10/23/2009, Newport, RI
Last night we did a recce to the restaurant/bar where the NARC 2009 rally is holding all their social events, the Rhino Bar. They have specials every night and last night it was two for one entrees so Barb and I treated ourselves to strip steaks as a reward for the last three days. The town sure is dead during the winter. Here it was Thursday night and we were the only people there! We then took a short walk down the tourist street in town and it was equally dead except for an Italian place that looks like we should try it sometime while we are here it was that busy by comparison. It does look a bit pricy though. We picked up some of those "What's On in Newport" magazines to see what we can get up to while we're here. It turns out that the big fort museum, I believe that it's called Fort Adams, is rigged up as a haunted house for Halloween. For the normal price of admission we can go and get the pants scared off us. I think we just might try that although we will probably wait for Heather, Jim and Alan to arrive to see if they'd like to come too and protect us.
There is another boat here that we recognize, a schooner from Hubbard's called Peers Fancy owned and crewed by a couple of ladies who we have met through Armdale Yacht Club where they winter their boat. We have been briefly in touch through e-mail and hopefully, after we get settled, we'll get a chance to say hi.
This morning we awoke early this AM, or at least I did. Barb is having trouble sleeping for some reason. That, plus she is still fighting the battle of downloading her so called backed-up files from an on line service called Carbonite. Word to the wise, either get yourself a huge thumb drive and back things up yourself or burn them to a CD or several CDs if you must. Putting your faith in someone else or someone else's service is an invitation to frustration, especially if you have a large amount of data.
One technical plus from yesterday was that I was able to discern that more by good luck than good management, although I do seem to remember Chris from the Binnacle mentioning that we would use either 12 or 24V with the auto helm when he sold it to us 5 years ago, that we can power the 400G computer with 24V. This is stupendous news as it will mean that we can take one more big ticket item off the 24-12V converter. It also means that since we wired it for 12V it will actually be over wired for the 24V and since, as everyone knows, other than being more expensive, it is always better to use heavier gauge wire than lighter, we should have an even more efficient conduct of power to the auto helm - less power loss etc. This whole business of power usage on the boat is a lot more complicated than use at home especially if you like to have a lot of the same bells and whistles for creature comforts aboard as you do on the hard (fridge, freezer, pressure water, home entertainment). Our friends Alan and Heather aboard Moonlight Maid don't have nearly the same issues as we do, but I don't think that they have the same power consumption either.
We started work today after a brief struggle with the zipper in my CF issue coveralls that had chosen that particular moment, when I was hopping around in the cabin trying to get them on, to stick. Barb to the rescue with her small stick applicator WD40 and an elbow to hold me down to stop my thrashing.
After getting the steering sorted out and getting ourselves relocated to the dock where we will be staying, Barb and I went for a daylight recce which is when I discovered that I had left my debit card in the ATM where I got out some moolah yesterday evening. Brilliant, eh? The security company that tends these things simply shreds the lost cards so there is no getting it back. I have asked our banker back in Halifax to courier us off a new one and since we are here until 1 Nov, I think that we have a reasonable chance of actually getting it.
The rest of today will be spent doing laundry and more explorations. In the spring when we were here we didn't have time to check out the town properly so this is it. I can't really complain since it is free but the internet connection here is really spotty. Thank heavens we aren't paying for it except through our dockage fees.
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10/22/2009, Newport, RI
Last night was a total wipe-out as far as tourism was concerned. After the preceding two days Barb and I were both so bagged that after dinner we had the most cursory of walks about town (very pretty place, by the way, complete with an honest to gosh General Store)) and went straight to our bunk at the unheard of hour of 18h00 and slept through to 06h00 this morning. I guess we really needed the rest.
We were in touch with Moonlight Maid yesterday evening who had arrived at the east end of the canal around 16h00 just in time to be running out of fuel and in time to find that at this time of year all the marinas close early. They had little choice but to tie up to the fuel wharf at Sandwich and wait 'till morning, so I guess we won't be seeing them for a while. Our plans are to continue on to Newport as we have heard that the forecast crappy weather for the end of the week has intensified and if we don't get there today we'll we hanging out here for the duration. It's a 40 nm run but as according to the forecast the winds will be on the nose, what else, we were steaming to make it in the daylight.
We spoke to Alan by telephone at about 11h00 and discovered that they were at Sandwish and were planning to set off to Marion today and were prepared to be weather bound for a couple of days. At least they picked a beautiful spot and they have friends there.
I am writing this from the dock at Newport. Quite a day! We discovered that we had some problems turning to the starboard and after we got in we discovered that the conditions in the Gulf of Maine had that one more little present for us. The movement had caused the load in the lazarette to shift and it had collapsed the box that was supposed to protect the steering mechanism and was inhibiting its ability to turn to the right. To make that discovery I had to shift everything out of the lazarette but we were going to do that anyway to get at the fuel cans. At least it was a relatively easy fix. One nice thing about doing all the work on your boat yourself is that you can figure these things out quickly.
One last thing for the day before I call it quits, we discovered that the 77' motor yacht Convergence was already here having arrived a little earlier in the day. These were the folk that we got to meet the owners and the professional crew back in Halifax. In fact, the owner had taken out a membership in RNSYS he liked the place so much.
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10/21/2009, Marion, Mass
Well, two and a half days ago we set off for another crossing of the Gulf of Maine. Our departure was dictated by the fact that if we didn't go then, we would be stuck in NS for another week and then for who knows how long. We made a collective decision to eat the banging around that we knew that we were going to get on day one in return for predicted nice weather on the second and third days.
I am writing this from my seat at the nav station at a dock in Marion Mass., with a drink at my elbow, warm and comfortable, which is more than I can say about parts of the last two days....
The first day was certainly correct as far as Clearpoint is concerned! My hat is off to anyone who fishes in these waters. With the tidal current, wind, etc., it produces what must be the most confused seas that I have ever seen or heard of - waves 2 meters high coming from all directions and occasionally building to three; we had water coming in over the sides into the cockpit and not just spray! On the plus side, with the heavy weather jib and mizzen we were maintaining 7.5 kts and for a couple of hour long periods we were doing better than 8! On the negative side, although Nelleke was fine, the crew were competing in the new Olympic event - involuntary chumming! Barb won and was out of it for pretty much most of the day, so yours truly had one 20 hour watch. Barb was able to overcome her misery long enough to give me a two hour period of downtime, thank heavens. The photo attached to today's post is that of the chumming winner, wishing that it was all over.
On the second day, for once the weather Gods were right. The winds abated and the seas settled down and the sun came out. I saw a whale in the distance and after a large container ship passed us in the morning, we had two small sparrows as stowaways. We made the tip of Cape Cod by 07h00 and started across the bay and immediately were reminded of how important the fishing industry is to the economy and folks that live in this part of the world. We dodged buoys all the way across! On the plus side we saw schools of albacore feeding, one small seal and the day was generally bea-you-ti-ful!
We originally intended to clear customs at Sandwich, only o find out that the customs officers wouldn't come there due to some construction so instead we went on to Marion, a place where Moonlight Maid was planning to stay for the night anyway. By the way, we lost contact with them by 21h00 on the first night but then on our way across the bay we heard one side of Boston Coast Guard talking to them so we are expecting them soon. When we got to Marion, the Dockmaster has allowed us to stay on the town dock for the night which is a huge convenience and very much appreciated. Not only that, but he has allowed Moonlight Maid to stay here too when she arrives.
Peri still hasn't learned the purpose of the little green mat so he really likes Marion.
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