I HATE SHOES

I had a doctors appointment on Monday at about noon in Boston. A massive low pressure system had moved over New England starting Sunday morning and is still lingering around. It brought a ton of rain and winds in excess of 35 knots. Green had mentioned this Sunday as we struggled to surface my dinghy, but I didn't think too much of it since my anchors had shone through a gale in mid May with winds that hit 50 knots. I left Newport Monday morning bound for Boston. After the doctors appointment, I went to the library to use the computer and read a bit. It was a little weird, because at just about 4:30 pm I was reading Sailing to the Reefs by Bernard Moitessier and the chapter was about these massive gales that rip through Cape Town with winds over 80 knots. He was telling about how well his CQR anchor holds, and my thoughts happen to drift to Winchelsea  and how she was holding up in this small gale up here. Well, had I not forgotten my iPhone on my boat, I would have had a new on...

The day started so very, very well. Maria was coming in from Boston just before noon, and Jeff, running late as  usual, was due to arrive just after 2. The plan was to take Winchlsea out for a spin, even though there was very little wind. I was fine with this because I had just rebuilt the water pump the week previous, and was anxious to see if that really did solve my engine issue of shutting down after less than an hour at work. By 2:30 we were off of my buoyed anchor (and we did it right this time) and motoring down Narragansett Bay. After over an hour, the engine was still running smoothly, with no changes in RPMs or sounds of her struggling. We had been motoring up wind, so we could have a nice down wind run coming home. It was a picturesque Friday afternoon in August sailing in Rhode Island sound. On the way back the wind died, but we didn't care; we had no place special to be. I flipped the engine back on as we approached Fort Adams and rounded the point back...

Like all good things, summer in Newport is coming to a close. We said goodbye to a fellow crew member bound for law school a few nights ago, and another is leaving to finish college in two days. There is a definite nip in the air, especially at night. Fall is approaching, there is no mistake about it. I plan to leave sometime during the second week of October. The tourism will significantly slow down by then, hurricane season will be nearly over, and the cold fronts will (hopefully) will not have moved in yet, bringing fierce winds with them. My general plan is to head out of Narragansett Bay, hook a right and go west into Long Island Sound. Then its down through Hell Gate , the East River and out into the Atlantic. I'll probably stay outside of the ICW as I pass by New Jersey, duck in around Cape May, and sail up Delaware Bay and then down the Chesapeake. From there, I'll stay inside around Cape Hatteras (I'm bold, but not that bold) and stay mostly outside with a plann...

It's official, I am now living pretty comfortably and very green, generating my own power off the grid. When I first came to Newport, my batteries were shot, I had a small solar panel with the incorrect voltage for my batteries, and no engine/alternator combination to produce electricity. As you may remember, I was charging my iPhone at work and using candles at night on the boat. It wasn't the most convenient thing, and it certainly needed improvements, but it worked for a while. I first upgraded to a larger, more appropriate solar panel, and with that I could now charge my phone, turn on a couple of lights for a few hours and even use the VHF radio, wow! I also replaced the batteries for free, since they were covered under warranty. My dad generously gave me a wind turbine for Christmas since he's in the industry, and its been a long road of failed installation attempts, saving some money for the factory mounting kit and finding a day to do it, but it's finally up, ...