The new life in Newport

By Sailor Keddy -
Maria woke me up at 7 am the next morning. She had to be on the 8:30 bus back to Boston. I went outside and the fog was so dense I couldn't see land. The wind was howling. I was grateful we had made it in a few hours before this stuff set in. We climbed down the rickety ladder to Folicle, compass in hand. I knew the yacht club was somehere to the south of where we dropped anchor. Within 30 seconds of leaving Winchelsea I realized a) the ladder was about to break itself free from the transom and sink in the harbor b) the yacht club was on a huge rock and I had no clue where to land the boat if I even found it and c) one of the oar locks was bent and rowing with one oar in this wind was an exercise in futility. Trying to get back to Winchelsea was not easy.

We started calling marinas to find a launch service. Eventually, we got ahold of someone who would pick us up at 9. On the bright side, on out way in the HMS Bounty appeared out of the fog, gliding along and making it's way out of the harbor; I won't ever forget that.

Once ashore I wasted no time and found Aquidneck. I met John, the owner; Green, the captain; and Josh the other crew member. They told me to come back tomorrow at 9 and I'd start work. I spent the rest of the day cleaning Winchelsea.

That night, tradegy struck Folicle. It was extremely windy, and I was checking my bearings on three fixed points at regular intervals. They were, and still are, consistant with no signs of any dragging. Folicle decided he had had enough of me and Winchelsea and ripped himself free. I still had the line and the steel ring, and I found out later he tore the ring completely through the fiberglass. The next morning I found out the launch service was completely unreliable and showed up almost 30 minutes late for work on my first day. Luckily, that was the earliest I have had to come in, which gave me time to rely on the launch service while I searched for Folicle. He was picked up by the aforementioned yacht club on the rock to the south, but I discovered he had a gaping hole in his transom beyond repair. Just two days ago, I bought a similiar dinghy with a 3.5 horsepower two stroke outboard. This has made my life infinatey easier and I can now come and go as I please.

I figured out how to post photos writing this on my iPhone, here is what Folicle looked like before I sold him, as well as the new dinghy. Good luck in your travels, Folicle.














- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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