Catching up and Getting ready for the BIG Trip

The concert was great! Such a beautiful setting and such a fun way to enjoy classical music.  Billy Joel was in the audience, and one of their encores was a "spoof" on one of his songs, "My Baby Grand".

Add caption

A storm passed us by to the north - and I couldn't resist taking this picture of our view from the mooring.  Remember the days of jumping off the rock?  Robert would sit there for hours.  David had to snorkel many times to find lost rings and watches.

Tink and I supervised while Bob, Mariah and David tried to figure out why the roller furl isn't working properly.  That's a brand new sail - it not only looks new but it sounds new!

 We spent Saturday in Brenton Cove, Robert came down on the bus to join us, Perrin came over on Oldport Launch, Tink was on Valhalla, and Mariah and Bob arrived on Spray.  Swimming, sunning, sipping and then a great supper.  We all went back to moorings/docks in the main harbor mostly because we were afraid the impending very still night would bring out the mosquitoes in Brenton Cove, although the harbor master put a damper on the party by informing us that we can no longer raft more than 2 boats to the mooring.

Remember the days of many, many boats on the mooring, enjoying the sun and the water and the company on Saturdays or Sundays?  Well, I guess those days have ended.  My political comment is this - we have come to a time when ordinances/laws have to be  created because people don't always exercise proper and or moral judgment.  We never rafted overnight if the weather forecast was not good.  We never left our boats unattended.  Those are the reasons the harbor master told us we had to break up the raft.

Back in Fall River, dockside we met up with our G-dock friends.  As a matter of fact - they left Montauk at 8:00am and passed us (we left Newport at 9:00am) around Prudence Island on the way back to Borden Light.  We had to hurry though, get the car back from Newport, pick up some stuffies for the family gathering at Nancy's and then pick up Rob in Warren.  The family gathering was fun.  Hadn't seen my cousins in a long, long time.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we did laundry (a day long escapade on Monday) cleaned the boat, planned our trip to Maine and then began provisioning the boat for the trip.

Thursday,the tide was with us down the Sakonnet, only about a 8-10 knot breeze, so we motored all the way to Cuttyhunk to find Jane and Mike anchored near our favorite spot.  They joined us for a steak dinner.  Tonite - scallops from Captain Bruce.

I really do love this place!

We will stay here Friday and head to Onset on Saturday so we can get an early (6:00am) start through the Cape Cod Canal on Sunday.  We figure the trip (130+ miles) should take about 22 hours at an average speed of 6 knots.  that would get us there early Monday morning.

We pulled out the jack lines and the harnesses.  Made sure all the clips worked and reviewed how to latch on etc.  We will wear them all night - both of us.  Our watch plan is 2 hours on the helm, 2 hours off.  We won't go below except to pee or get food or warmer clothes.

Not the most flattering picture of David, but these are inflatable harnesses.  If we fall overboard we just pull the string and it should inflate.  The blue line hanging down is attached to the Jack Lines on the boat and can be easily disconnected if necessary.

The blue lines on either side of the boat run from bow to stern and we can clip on if we go forward on the boat for any reason.

We have plenty of blankets and warm clothes and the cockpit can be completely enclosed if we need to stay warm.  It should be a good sail.  The weather looks promising.  Last time we did this we had to motor from 6:00am to 5:00pm before the wind filled in at about 12 knots from the south.  The seas were calm and we were able to sail wing on wing (without a pole) all night.  We saw the moon rise and set, watched the cruise ships headed to and from Canada go by, and crossed tacks with another boat all night.  We met them the following morning in Tenants Harbor.  We are still unsure as to our actual landing place. We liked Tenants Harbor, and would like to return there, but there were so many lobster pots, we're almost afraid we would have trouble getting through them this time with a bigger boat.  But we'll see how we make out time wise and how we feel on Monday morning.The alternative landing harbor is Port Clyde.

Sunday is David's birthday - 62 he will be.  What a way to celebrate with an overnight sail to Maine.

We miss our sailing friends, Pat and Dick White (their 36' Catalina is on the market) and we miss meeting up with Marge and George (they are very busy with their boat business). We miss our kids and our grandkids - wish they could be aboard Obsession with us to enjoy this beautiful summer.