Month: September 2012

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Happy Sailing

Day 13- lucky us. The travel lift picked us up (well, we got off the boat) and brought Ms Newly Painted Bottom over to the well where we painted the areas where she’d sat on the blocks and stands. As soon as we finished- was the paint even dry? – in she went. The next 24 hours were to be loaded with high winds and rain so we opted to stay Tuesday night with the hope of heading to Dutch Island Harbor Wednesday afternoon.  Our spot was next to the haulout well; for which we became very grateful quickly. Russ ran her while the two marina crew were on deck to guide her out of the slings and help toss lines to the two of us waiting at the dock. Heard the engines- no, that doesn’t sound normal- oh NO- “there’s no water coming out of the exhausts!” A few yards more and the lines were tossed; engines shut off.  Too long on the hard is not good for Ms Ortolan. Both engines needed priming with a pitcher of beer (water actually) before they could drink on their own. No damage to the impellers or otherwise.

After lunch on Wed we headed down to Dutch Island, an easy 17nm; the wind just off our stern; the waters of West Passage mere wavelets.  Wavelets is a favorite word of mine and one I’d love to use more often.  Gentle swells is an Ok term too; we found those and then some on Thursday as we – yes folks once again- sailed the 25nm from Dutch in to Block Island’s Great Salt Pond, aka New Harbor. The entire trip took 3 ½ hours so that means we averaged 7.1nm/hr. Not surprising since a few times near the end we saw 9+.

For those who have seen Block Island’s New Harbor, no doubt the memory is of a jam-packed, no moorings available, barely room to anchor harbor; in season that is.  Hearing that it is mostly empty once high season is past is one thing; it’s another eye-opener to actually see it with a smattering of boats here and there.

New Harbor looking pretty empty

Oh and which spot shall we take at the always overcrowded dinghy dock? Um, this looks good- gee whiz we had our pick of everything, including a table at The Oar.  Our much-desired Block items are Payne’s Killer Donuts and we’d been looking forward to them since last year, as in, the day after we left Block. 🙂   Did anyone see our expectant faces drop a foot when we read the sign, “Open 7a.m. Sat and Sun”?  😦  Hopes dashed- but wait- we could dinghy in Sat at 8a.m before we head off.

Fresh, fresh, these are the best!

Our depart time on Saturday was planned for 9:30; the current would be with us through the Race, LIS and the CT River- gee how often does that ever happen? The not-unexpected morning fog co-operated nicely; lifting by 9:15 with perfect visibility by the time we headed out. Tummies full of Killer Donuts, hopes full of sailing expectations; off we motored, and motored. Block Island Sound could only be described as near flat calm; wavelets you might say. Eyes peeled for sea turtles, only to be opened in surprise to see four or five dolphins a few miles out of Block.  That sure sets a record for us.  12:30- began motor-sailing, 1:30- turned off those noisy engines and sailed with main and screacher all the way to the Old Saybrook breakwater.

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Neighborhood Tour

Our land neighborhood is much like an RV park, especially now that a large houseboat sits in front of us- Bridget’s boat. Hauled for a quick bottom painting, she’ll likely be out several weeks. The bottom needs more than a quick scrape and paint. The thought is that the bottom is constructed from the wrong type/grade of aluminum and will need more than a lick and promise to get it ship-shape.

Houseboat “Carpe Diem” is moved to our front yard

Three boats down off our port side, sits Cambia, a 40’ Dean catamaran with major delaminations; but that boat is at least 18 years old. Her owners have been living aboard on the hard for a month and hope to go back in- “soon”. On the plus side the work being done is top quality. Jan and Dick have cruised and lived aboard for 16 years and once this work is complete they will be selling Cambia (loosely, Spanish for “change”) and re-inventing themselves as dirt dwellers once again. So many years, so much knowledge gained and they’ve been extremely helpful to us since we got plopped on land.

“Cambia” getting all spiffed up

A week ago we met Mark- a soon-to-be cruiser. He will be retiring from the fire dept and by the time s/v Gypsy is ready to go he hopes to have convinced his girlfriend that a great cruising experience can be had in a 28’ monohull. Absolutely… and she’s a beautiful Westsail double-ender with enough wood trim to keep someone busy enough so that they are glad the boat isn’t bigger. The other night we met Susan who wanted to ask some questions. While our situations and boats are quite different, when you hear the call of the wild (whether it be wind, water or whatever) and answer it; you are changed. No longer can you say, “I wish I’d done that”, because you did do it.

S/V “Gypsy” – freshly painted and ready to splash Friday

S/V Zanabe caught our attention- seized by a U.S. Marshall and locked up behind a fence. – oooh that could have been poor Ortolan’s fate. The 80’ ketch was built and launched in Argentina in 1977. Back then she was smaller; two subsequent overhauls have lengthened her and made her super spiffy, complete with state-of-the-art electronics and lord knows what else. She’s being foreclosed on a 1st preferred ship’s mortgage in a Providence, RI court. You can have her for yourself; she’s offered for sale by Ocean Super Yachts- can you guess? Only $2.8mil- fence not included.

S/V “Zanabe” all fenced in- so sad

S/V “Zanabe”: under arrest

Windermere is a Cape Horn 65 (only one guess as to her length). She spent the winter in the Bahamas, making many of the same stops we did; only she had her share of engine troubles. A tow up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington, SC must have been pricey, not to mention long. We both gave Bahamian shells to Rose at the marina store here, for her granddaughters.

M/V “Windermere” sits in the spot we occupied last year

Papa II appears to be sans owners at the moment and the marina crew worked on her briefly. We heard a boat with that same name during our time in the Exumas; could be the same one. How many Papa II monohulls exist?
And then we have Ortolan. She’s looking better once Russ decided to work on her a bit after all. His audition for The Blue Man Group was not successful so he’s resigned himself to Lead Project Worker Bee while I accepted the role of Queen Bee. One of the yard workers offered this description: “you must be a nurse; following him around, handing him things.”  I was thrilled when Russ caved in and agreed to have the yard sand Ortolan and he’d paint. We paid for two hours and supplies because all that could be done was to tape and sand one section of the stbd bow. The power sander takes off too much paint though.

Russ takes a break from his Blue Man Group audition