July 6 at Oak Bluffs

Today was truly a day of leisure. We went to Edgartown and had fun window shopping. After a late breakfast, we rode out to Tradewinds Airfield which is an airport Jim used to fly gliders 'in the day'. The airport is still rated as operational but it did not appear to be used. It did bring back some fond memories.






We had a nice walk on the beach on our way back to Oak Bluffs for lunch at Nancy's which overlooks the marina.





We had to show a picture of the way we had to get on and off the boat. What a sight it was for everyone to see us climbing into the boat. On our first day, Vanessa almost fell into the water but luckily she only lost her shoe.





Tomorrow we are heading for Woods Hole.

Block Island to Cuttyhunk on July 3rd and the 4th

We started meandering along our summer journey heading towards Block Island. We departed Pier 65 on July 1st at 11:00. The sailing was nice and we arrived mid afternoon. The place was much more crowded than expected and the dingy dock had a traffic jam.

There were several Island Packets and we anchored by s/v Simple Life, an IP37, and owners Michele and Joe Boulay who joined us for drinks aboard Wind Runner.

We had lunch at the Oars Head and enjoyed the sun 'boat and people watching'.

The sunsets are always beautiful but we captured a particularly nice one.

We headed out to Cuttyhunk on Sunday morning. We had a chance to visit with Sandy and Jean Brown, our neighbors from Salmon River Airport. It always amazes us that ice cream tastes so much better when you get it from a marina. Well, the ice cream at Cuttyhunk did not disappoint us - it was absolutely delicious. When we headed out to the boat, we saw Simple Life anchored near Wind Runner. We joined Michele and Joe for cocktails along with shrimp and oysters from the Raw Bar Boat. The fireworks at Cuttyhunk were a pleasant surprise and absolutely fantastic.

We head for Oak Bluffs on Monday.

May 29, First Run To Block Island

Our plans for this sailing season is 'local gunkholing' meandering from island to island and enjoying the sights. We set sail for Block Island at 11:30. Block Island is one of our favorite places and the sunsets are breathtaking. We had a nice sail and long week-end before the summer crowds arrive.

We had the best sunset and views of the boat.

It is so much fun just being on the boat!

May 15, 2010

It is a beautiful morning to make the annual trip down the Connecticut River to our summer port at Pier 65 in Westerly, Rhode Island. We departed at 0700 from Yankee Boat Yard with our friend Phil who also joined us last year.

Our trip was non eventful until we got to Long Island Sound, set sail and could not shut the engine down. We lost power to the engine panel. We kept the engine running at idle and sailed to Rhode Island. We had a clear day with winds 5 - 10 knots and seas 1 - 2 feet. We arrived at Pier 65 at 15:30 and once back at the dock, we investigated what was causing the problem. The problem seemed to be with the parallel system and the house batteries which was fixed by cleaning up a couple of connections.

In the process of fixing the engine panel, we noticed some loose engine mounts. And after tightening them, we now have a much smoother running engine and happier cutless.

The problem was fixed without too much effort.

We had to sit back and enjoy a reward after everything was done -- and, we were quite pleased with the result. For now, all is well.

We are now officially ready to start the 2010 Sailing Season!