Going south for the 2021 season

Oct. 27, 2021 we left Oxford, Md with our newest crew recruit, Walter L. Started out with 2 reefs in 20 knots of wind at 1630 but had both reefs shaken out before dark. Walter and I took watch, alternating every two hours with Andrew, while mostly motor sailing and dodging tugs or cargo ships. We arrived at Bluewater Yachting Center in Hampton, Va. at 10:30 am on 10/28 to join the 2021 Salty Dawg Rally to The Bahamas. 

Walter’s wife KC picked him up the next day and they proceeded to drive down to Florida making coastal stops along the way. Andrew and I continued preparations for the offshore segment to the Bahamas. We had two more crew joining us and all kinds of COVID protocols to go thru, not to mention getting the boat ready. We had to get negative antigen tests elevated to the Bahamian government website along with all of the passport & vaccination information for each crew member. Then each crew had to apply for a Health Visa on the site which was elevated to their personal page and had to be downloaded and re-posted on the Click to Clear site where we would apply for our cruising permit. Ugh, I can’t imagine the process for having animals on board!

Meanwhile, Andrew replaced the bilge pump that had crapped out on us and we re-packed the spinnaker which was twisted in a messy takedown. We did the last minute grocery shopping and technology testing and had identified a good weather window for our departure. All we needed now was crew. Our crack crew, Jon S.and Dick R. were scheduled to arrive the day before departure but the weather window was moved up and we were now planning to have them jump on board and leave immediately. On 10/31 at 1500, we left the dock for Marsh Harbor, Abaco, and got this picture of Norfolk, Va. just as it was getting dark.

We had an easy sail, averaging 7.5 knots during our 3 hour, two man shifts that night. Day 1 of our southbound adventure, we had the chute up and we’re passing boats that had departed the day before us. We saw lots of dolphin pods and enjoyed watching them play chicken with the bow of the boat. All was going well until the wind dropped out. That evening we motor sailed all night and saw only two other boats on the radar.

Day 2, we were still motoring! Caught a tuna around 830 am, filleted and ready to cook for dinner by 9am. Boat speed was averaging 7 knots and we were headed straight for the Abacos but still no wind. It was so calm, Andrew was hoisted up the mast to retrieve a batten that was coming out of its sheath (due to the flogging mainsail).

Day 3 was a beautiful sunny day with white puffy clouds and calm seas. Unfortunately, along with that came even less wind. Jon was so bored, he made himself a huge breakfast! That evening we saw the most amazing pink & blue sky!!

During the evening we played ring around the Rosie with another Salty Dawg boat on the rally. Taste of Heaven passed us on our starboard motoring at 9 knots, then we passed her on our port when she was sailing 3.5 knots and around and around it went all night. I think someone was bored. 

Day 4 - Flat calm. Still motoring. Everyone is bored! That night we creeped thru the cut at Man of War channel in the dark and dropped anchor in Marsh Harbor around 11:30 pm. The next day we motored around Point Set Rock and into a slip at Abaco Beach Resort & Marina. And so begins our next season with Billy Ruff’n sailing in the islands.

6 days puddle jumping from Jamestown, RI to Atlantic City, NJ (and 1 1/4 hour to get back)

To cap off our summer adventures, Andrew and I hopped and skipped our way down the northeast coast from Jamestown, RI to Atlantic City, NJ and one of our favorite crew mates (Jon Sauer) joined Andrew from there to Annapolis, Md. It took 6 days going south and 1 hour and 15 minutes to get back! Here’s the story…

After surviving the hurricane in RI, Andrew and I left Jamestown on 8/24 for Mystic, Ct. We had a 2013 Cruising Guide to help us identify reasonable day voyages but few of the marinas listed had moorings available or could take our 7 foot draft. Our first over-night was in a slip at the Mystic Harbor Marina. Following a narrow and winding harbor channel, we found the marina deep in the harbor. Our slip was just inside the gas dock and a pretty swift current was pushing us away from it. Andrew gave the boat a little acceleration to turn the corner and slide in. Just as he switched into reverse to stop the boat, the engine cut out! Fortunately, a quick and well trained dock hand, instantly took Andrew’s instruction to wrap the line I had thrown him around a piling and stop the boat. He did exactly that and Billy Ruff’n came to a stop inches away from taking out the dock!! I’ve never been so happy to provide a generous tip!!!

The next day we picked Clinton, Ct. as our destination. This spot was designated a “ must see” in the 2013 Cruising Guide so even though we’d never heard of it, we thought it would be worthwhile. We had an easy motor sail with no issues except another winding channel to the Town Dock where we were put on the T just down from Aqua restaurant. After a nice lunch there we walked around town and other than a quaint residential area, didn’t find much that had to be scene. Back on the dock, we visited with a local sailor who had a bunch of kids on board to hang out on his boat. We invited them over to see The Billy since one of the young girls had ambitions to sail around the world when she graduated high school. It was fun to show her the ins and outs of a boat that has been 3/4 of the way around. Good luck to you, Julia!

The locals in Clinton informed us that there was a 5 foot spot in the channel at low tide and we would have to wait till 11am the next morning to leave so we woke up late and had a nice banana pancake breakfast (to use up the always instantly rotting bananas). Once we got going, we had an easy sail to Northpoint Bay in Long Island, where we arrived just in time for this ‘butterfly’ sunset.

Our next stop was Larchmont Yacht Club in NY to visit with our lovely niece, Lauren and her beautiful family. Our youngest son, Drake joined us as we hung out on the boat and at the brand new Club pool, topping the day off with a fantastic Italian dinner in town and some spoon balancing challenges with the kids.

The next day was too rough for us to leave (or land at Liberty Landing in New York City) so we hunkered down and had Jon, our crew for the next leg, drive up to meet us. A 36’ sailboat crashed on the rocks that day and the Larchmont launch was not operating most of the time but eventually we got Jon on board for a good nights rest. 

On 8/29, we arrived at Liberty Landing after the always exhilarating ride thru Hell’s Gate and the East River to the Hudson. It fantastic to watch the skyscrapers fly by and capture the night views on the city.

After a good (but expensive) meal and respite in a slip at Liberty Landing, we headed offshore for Maryland but it wasn’t long before we realized we were going to be diverted by a hurricane for the third time this summer. We slipped into Atlantic City in the middle of the night, following a fishing boat into the harbor since there weren’t any lit bouys.

The next day, I jumped ship since I had to return to Jamestown to pick up my car and had someplace to be the following weekend. I called our buddy Dick, who lives in NJ and has a place in Newport, to figure out the logistics and it turned out he was flying back (in his own plane) the next day. We flew back in 1 1/4 hours, right over the very path that we had just taken 6 days to sail! Pretty surreal and makes you realize life isn’t necessarily about where you go or how you get there as much as it’s about enjoying the ride!!

Surviving a hurricane!

On the same day that we paid our boat insurance premium and were making plans for a trip South to the Chesapeake, we had to rethink everything to avoid hurricane Henri. We tried to secure a mooring at Dodson’s Marina in Stonington, Ct. but when we called to confirm, they said their regular clients were filling up the harbor and nothing was available. That turned out to be good news for us when we found out that Henri was going to make landfall near Stonington! 

Sitting on the mooring in Jamestown, it looked like no one was too concerned about the impending storm, until the day before it was to make landfall. Boats were being hauled and secured while Andrew and I removed and stowed our jib & staysail; lifted, deflated and stowed the dinghy; wrapped the mainsail and double up our mooring tackle. It wasn’t looking like Jamestown would be a good place to be so we called half a dozen marinas trying to secure  for a slip or a moorings but nothing was available. A local friend suggested we anchor up the Narragansett in Potters Cove but we would have to dig out of the bilge and put together our Fisherman’s storm anchor and deploy our Sarca Excel (regular anchor).

The morning before Henri reached Rhode Island, we were preparing to make a run up the Narragansett when once again our hero Jim, called to let us know that another Safe Harbor Marina (JBY’s parent company) up the river in Wickford Cove, was hauling boats and opening up moorings. We signed up immediately on Dockwa (the online registration system) and waited to hear if they could take us. Around noon, we found out they had pole moorings available (which Andrew and I had never heard of or seen before) and by 3pm we were secured between two telephones poles sunk in a quiet, sunny cove. The presence of sailors, kayakers, tubers and all other manner of boaters enjoying the beautiful day, belied the approaching storm. 

By noon the next day, we saw a steady 45 knots, gusts to 60 and 2-3 foot white caps in what had been a flat calm harbor!! Fortunately,  the storm started to calm around 2pm and after a really good night’s sleep, we motored back to Jamestown and returned to planning for our trip to the Chesapeake.

Make up cruise to Martha’s Vineyard & Nantucket

After going back to Devon for a week to fill in for my mother’s vacationing care giver, I rejoined Andrew on the boat in Jamestown, RI and on 8/10, we motor-sailed to Padanaram to spend a few more days with Jeff & Kathy on Mishaum Point, where Jeff pretended to work (from the waist up)!

Next, we sailed back to Cuttyhunk to prove that Andrew could eat lobster without an unfavorable reaction! We ordered clam chowder and local lobsters to go and enjoyed them at anchor on the boat. On Friday (the 13th) leaving Cuttyhunk for Martha’s Vineyard, we were going thru Quicks Hole, when the bilge alarm went off. Andrew went below to investigate and after pulling up all the floorboards, seeing water coming from the stern, checking the head intake, tasting salty water and pulling off the access panels to the engine, he discovered spray coming from the engine shaft seal. It wasn’t so bad that we couldn’t keep up with it using the manual bilge pump but we certainly had a problem to fix once we got to Vineyard Haven. After securing a mooring, Andrew called our new hero Jim, at Jamestown Boatyard, who talked us through a fix. While I held the bellows aft, Andrew hammered the metal collar back into place putting pressure on the part that had caused the leak. 

The next day we were able to enjoy some of what the Vineyard has to offer in the form of a bike ride for me along Oak Bluffs from Tisbury to Edgartown and back. I rode by beautifully manicured cedar homes on the water to the buzzing beaches, shops and restaurants in Oak Bluffs and on through the quaint and preppy streets of Edgartown. That evening Andrew & I enjoyed a fabulous sushi dinner at Mikado on Main Street.

The next day, we had one of the nicest sails of the season going from Martha’s Vineyard to Nantucket. The winds were blowing 10-12 knots out of the NNE. We had a full main and full jib out (and no leaks in the shaft when motoring). We picked up a mooring in Nantucket Harbor and showered up to meet with Sandy & Scott A. for a tour of Nantucket Yacht Club’s well appointed clubhouse followed by dinner at the Adzick’s lovely place on Vestal Street. The following morning, Andrew and I had a burrito breakfast with my high school buddies Gordon and Ed, walked around town and visited The Whaling museum. In the late afternoon, Sandy took us to Cisco Brewers to have an authentic Nantucket apres-beach experience!!

Hadley Harbor was our next stop, where we experienced no leaks during the motor sail over even when going thru the ripping currents at Wood’s Hole. That night we enjoyed a quiet & pleasant evening on the hook and returned to Jamestown the next day to have a mechanic check our work on the shaft. Meanwhile the weather pundits started to make noise about a storm that was headed our way. Time to find a hurricane hole!

The Block Island experience

In July, we had a fun trip to Block Island to meet up with some of our besties from Annapolis. We arrived from Jamestown uneventfully and were looking in the large and packed harbor for a CCA mooring. There are two moorings but the first one we found was occupied by a fishing boat named Slim Shady from Montauk. The boat didn’t have a burgee flying and wasn’t in the latest blue book so we were wondering if, true to it’s name, they were sitting on a mooring they didn’t have rights to. Fortunately, we found the other one and didn’t have to disturb them!

The first day in Block Island, I walked around and got a feel for the beaches, the clapboard houses and the sport fishing feel of the place. 

The second day, we met up with our friends Neil & Jan on their Sabre ‘42 powerboat and some friends of theirs on an even bigger, fancy European powerboat, both of which were packed into slips cheek and jowl at Payne’s Dock. We had excellent fish for dinner at Dick’s one night and ate on board the next night, where I learned about my new favorite after dinner drink: Cayman Reef Dark Roasted Kona Coffee Liqueur. If you ever see it in a store, buy it immediately and I’ll have you over for dinner!

Before sundown on the last evening, we witnessed the daily ritual of ‘the General’ and his flag lowering ceremony. The General would invite random kids aboard, outfit them with ear protection and sets them out of the way. A horn announces the proceedings and a crowd gathers as they roll into place a rather large (maybe 8 gauge) cannon off the stern. At sunset, the cannon booms, the crowd howls and taps begins to play as the flag is lowered. It’s quite a scene with all the boats and people packed into one place!

Inaugural CYC/CCA New England Summer Cruise

After bringing Billy Ruff’n from Puerto Rico to Jamestown, RI, we had some boat issues to deal with before the highly anticipated Corinthian Yacht Club/Cruising Club of America (CYC/CCA) summer cruise. Roel H. helped Andrew move the boat to New England Boatworks (NEB), while I brought my car over from Jamestown. We spent the next few weeks patiently and pleasantly hounding service providers to get work done. The engine issues on the trip up from PR turned out to be related to a crack on the fuel exhaust mixing elbow and dirty filters. NEB re-welded, cleaned, installed & re-wrapped the elbow and replaced filters. We re-provisioned our filter spares, delivered the MOM, life raft and fire extinguishers for inspection and returned the non-working auto pilot remote to Cay Electronics for testing.

On 7/16 we went to a Bacon Brothers concert at the Greenwich Odeum in East Greenwich, RI. It is an old theatre in a small historic town and a perfect venue for the enthusiastic crowd escaping quarantine through the upbeat vibe of original tunes. The band always delivers and this evening was no exception! The next night we kicked off the summer cruise with a fabulous party at Dick & Cathy’s new home in Newport. The following day, a dozen boats from the CYC and CCA headed off to Cuttyhunk, a bucolic island in Massachusetts, located between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. Billy Ruff’n picked up a mooring in the outer harbor as the rest of the crews arrived. For dinner that evening, we had a lavish lobster feast complete with clam chowder, oysters, shrimp, corn, potatoes and sausage. 

Back on the boat after dinner, Andrew commented that he had a dry cough and a tickle in his throat and was going to bed. A few hours later when I went to bed, he reported that he couldn’t swallow and might need to go to the hospital. We called 911 which connected us to the New Bedford police dept. Upon providing our location (in a boat off Cuttyhunk island), they transferred us to the Cuttyhunk Fire Dept. The fireman on duty said that there was a doctor on the island that could look at Andrew but he didn’t have any tools or medications to treat him. We decided that we needed a consult to determine whether we should go to the hospital so we hopped in the dinghy and blindly putt-putted back to the docks in the middle of the night. The doctor and fireman met us on the dock and after a short examination, said we needed to go to the hospital. The fireman, who was also the oysterman who served us lobster that evening, was also the licensed captain that sped us across the bay (sitting on a cooler with the doctor holding on for dear life) to Padanaram and then in his car to St. Luke’s hospital in New Bedford. The doctor had checked us in before we arrived and Andrew was in the ER within an hour of leaving the dock.

The hospital doctors suspected a shell fish allergy or bacterial infection until Andrew mentioned one of his meds; Lisinopril. Independently, three different doctors, having heard that he was using this drug, shook their heads knowingly. Apparently, a ‘side effect’ of this drug is that it can randomly cause swelling of the throat that can close your airway!! If you know anyone using this blood pressure medicine, please make them aware of the risks and informed of the symptoms (dry cough, tickle and/or swelling in throat) of a reaction. The great news is that after a few days of intravenous steroids and antihistamines, Andrew is as good as new. Thank God!

Although we missed a few days of the cruise, we took the 9am ferry back to Cuttyhunk to get the boat and catch up with the gang in Hadley Harbor, an enchanting anchorage near Woods Hole. I finally got my stand-up paddle board out for a spin after a few months in the bag and a half dozen boats or so enjoyed a raft up in the outer harbor.

The next day we sailed to the charming coastal village of Padanaram, near South Dartmouth, Mass., picked up a mooring from the New Bedford Yacht Club and basked in the bright orange moon at dusk.

Jeff & Kathy M. invited the cruise to a spectacularly catered party at their place with an incredible view of the bay. I had the pleasure of staying at the house while Andrew was recuperating in the hospital, so I have a special place in my heart for their home on Mishaum Point.

The cruise ended with a sail back to Conanicut Marina in Jamestown and another incredible party at an amazing house! Jack & Laura G. graciously hosted the final soirée at their house overlooking Jamestown harbor. The next days’ clouds couldn’t obscure the wonderful time we had sailing and re-connecting with our dear friends from the CYC and CCA!

Puerto Rico to Newport

On June 14, 2021, Andrew and his crew of four left the dock at Fajardo, PR and pointed Billy Ruff’n north while I jumped on a plane to be home for my mother’s 91st birthday. The stellar crew consisted of Jon Sauer and Bill Read from CYC and Doug Firth and his daughter Casey, from Maryland.

The first day out,  winds ranged from 15 to 20 knots creating glorious sailing conditions moving 7.5 knots on average under full main and jib. The next day the crew learned from Jon, the reef master from our trip south, how to reef  the giant main on our 70 foot mast. Over the next few days, they sighted a some cargo ships and caught two mahi-mahi, which were prepared for that evening’s dinner. 

A few days in, the high water alarm went off and after much ado, Andrew figured out it was coming from our new water maker draining into the bilge. Adjustments were made and Billy Ruff’n continued her journey, only now she was pointed directly for Bermuda with a plan to let the developing storm (Claudette) pass by while taking shelter in port. Another delightful day of sailing with the chute up found them 20 miles off of Bermuda when they heard an exchange over the radio. Sailing vessel Slip Away was out of fuel and had called BDA Radio for assistance. Billy Ruff’n was 5 miles away from the ship calling for help and offered to assist. They motored to the scene and used throw bags to exchange a transfer pump and Jerry can so that Slip Away could fill from our tanks. Unfortunately, no one had a hose long enough to reach the fuel in our deep draft tanks so the crew had to abort the mission, rig the Fortress anchor and carry on to St. George’s Harbor. 

Billy Ruff’n arrived in Bermuda at 22:30 on June 20th and headed straight to the Customs dock to clear in. Although everyone was fully vaccinated, they were instructed to stay on board and come back the next day for COVID tests. The next day, they waited for 4 hours in the Customs office for someone to come and do the tests but when no one came (and no one seemed to care) they left and went out to Whitehorse Tavern for lunch & rum punch! The next day was Casey’s birthday so after finally getting their tests, they celebrated with dinner and more rum punch at The Wharf. 

On June 23rd, Billy Ruff’n left Bermuda in a dead calm. After motoring at least 24 hours, Andrew noticed some blacker than usual smoke coming from the exhaust. He added oil and it seemed to get a little better. Fortunately, the wind also picked up so they could sail a bit. Going through the Gulf Stream, they were struggling to go 3 knots against the current and the transmission began playing games with them but eventually on June 28th, they sailed onto a mooring in Jamestown, RI.

Bill wanted to commemorate the occasion with Bloody Mary’s so they tore apart Doug’s cabin/bar to find the aging bloody mix (that had come from the house we sold in 2019) and combined it with the cheap vodka used to kill fish along with whatever was left in the fridge for a celebratory breakfast!