TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Day 3 started early with an equipment malfunction. The most important peice of equipment failed! The coffee maker. We made due, but boiling some water and pouring it though a paper towel. mmmm good coffee.

I hailed the pump out boat with no response. I hailed old port on the radio to ask when the pump out service starts, Tango was awake an on duty. Sarcasm at the ready. He said to call on channel 9, which I already told him I tried. Question 2: “where can I get gas. I also need 2 stroke oil.”  Response: “you’re getting up in to the $25 range for questions” “Try Goat Island marina”  Should I ask which channel they listen on? Luckily they heard the conversaion, and guided us in.

We gassed up and headed out. The winds were light, and Rose Island lighthouse was a beautiful sight heading out of newort harbor.

We had light air from the south, heading north. When we reached north of Jamestown, we started seeing the Air show. Jets flew overhead, and seemed to almost touch the top of the mast. By the time you heard the plane, it was 400 yards past. Lots of explosions, and smoke. I’ll bet it was an amazing show on the ground of the Quonset airport.

We ran into trouble again north of Allen Harbor. Paying more attention to the Airshow than to the chart or depth sounder….Looked like alot of water between us and the shore…whoa 4 ft! My draft is 4.3…bump and a slow stop.. whoops! Time to tack! Picked up wind on the other side which heeled the boat, and away we went. Paid more attention to the chart, and less to the jets in the sky… from then on.

I tried some broad reaching with great success, and we arrived back around 4:30. Took a swim, and had a beer. What a great trip..

It was a cool night with a stiff breeze and waves 1-2 feet. After a restless night on the boat, we woke to a mellow cool morning.

We fired up the alcohol stove and made some espresso. Yummm. After some breakfast, we got an early start.

We had a steady southerly breeze around 5-10 knots. It was a beautiful day, and an un-eventful sail.

Just under the newport bridge, the winds really picked up. We began to heel, and the gunnels were in the water. It was exhilarating.  We were on a close haul all the way into the harbor. I was really happy with the way the boat performed. We did start to notice one problem, the tiller was getting very sloppy. Too much play in the steering. More on that later.

We pulled into Newport harbor and I hailed Old Port marina on the radio. They told us to get to Valvteck fuel dock, and call back. He then tells us to go back 4 rows and look for our mooring number. Well, there is no sequence to the numbers and we search for 20 minutes without luck. Yes we are new here! So, I call back on the radio, “We are having trouble finding the number”, and get attitude. He says “How did I know that was going to happen”. Thanks for the sarcasm buddy!.

After giving some mooring numbers and boat names, he says we should be near it, so we keep looking. After about 5 more minutes we find it. He comes out about an hour later to get his money, 45 for the mooring. I give him a 50 and he says “How much you want back?” , and stands there waiting for an answer.  I’m thinking “You are hinting for a tip, after your bad attitude and lousy service? Are you kidding?” I say, I’’ take a hundred dollar bill if you got one" He gives me the 5, and gets on his way.

We took the launch into town ($6 each way) and had some dinner. No shower facilities, bathroom or ice. The Seamans Church was closed for renovations, so a dip in Newport harbor would have to be our bath for the night. We had a great dinner, and headed back. I realized we needed ice, so I asked a girl waiting for the launch. The place she described was too far to make it back to catch the launch, so I went up on thames to ask the pedi cab driver some advice. He said he could take me and we would make it back in time. I asked how much, and he said I could pcik the fare, so off we went. He got me there quick, I got the ice, and he brought me all the way back to the launch. Took about 10 minutes, 5 minutes to spare! I told him it was the best customer service I had gotten all day, and gave him a 20.

Back on the boat, Jon seranaded me with some originals and most of the Who record Tommy. We sacked out early.

We sailed out of Greenwich bay with a nice 5 knot breeze. Mellow but moving. The plan was to Sail to Newport on our first day. The wind had other ideas. Just past round Rock bouy, the wind died. Completely. We turned to the motor. I listened to the forecast, 5 knots or less. Not good. Realizing that we did not have the gas or patience to motor to Newport, we bailed. It was supposed to be a sail after all!

We started motoring back. As we got back towards warwick light, the wind appeared. We started sailing. Around lunch, the wind had picked up substantially. As my mate Johnny made sandwiches, I headed north or patience island toward bristol..perhaps we would have a destination after all. Just north of Patience was starting to mean more than a direction.

The wind stayed consistent for the remainder of the afternoon, and we made steady progress toward Bristol.

Trouble on the Rocks

Coming to poppasquash point in bristol, we were on a beam reach. I recommended a tack, and Johnny wanted to pinch our way past. He gave up and we tried to tack, but without enough speed and some fickle winds, we were left stranded in the shallow rocks. The bow pointed inland, and bump went the keel on the first rock. My first grounding. On the rocks is for drinks, not sailboats… Remaining calm, expletives aside, we struggled to find some wind. Johnny said “Lets not panic, and find the wind”  We pointed the bow north, with the wind on our port, and the jib started to fill, the boat heeled and we started to slowly pull off. What a relief. I did not want to get stranded on my first trip.

We rounded the channel bouy at Poppasquash point, and headed into Bristol Harbor. Bristol Marine were very freindly and helpful. They pointed out our mooring and free launch to the dock! Great service and nice folks.

We had a great meal on the water at Goffs. We took a walk around Bristol, and ended up at Aidens for a beer.  Quick pickup from Bristol Marine, and we were back to the boat. We played our acoustic guitars, and sang some songs before turning in..A great first day after all…