Here it is mid August and I’ve not posted an update since mid June. It’s not that we’ve been idle, just the opposite – we’ve been quite busy. Every available weekend we’ve been somewhere and even some unavailable ones. I will try to assemble a brief trip log here, time permitting (ha ha) I will come back and flesh them out a bit. Destinations include Block Island a couple more times, Cuttyhunk, Martha’s Vineyard, Stonington CT, and Dutch Harbor for Jr. Race Week. Spinnakers were flown, night sailing done, a new member of the fleet was added and I committed various humiliating acts on my Laser. And of course we are planning for “The Great Maine Expedition of 2010” which starts this Saturday and runs through Labor Day. I really am quite far behind.
So briefly with few details (e.g. where or if we stopped Friday night, various and sundry evening sails, day sails etc), in reverse order which is the order of clarity of the memories…
8/13 – 8/15: Dutch Harbor, Jamestown, RI
The NBYA Jr. Olympics (aka “Race Week” though it happened on a weekend this year) were held out of Ft. Getty on Jamestown last weekend. My son was racing Lasers and my wife was on call so I parked Evenstar in Dutch Harbor to shorten the race day commute from 40+ minutes to a five minute dinghy ride. Excellent way do the regatta, hanging with friends who did the same thing and watching the kids sail. We sailed the kids from my daughter’s sailing class with us on Friday to end their season too which was fun.
8/6 – 8/9: Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard
This was our first trip back to the Vineyard in two or three years. We sailed to Cuttyhunk Friday night arriving well after dark and anchoring in an unpleasant Northerly. Up early Saturday and in Oak Bluffs by 9:15, we picked up a mooring and had a pleasant three day weekend on the island. Monday we sailed home much of the way, though it was a beat from the Buzzards Bay Tower to Newport.
7/30 – 8/1: Block Island
Yeah, we went there again. We’ve done Block Island a lot this year, frequently because we’re either meeting people there or taking people that haven’t been in a while. That’s fine with me, it’s a fun place to go – this time we took my parents who’d not gotten out with us all year and were likely to only be able to do one weekend due to scheduling. This time we had great breeze on the way home and sailed pretty much from the harbor exit at Block to the entrance to Greenwich Cove. We set the spinnaker South of the Jamestown Bridge and flew it all the way up the bay, doing a conservative take down near Patience Island.
7/24 – No Trip…Kathy on Call
7/17 – 7/18: Block Island
Short weekend with family in town Friday night, so BI is the obvious destination if you can’t leave until Saturday Morning and need to get off shore. Got up EARLY and got to the island early too. Sailing home was awesome, we set the spinnaker outside of the BI harbor entrance and flew it all the way to the North end of Jamestown, where the wind shifted too North to carry it any more. What a day, we cracked 10+ knots over the bottom when the breeze piped up off Pt. Judith and successfully jibed the spinnaker a couple of times.
7/9 – 7/11: Cuttyhunk via Newport
Nice weekend in spite of the weather predictions. We got some sailing in and saw our first rain storm on the new radar right before it hit us. It was weird weather, because Cutty seemed to be in a circle of sunshine, with clouds all around on the mainland and the Vineyard. I’m not complaining, it was a great trip and sadly our only extended stay at Cuttyhunk this summer.
7/1 – 7/5: Block Island
For the Fourth of July we met friends on Block Island once again. Crowded, but fun being rafted up with friends. My original plan was to bring the boat out Thursday to secure a good anchorage. As it turned out we used Evenstar to bring a bunch of kids to Newport on Thursday to see the America’s Cup, so my two kids and I were able to jump off from Newport to get the boat to Block Island. We had a nice, fast motor sail out there (I didn’t want to use the main since the radar mount was having problems and I couldn’t use much back stay tension) and anchored the boat. Kathy had to work ad joined us Friday by ferry. The details of the ride home escape me, but I know we didn’t sail much due to the back stay concerns.
6/26: Quonset Air Show
Great platform for watching the air show, we took some friends and family for the day since Kathy was on call and Will had a Laser regatta Sunday anyway.
6/18-6/20: Stonington, CT via Dutch Harbor
Although we can drive there by car in under an hour Stonington seemed a cool place to go. We were looking for something different anyway since we knew there were several Block Island trips on the horizon, so we left Friday night after GBSA orientation night and stayed in Dutch Harbor. Stonington is a lovely town and a nice destination. While a little challenged for good ice cream spots, Noah’s restaurant is ample compensation – we ended up there for dinner and breakfast the next day. The kids had fun sailing the new dinghy around (more on that later…separate post) the harbor and the town is small but charming. A nice change of pace, though we picked up a mooring since the anchorage did not seem very accessible.
So the rough travel log is there, so I won’t forget it if I ever feel the need to expand on it. There are many details to add, but the big trip is coming up. This Saturday we leave for a two week vacation (our first ever) to Maine. Our place is to stop in Provincetown en route, then go straight to Penobscot Bay on an over night through whale infested waters.
