The shakedown cruise was Memorial Day weekend to Block Island. We left Friday late waiting for our daughter Melissa and granddaughter Cadence to arrive. We dropped the mooring at 5:30. It was pea soup fog all the way to Third Beach and picked up the first mooring we could find (hadn't been used in probably a year ... disgusting).

Pete and Diane on Elixer never did find a mooring so using our air horn, we guided them to ours to raft up. We had pleasant conversation and showed them our new submarine lights and varnished floor. Cadence entertained us as well, but the party was over by 10:00 so Melissa could get her to bed. It ended up being a "rolly" night and we left for Bi in the morning. It's not a pleasant trip with poor visibility, you're looking at a radar screen, dealing with ocean swells, and trying to sail. Yes, it wasn't pleasant and Cadence let us know when she threw up. So we gave up on sailing and powered to the island.

We had great time at BI. We picked up a mooring in Great Salt Pond. Jane and I walked to Old Harbor while Melissa and Cady went to the beach. Of course we ended up at Ballards for a drink, which was so much more pleasant than the height of the summer when it's packed. There we ran into Bill and Laurie on Toodle-oo! We had wonderful happy hours on both Toodle-oo! and Elixer. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves ... lots of laughs!
Monday we left in guess what ... fog again. We almost ran into an anchored yacht very near the entrance to New Harbor and missed that. Very soon afterward Jane kept saying there's something REALLY big in front of us. Low and behold it was the hugh boat that was dredging the inlet! Jane had to go hard to starboard to miss it. We motor sailed to Newport for the night. Of course, the wind picked up right when we entered the east passage! We woke up Tuesday morning to fog and motor sailed up Narragansett Bay to Tiverton.

A very successful shakedown cruise. The only issue we had was overheating of the engine, which I eventually solved. I had replaced the fresh water pump and had some air to get out of the system.