.
A little info on where I am at. I am on a mooring at the Standish Boatyard in Tiverton, Rhode Island. I am moored in the Sakonnet River. The Sakonnet River runs from Buizzard's Bay on its south end to the Mount Hope Bay on its north end. It forms the eastern border of Rhode Island, the island that Newport is located on, not the state, and is bordered on its east by the towns of Tiverton and Little Compton.
Worked on finishing up the lazy jack install on Monday. a pretty steady 15 knot wind made that an interesting project.
Tuesday was another work day. Repaired a valve on the head and finished and installed a new mooring pennant.
Wednesday I went north into Mount Hope Bay and covered 17 miles with a steady 8 knot wind out of the north. Trying to work out tacking with Jib and Jigger. She sails well and when it is time to come about she comes up well into the wind but doesn't like to complete the turn. I think I need to be doing something with the mizzen when I come about but I am not quite sure what it is. The mizzen seems to be acting like a rudder that wants to keep her off the wind. There are several ketches here at the boatyard. I need to find one of their skippers and ask for some advice.
Joe came by on Friday and we headed south down the Sakonnet River. This time we had a pretty steady 8 to 10 knots from the Southwest. We sailed with Jib, Main and Mizzen and had no trouble keeping her rail in the water. Almost made it to Sakonnet Point but we had a time table and had to turn back. Had a good downwind run back to the mooring a total of 18.6 miles in 5 hours.
Saturday was a lazy cruise out of Mount Hope Bay, into Narragansett Bay around Goat Island and back again. Wind was good and I covered 16 miles getting mostly 6 knots with Jib and Jigger. By the way my speedo on the boat isn't working so all the distances and speeds I am giving are from the GPS so my speeds are over ground.
Tomorrow I plan to go exploring and maybe spend the next 2 nights anchored out somewhere. Stay tuned for an update.
SUNDAY, JULY 11, 2010
Week of July 5th
Well, the best made plans need to be flexible enough to change.
I headed south on Monday with a plan to be out for a few days and it sort of worked. I started motoring down the Sakonnet River and went nearly 5-1/2 miles before I got into any wind. Once again it was Genoa and Mizzen and I was getting a good 4 knots mostly beating my way toward Saknonnet Point. I crossed the "Colregs Demarcation Line" at 1535. Colregs, is an abbreviation for Collision Regulations which are the basic Rules of the Road for Inland Waterways. So when you cross the line you are no longer in inland waterways. In my case I was in Buzzard's Bay which is a subset of the Atlantic Ocean.
I cruised out past the Sakonnet Point Lighthouse. I got out about a mile with a plan to use the mostly southeast wind to let me run down to south of Newport. But the wind worked its way around to its usual southwest, and I could only get back to the beach areas. So I tucked into the cove at 3rd Beach to drop anchor and spend the night.
The next morning it was back out and heading west toward Point Judith. I was in some good wind and I was able to set up my Aires Windvane that I call "Otto", short for Auto Pilot. Otto worked well and had the helm as we skirted the "Cottages" on Newport's 12 Mile Drive. But then, down towards Beaver Tail Light at the tip of Conanicut, "Jamestown" Island, it all went flat. The wind died the water went flat and the sun was beating down. So I motored into Newport Harbor to see how the Po Folks were doing then on up the East Passage to head for my mooring in Tiverton. The wind was nowhere to be found for the next 4 hours and, as I was about 2 miles from home, up it popped. A steady 8 knots from the south. But I had had enough and called it a day.
On Wednesday I got a charge controller, that I had ordered on line, for the wind generator on the boat and spent the rest of the week gathering parts and getting it installed and tested. Here is a picture of the controller being put together in an enclosure on my work bench, chart table, and a picture of the house bank getting a 5 amp charge from the 8-10 knot wind that was blowing when it went live on Saturday morning. Although the picture of the wind generator looks like it is standing still, I really could not see the individual blades. It was all a blur.
The plan for this week is to go sailing. I actually have a plan to be in certain places on each day for the next week. But having tried to be in certain places and not quite having it work out, I think it is wiser to say that I am going sailing. Although I do have a plan "A", I may end up using plan "B". So rather than tell you what I hope to do, I'll just wait until the next post and tell you where I have been.
Oh! an by the way, did I mention that there are some really nice sunsets here. This was last night.
I headed south on Monday with a plan to be out for a few days and it sort of worked. I started motoring down the Sakonnet River and went nearly 5-1/2 miles before I got into any wind. Once again it was Genoa and Mizzen and I was getting a good 4 knots mostly beating my way toward Saknonnet Point. I crossed the "Colregs Demarcation Line" at 1535. Colregs, is an abbreviation for Collision Regulations which are the basic Rules of the Road for Inland Waterways. So when you cross the line you are no longer in inland waterways. In my case I was in Buzzard's Bay which is a subset of the Atlantic Ocean.
I cruised out past the Sakonnet Point Lighthouse. I got out about a mile with a plan to use the mostly southeast wind to let me run down to south of Newport. But the wind worked its way around to its usual southwest, and I could only get back to the beach areas. So I tucked into the cove at 3rd Beach to drop anchor and spend the night.
The next morning it was back out and heading west toward Point Judith. I was in some good wind and I was able to set up my Aires Windvane that I call "Otto", short for Auto Pilot. Otto worked well and had the helm as we skirted the "Cottages" on Newport's 12 Mile Drive. But then, down towards Beaver Tail Light at the tip of Conanicut, "Jamestown" Island, it all went flat. The wind died the water went flat and the sun was beating down. So I motored into Newport Harbor to see how the Po Folks were doing then on up the East Passage to head for my mooring in Tiverton. The wind was nowhere to be found for the next 4 hours and, as I was about 2 miles from home, up it popped. A steady 8 knots from the south. But I had had enough and called it a day.
Oh! an by the way, did I mention that there are some really nice sunsets here. This was last night.
SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2010
Sailings, The Week of July 12th
Monday; I made it off the mooring in Tiverton at 0925. About a half hour of motoring north got me into a southwest wind in Mount Hope Bay. With Jib and Jenny, Belmira tacked her way into Narragansett Bay and 24.2 miles, 4 hours and 430 minutes later, we dropped anchor in Dutch Island Harbor. Gypsy, the gnome, that lives in the GPS and keeps track of all the data, said that we averaged 4.3 knots and hit a high of 7.5 knots on the trip. Not a bad days sailing and because we were beating our way into the wind, the generator was spinning away keeping those house batteries charged.
Once I dropped anchor and cleaned Belmira up , I took the 12 minute walk across Jamestown to check out all the cool places to visit and get the necessities, when needed. Found a $1.75 draft beer at the Portuguese American Social Club and checked out their menu for future reference.
Chris will be coming out to sail with me in a few weeks and I need to get some ground work done. So these are actually working visits I am making so that I can be a good tour guide.
Tuesday: I weighed anchor at 0830 and with a 5 knot wind from the south I was out into Narragansett Bay and heading for Point Judith. After a few tacks, the wind backed to the southeast and I was able to hold a port tack all the way to the entrance to Point Judith's Harbor of Refuge. Then it was motoring up to Point Judith Pond to anchor for the night. A total run of 21 miles. I had hoped to visit one of Point Judith's great seafood restaurants, and I tried, but there is no place to park a dinghy. Point Judith is the 5th busiest fishing port on the east coast and what isn't seawall is taken up by very busy commercial fishing docks. A good excuse for a road trip one of these non-sailing days.
Wednesday: Fog and rain and very little wind greeted me in the morning and after waiting a few hours, I weighed anchor at 0930 and motored down to the Harbor of Refuge and dropped anchor there at 1017. There was about a mile of visibility and some wind so at 1200 I pulled the anchor and headed for Block Island. Here is a picture of what Point Judith looked like once I left. There is also a picture of a boat I heard a long while before I saw her. I am glad the fog wasn't any denser.
After 5 hours of some really long tacking east and west, the wind gave out and I started motoring. Due to some inherent dumbness, I had not noticed that my GPS was set for track up instead of north up. As a result I ended up somewhat lost on the eastern side of the Island heading north when I would have sworn I was on then west side heading south. I finally found a buoy, reference my chart and plotted a course around the northern tip of the island, that's the light house on the northerly tip of the island, and down to the entrance to the Great Salt Pond. Oh!, on the way, to the northern tip of the island I was in seas that were at least 6 feet and was bouncing around quite a bit. All of that jostling strained the tow ring on the dinghy and it broke. The dinghy was out on its own and I had to turn around and try to recover her. After 2 unsuccessful tries, I snagged her on my third pass and secured her by her briddle rings. I made it to the Great Sat Pond and I found what had to be the last available town mooring. I tied on, started to get settled in and was told that the mooring had been paid for by a boater who was out fishing. So, I was off the mooring and headed over to the west side of the pond to drop anchor at 1938, after 7 and a half hours of sailing and motoring, and chasing a dinghy. A long," @#%^&*!" day!! But once I settled down I was able to appreciate all of the experience I had gained sailing in the fog and rain and getting lost and un-lost out on the edge of the ocean. It was a 26.5 mile learning experience.
Thursday: The rain coming in the overhead hatch woke me at 0550 this morning. I closed the hatch and got up about 0830. The rain had stopped and although overcast is was as pretty nice day. I motored into the docks, see the picture of double parking at the dinghy docks. I found a little bakery with Starbuck's coffee and I was ready to explore. A visit to the Harbormasters shack got me a 1 year, Block Island, shell fishing license, for the price of $1.00. One of the perks of being an old guy. Being old didn't help at the fuel dock. I had to buy 2 gallons of gas for the dinghy for $8.00.
But with my new shell fishing license in hand, I motored over to the west side of the pond at low tide, around 5:15 that afternoon, and after about and hour had 18 little neck clams for dinner. If you have never had little necks on the half shell, especially when they have been out of the water less than an hour, you are missing a real treat.
Add a salad and a Corona with lime and it doesn't get much better. A mostly $1.00 dinner.
And of course there was that daily happening. Although the sun has spent most of the day above the clouds it did have to try and sneak over the horizon through that space between it and the cloud cover.
Friday: Weighed anchor at 0600. The forecast 5-10 knot winds from the west fell a little short. I was hoping for a broad reach on up to the Sakonnet River. I was barely able to get 3 knots with the wind I was getting so it was a motor sail nearly all the way back to my mooring at Tiverton. Made it back to the mooring in just under 8 hours. All in all it has been a great week of sailing and visiting places I had not been to or had only visited by roadways. And when I refueled I found that all of the motoring and motor sailing that I had to do only used 15.6 gallons of fuel for 17 hours of engine run time. That's less than 1 gallon per hour running between 5 and 6 knots.
Once I dropped anchor and cleaned Belmira up , I took the 12 minute walk across Jamestown to check out all the cool places to visit and get the necessities, when needed. Found a $1.75 draft beer at the Portuguese American Social Club and checked out their menu for future reference.Chris will be coming out to sail with me in a few weeks and I need to get some ground work done. So these are actually working visits I am making so that I can be a good tour guide.
Tuesday: I weighed anchor at 0830 and with a 5 knot wind from the south I was out into Narragansett Bay and heading for Point Judith. After a few tacks, the wind backed to the southeast and I was able to hold a port tack all the way to the entrance to Point Judith's Harbor of Refuge. Then it was motoring up to Point Judith Pond to anchor for the night. A total run of 21 miles. I had hoped to visit one of Point Judith's great seafood restaurants, and I tried, but there is no place to park a dinghy. Point Judith is the 5th busiest fishing port on the east coast and what isn't seawall is taken up by very busy commercial fishing docks. A good excuse for a road trip one of these non-sailing days.
Wednesday: Fog and rain and very little wind greeted me in the morning and after waiting a few hours, I weighed anchor at 0930 and motored down to the Harbor of Refuge and dropped anchor there at 1017. There was about a mile of visibility and some wind so at 1200 I pulled the anchor and headed for Block Island. Here is a picture of what Point Judith looked like once I left. There is also a picture of a boat I heard a long while before I saw her. I am glad the fog wasn't any denser.
After 5 hours of some really long tacking east and west, the wind gave out and I started motoring. Due to some inherent dumbness, I had not noticed that my GPS was set for track up instead of north up. As a result I ended up somewhat lost on the eastern side of the Island heading north when I would have sworn I was on then west side heading south. I finally found a buoy, reference my chart and plotted a course around the northern tip of the island, that's the light house on the northerly tip of the island, and down to the entrance to the Great Salt Pond. Oh!, on the way, to the northern tip of the island I was in seas that were at least 6 feet and was bouncing around quite a bit. All of that jostling strained the tow ring on the dinghy and it broke. The dinghy was out on its own and I had to turn around and try to recover her. After 2 unsuccessful tries, I snagged her on my third pass and secured her by her briddle rings. I made it to the Great Sat Pond and I found what had to be the last available town mooring. I tied on, started to get settled in and was told that the mooring had been paid for by a boater who was out fishing. So, I was off the mooring and headed over to the west side of the pond to drop anchor at 1938, after 7 and a half hours of sailing and motoring, and chasing a dinghy. A long," @#%^&*!" day!! But once I settled down I was able to appreciate all of the experience I had gained sailing in the fog and rain and getting lost and un-lost out on the edge of the ocean. It was a 26.5 mile learning experience.
Thursday: The rain coming in the overhead hatch woke me at 0550 this morning. I closed the hatch and got up about 0830. The rain had stopped and although overcast is was as pretty nice day. I motored into the docks, see the picture of double parking at the dinghy docks. I found a little bakery with Starbuck's coffee and I was ready to explore. A visit to the Harbormasters shack got me a 1 year, Block Island, shell fishing license, for the price of $1.00. One of the perks of being an old guy. Being old didn't help at the fuel dock. I had to buy 2 gallons of gas for the dinghy for $8.00.
But with my new shell fishing license in hand, I motored over to the west side of the pond at low tide, around 5:15 that afternoon, and after about and hour had 18 little neck clams for dinner. If you have never had little necks on the half shell, especially when they have been out of the water less than an hour, you are missing a real treat. Add a salad and a Corona with lime and it doesn't get much better. A mostly $1.00 dinner.
Friday: Weighed anchor at 0600. The forecast 5-10 knot winds from the west fell a little short. I was hoping for a broad reach on up to the Sakonnet River. I was barely able to get 3 knots with the wind I was getting so it was a motor sail nearly all the way back to my mooring at Tiverton. Made it back to the mooring in just under 8 hours. All in all it has been a great week of sailing and visiting places I had not been to or had only visited by roadways. And when I refueled I found that all of the motoring and motor sailing that I had to do only used 15.6 gallons of fuel for 17 hours of engine run time. That's less than 1 gallon per hour running between 5 and 6 knots.
MONDAY, JULY 26, 2010
Sailings, The week of July 19th
Got in a little sailing toward the end of the week. On Saturday it was out to Mt. Hope Bay with Jordan and Chris. We had some really good sailing for awhile. Then a squall reared its ugly head in the west looking like it was heading mostly to the south east. So we headed north into the bay only to have the storm follow us in. Under sail and motor we had quite a ride. When it became obvious we were going in the same direction as the weather, we turned and headed west. In a short time we were sailing under the Mt. Hope Bridge in bright sunshine, drenched to the bone. With dry clothes and a fair wind we sailed into Bristol harbor and tied up at the Elk's Club dock, Jordan is a member. After a few beers we were back on Belmira and heading back to the mooring.
The rest of the week, prior to Saturday, was consumed with unscheduled maintenance. I discovered my holding tank was leaking. So it had to be removed, repaired and replaced. The details of what is involved in repairing what amounts to a boat's septic system, I will leave to your imagination.
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| Jordan, Chris and our wet clothes at the Elk's Dock |
MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 2010
Sailings, Through August 8th
Well it has been a busy time getting Belmira spruced up and ready for the First Mate's arrival. Chris got here on the 1st of August and we have been out getting her accustomed to the local winds and waters as well as the care and feeding of Belmira. We have put on 52 miles scouting out Mt. Hope and Narragansett Bays and the Sakonnet River. Of course there are all of the great Southern New England restaurants that need to be checked out. Between great seafood and great Portuguese food, it can be difficult deciding where to go.
This week we plan to hit the high seas and go exploring. There are many anchorages lining Narragansett Bay that can be explored and we have an offer of a no cost mooring in Newport Harbor that we plan to take advantage of. Now that tropical storm Colin has fizzled out, and we expect nothing more than some increased swells as a result, we will be heading south to Block Island as part of this week's outing.
The first mate seems to be enjoying being mostly off the grid for this past week. We have had internet access however so there has been some connection. We will leave that behind when we drop the mooring pennant in the morning and have only limited cellphone access to the rest of the world.
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| Here's the First Mate relaxing in the cockpit this morning. . |
The first mate seems to be enjoying being mostly off the grid for this past week. We have had internet access however so there has been some connection. We will leave that behind when we drop the mooring pennant in the morning and have only limited cellphone access to the rest of the world.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2010
Sailings, through August 24th
We are sitting in a donut shop taking advantage of their free WiFi to send out an updated post on the blog. We have been socked in for 3 days with some relief forecast sometime tomorrow. Lots of rain and a lot more wind have kept us on Belmira or hiding out in libraries and donut shops. Last night we were experiencing 15-20 knot winds with gusts to 30. Generated a lot of electricity. The house batteries are full.
Chris and I did get some sailing in during the past 2 weeks before the weather changed. In addition to gunkholing the shorelines of Mount Hope Bay, we got in some good sailing in Narragansett Bay and the Sakonnet River. We also had 4 days that took us to an anchorage at Dutch Island Harbor then a great sail down to Block Island where we anchored for 2 nights. I once again took advantage of my Block Island shell fishing license to provide us with a dinner that started with little necks on the half shell and on to pasta with a garlic clam sauce. The 1st mate has posted some pics of our dinner on her blog at, mudmaven.blogspot.com.
Then it was back to the mooring beating against a north wind that made for some interesting sailing. On a starboard tack we were making great time and could have ended up somewhere on the Connecticut coast west of New London in short order. Every time we tried to tack over to the port side we could only head back to Block Island, a 180 degree change in direction versus the 90 or so degree change that is usual on a close hauled tack. I later read an interesting article in Eldridge's Tide Tables that explains a phenomena that occurs at the mouth of Narragansett Bay. It seems that when the tide is going out of the bay it splits and flows east into Buzzards Bay and west into Long Island Sound. Of course, Block Island is due south of the mouth to Narragansett Bay and we had left Block Island on the high tide, so who knows what might have been happening there in the center of the tidal split. I do hope to find a sailor with good local knowledge who can help explain what was going on. With some good starboard tacks and some motor assisted port tacks, we did make it back and all was well.
I will try and make up for the lack of pics on my next post.
Chris and I did get some sailing in during the past 2 weeks before the weather changed. In addition to gunkholing the shorelines of Mount Hope Bay, we got in some good sailing in Narragansett Bay and the Sakonnet River. We also had 4 days that took us to an anchorage at Dutch Island Harbor then a great sail down to Block Island where we anchored for 2 nights. I once again took advantage of my Block Island shell fishing license to provide us with a dinner that started with little necks on the half shell and on to pasta with a garlic clam sauce. The 1st mate has posted some pics of our dinner on her blog at, mudmaven.blogspot.com.
Then it was back to the mooring beating against a north wind that made for some interesting sailing. On a starboard tack we were making great time and could have ended up somewhere on the Connecticut coast west of New London in short order. Every time we tried to tack over to the port side we could only head back to Block Island, a 180 degree change in direction versus the 90 or so degree change that is usual on a close hauled tack. I later read an interesting article in Eldridge's Tide Tables that explains a phenomena that occurs at the mouth of Narragansett Bay. It seems that when the tide is going out of the bay it splits and flows east into Buzzards Bay and west into Long Island Sound. Of course, Block Island is due south of the mouth to Narragansett Bay and we had left Block Island on the high tide, so who knows what might have been happening there in the center of the tidal split. I do hope to find a sailor with good local knowledge who can help explain what was going on. With some good starboard tacks and some motor assisted port tacks, we did make it back and all was well.
I will try and make up for the lack of pics on my next post.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010
Labor Day, 1st Mate's Gone, Earl Didn't Make It, Summer's Almost Gone & It's Time to go Home.
It's Labor Day and there are lots of folks out boating today. For many it will mark the end of summer.
Chris had to go home last Sunday after a month on Belmira. I think she actually got to get a vacation out of her visit and was able to relax and forget about work for awhile. (See her picture in my last post). We got in a fair amount of good sailing, good food, and visits with friends and family, and I am solo sailing once more. But not for long.
This past week was for some sailing, hurricane watching and a visit from Murphy. Jordan joined Brent and Stacy on Wednesday and we motored out to Sakonnet Point where we caught a little wind and cruised out in Buzzards Bay for the afternoon. We actually got up to 6 knots a few times. So it was no great sail but, it was a good sane sail for Brent and Stacy who had not sailed on the ocean before.
Here is a photo of them relaxing as we blazed along at 4 knots.
We eventually gave up and motored on back to the mooring. It was still a very nice sail and we all had a good time. So much so that we may be all going out again in a few days to try it again.
About the time we got back all the talk was about Earl and how he was planning to visit Southern New England. Even though I was watching Earl closely via email updates from the National Weather Service and other online weather info from NCAR and NOAA, and ignoring some of the fatalistic reporting that was being shouted out by FOX and other "Junk News" outlets, it still looked like my mooring had a good chance of getting some tropical force winds in the vicinity of 35 plus knots. So, believing that discretion is the better part of valor, I prepared Belmira accordingly. I doubled up my mooring pendant and took down the canvas and anything else that would reduce her windage.
To borrow yet another quote her she is ," cleared for action", and waiting on Earl.
Of course it turned out to be a good exercise in preparing for a hurricane. I spent the night aboard, checking the wind speed and barometer regularly. I did get a lot of rain for a few hours between 11:00 PM and 1:00 AM, but never measured and wind stronger than 15 knots. I went to sleep at 1:00. I threw a hurricane party and nobody showed up. Which was okay but now I have to put all that stuff back.
Although Earl didn't show up, we did get some pretty good swelling that showed up the next day. That's where Murphy comes in, he didn't follow Earl's lead, he did show up. As I was trying to get into the dinghy dock, my dinghy got side swiped by a large swell that slammed us into the bottom end of a large outboard motor sticking off the end of a Boston Whaler moored on the end of the dinghy dock. The , "Pssssssst!! ", that followed let me know that we hit a little too hard. Fortunately my dinghy is made up pf 4 separate inflatable chambers and she only ended up with a flat nose.
Here she is with her crumpled nose up on the dock getting patched.
Now that Labor Day is over it is time to start thinking about closing down my boating season. The nights are getting cooler, the trees are showing signs of Fall, and after having Chris here for a month and leaving, I am missing her and ready to go home. So I have scheduled a pullout for winter storage and plan to be home before the end of the month.
Stay tuned for a few more posts as the season winds down and I head back to Colorado.
Chris had to go home last Sunday after a month on Belmira. I think she actually got to get a vacation out of her visit and was able to relax and forget about work for awhile. (See her picture in my last post). We got in a fair amount of good sailing, good food, and visits with friends and family, and I am solo sailing once more. But not for long.
This past week was for some sailing, hurricane watching and a visit from Murphy. Jordan joined Brent and Stacy on Wednesday and we motored out to Sakonnet Point where we caught a little wind and cruised out in Buzzards Bay for the afternoon. We actually got up to 6 knots a few times. So it was no great sail but, it was a good sane sail for Brent and Stacy who had not sailed on the ocean before.
Here is a photo of them relaxing as we blazed along at 4 knots.
We eventually gave up and motored on back to the mooring. It was still a very nice sail and we all had a good time. So much so that we may be all going out again in a few days to try it again.
About the time we got back all the talk was about Earl and how he was planning to visit Southern New England. Even though I was watching Earl closely via email updates from the National Weather Service and other online weather info from NCAR and NOAA, and ignoring some of the fatalistic reporting that was being shouted out by FOX and other "Junk News" outlets, it still looked like my mooring had a good chance of getting some tropical force winds in the vicinity of 35 plus knots. So, believing that discretion is the better part of valor, I prepared Belmira accordingly. I doubled up my mooring pendant and took down the canvas and anything else that would reduce her windage.
To borrow yet another quote her she is ," cleared for action", and waiting on Earl.
Although Earl didn't show up, we did get some pretty good swelling that showed up the next day. That's where Murphy comes in, he didn't follow Earl's lead, he did show up. As I was trying to get into the dinghy dock, my dinghy got side swiped by a large swell that slammed us into the bottom end of a large outboard motor sticking off the end of a Boston Whaler moored on the end of the dinghy dock. The , "Pssssssst!! ", that followed let me know that we hit a little too hard. Fortunately my dinghy is made up pf 4 separate inflatable chambers and she only ended up with a flat nose.
Here she is with her crumpled nose up on the dock getting patched.
Stay tuned for a few more posts as the season winds down and I head back to Colorado.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2010
2010 Sailing Season, A Final Sail, It's a Wrap, & Homeward Bound
September 7th, Earl has moved on and it was time for the last sail of the Summer. Brent, Stacy and Joe came along and we got some pretty strong winds to sail to. Most of the day was spent at 30 degrees with a rail in the water. Belmira clocked her fastest speed under sail on this trip, 8 knots. Once my crew got over the initial fright of sailing with the rail down, and realizing that we were not going to tip over, they seemed to enjoy the day. We did have to come around to beam reach whenever anyone needed to go below for any reason. Here are a few pics with the rail down and Stacy and I once she had relaxed.
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| Enjoying the Day |
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| Rail down, 8 Knots @ 30 Degrees |
This trip took us out into Mount Hope Bay, over to Narragansett Bay, around Hog Island, over to Warwick Cove and back to the mooring in Tiverton.
Now it was time to start getting ready for take out and winterizing. The plan was to get as much work done on the mooring as possible then head upriver on Saturday for a scheduled pullout on Wednesday, September 15th.
All went well and on Saturday morning Jordan and I motored across Mount Hope Bay and on up the Taunton River to Shaw's Boatyard in Dighton. I completed the rest of the winterizing at the dock and was ready on Wednesday. Belmira was pulled late on Wednesday and her mast came down on Thursday morning. She is really close to the same spot she wintered in last year. Her neighbor boat, just to the West, is a documented vessel with a home port of Crested Butte, Colorado.
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| "Red Sky Sunrise" |
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| 2010 Sailing Season, "It's A Wrap" |
