10/24/2009, Newport, RI
We spent part of yesterday walking about Newport and discovered that just down the road from the grocery store is the area where a lot of the mansions are situated. Some of these are still private homes but many of them are essentially museums and can be toured in season for a small fee. Even passing them from the street was humbling. They looked more like castles or an estate that you would expect to see in Europe rather than a home for even multimillionaires here in North America. I was reminiscing on the fact that there was a time on this continent where a people could amass a fortune and then either have the taste to build a place like these or the brains to hire someone with the taste and skills to do it for them. I suspect in many cases the gentleman would have married into a more refined family, perhaps even one from somewhere in Europe, and they would be the ones with the taste to have the places built. Then I began to wonder if these fellows were even that much different from those people that are trying to build their fortunes today and are using less than honest means, but these days they are getting caught. Something to think about, eh? I know that in the Canadian Maritimes, a lot of the people that eventually became very prosperous businessmen started off as privateers or legalized pirates.
Speaking of pirates, this wifi for hire scam is really starting to irritate me. I know that it is included in the dock rate so we aren't paying any extra for it but even so, if there is any portion of the costing for what they are charging that is inclusive of this service then they are not getting their monies worth. We certainly aren't. The fact that Barb and I are both pretty computer technically literate helps us bull our way eventually into a connection but why should I have to repair the connection every time that I sign on and why should I have to jump from one of their repeater antennas to another just to sort of fool them into letting me back on? Shriek! Maybe it's the tech-no-gremlins way of telling me to leave off.
Today was a rainy day following a windy and rainy night so we did mostly work in the cabin. There was enough to do so we were busy. One additional little chore was caused by the storm. A shackle pin on one of the headsail halyards came out last night and we were awoken in the early AM by what sounded like a marble rolling about on the cabin sole, but what was actually the shackle body being dragged in the wind across the cabin roof - a weird sound and one that you simply don't expect secure alongside. I was pretty sure that it wasn't a marble since neither the cat nor the dog were showing much interest.
This morning we took a long walk in the drizzle to get a piece of Plexiglas that I will bend into shape to protect the unwary from a 120VAC hello when they go into the companionway locker and to do a bit more exploring. Newport is definitely a town that has cast its lot with tourism as there doesn't seem to be much else of anything other than to provide real estate for the rich and famous, or the rich anyway, to have one of their mansions. I can imagine that this place used to come really alive when the America's Cup was run here or when the tennis championships were held, but of course, the cup races haven't been held here for years and likely never will again and I think that the US Tennis Championships are also held elsewhere. Still it's a very nice place to visit and wander about and fantasize what it would be like to have that much ostentatious wealth.
I want to hook up our auto helm to the 24V circuits rather than put it through the converter and I have discovered through my research that the computer can be run off 24V and it will provide the power to the linear drive. I just don't know if that power that it wants to send to the drive is the same as the power that it gets in. There is a jumper switch that can be set for 12 or 24V but I need to know if that is something you set because that is the power coming in or if it is what you set to match the drive. I hope that it's the latter as that will make things very easy. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of clarity on this in the manual nor on the internet and my normal source of info at the Binnacle will not be available until Monday. How dare they have a weekend off! I'm not taking the weekend off. Why should they? Wait a minute. I am permanently off. Oh well.
Anne-Louise and Gail came aboard to visit this afternoon for tea. How very gentile. They are a great pair of sailors and are taking Peer's Fancy, a small gaff rigged schooner south for the winter. We were surprised to hear that they had sold it to a fellow from the UK but were staying on as crew/ delivery people for the winter and well into next year by all accounts. We had a great chat and they will be coming over for a dinner of lamb chops tomorrow, Sunday.
On the negative side, our friend Jim from Groton sent us a message that he might not be able to visit due to pressures of work. Damn that work thing, eh? He should hurry up and retire too.
This evening Barb and I treated ourselves to a movie in one of the old fashioned motion picture theatres that the Americans seem to have managed to preserve in some of these towns. They are so much more fun than the 17 Screens sort of places that are springing up in shopping malls all over at home. We went to see "Amelia" with Hillary Swank and Richard Gere, another take on the Amelia Earhart story. I thought that it was done very well and we had some fun watching for places that we recognized since they filmed a lot of it in Halifax, some of it right across from AYC in the Northwest Arm. Then as we were leaving the theatre the heavens opens and the rain came down in torrents. Of course neither of us were properly dressed so I am writing this in my underwear and Barb is huddled in front of the electric heater trying to dry off.
| 09-10 Cruise |
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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.
| 09-10 Cruise |
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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.
| 09-10 Cruise |
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