We've Been Busy
27 July 2019
Robert & Alice Smith
Once LB was back in the water in Wickford we sailed to Newport where we hooked up with OCC members for the Southern New England Rally.
Sailing here brings back so many memories of the times back in the 70's and 80's when we chased America's Cup races, raced our own boats on the bay, bought two boats a C&C 35 and a new Beneteau First 42 for racing, cruised all the islands, Nova Scotia, and Maine.
Having met our OCC friends, we sailed from Newport To Bristol, RI to celebrate the 4th and watch the oldest 4th of July parade in America; it went on and on and on. Next to Cutty Hunk, then New Bedford, back to Newport then Wickford to pick up our daughter Diane and her four boys.
I bought an inflatable paddle board for the boys and it was a super hit. We sailed back to Newport and the boys fished and played on the board. Then it was off to Block Island. I wanted to take the boys to the ocean for body surfing. The first day there were huge waves crashing on the beach. I thought the kids might be intimidated but no way, they loved it. After threes days of swimming, an island tour by car, we were ready to move on so off to Mystic and the Mystic Aquarium.
Di had figured to head back around the 20th so after two days in Mystic we left in really thick fog and headed back to Wickford. It was a terrific visit and we adults kept the four boys going constantly.
I'm sure most of you can relate to the feelings of sadness we shared when Diane drove out of the marina heading back to Wheaton, Alice and I were along again on LB and now we would focus our planning on the trip back to Kenosha.
I know this sounds like a broken record, but... we sailed back to Newport to our favorite, and free mooring to do our planning. The next day we sailed to Point Judith Harbor of Refuge for the night. Next was Duck Island along the Connecticut shoreline. Across Long Island Sound to Port Jefferson where we experienced another one of those severe late afternoon thundershowers. 35 kts and rain so heavy we couldn't see the boats on moorings right next to us.
All along Alice wanted to meet her life long friend who lives in the Brooklyn. We thought this would also be a good opportunity to visit Ground Zero of the 911 terrorist attack. We sailed to City Island, stayed on a mooring at the yacht club, took the bus and subway to the World Trade Center and the 911 Museum. A trip to the top of 1WTC for the awesome views and to try and soak in the the incredible building our country has created in response to that devastating terror attack. Then to the reflecting pools and the museum. For us it was a roller-coaster of emotions. We felt the highs of being so proud of our country for building such an incredible memorial and then the museum! So much thought and effort dedicated to preserving the events, the sights, sounds, the pictures of the people whose lives were lost.
For us 911 is no longer that event we followed on the news. Seeing the two inch steel beams bent and torn apart; seeing the pictures of the people, looking at the actual foundations of the two towers embedded in the bed rock makes it all so real and we are thankful we made the effort.
So now we are at the Hop-On-Nose marina south of Albany and Troy where LB's mast gets stepped and laid across the deck. This is in preparation for our upcoming trek across New York via the Erie Canal.
Our chart plotter says we've traveled 8,230 nm since leaving Kenosha back in September 2017. We've got a few more to go before making our landing back at Southport Marina, hopefully in very early September.