A good start -  we rely upon the kindness of strangers Tuesday 14th Aug

Today was D-Day and we actually left! After filling up with diesel, fresh water and emptying the holding tanks we departed from East Greenwich at the crack of noon. It was hot with little wind so we motored for the first couple of hours. Passing under the bridge over the Sakonnet River was exciting - 65ft clearance for a 62ft mast - no problem! Sailing down the Sakonnet river to 3rd beach in Newport was a delight. This is the most beautiful part of Narragansett Bay. We had ~10 knot breeze and made 6-7 knots as we tacked up wind all the way. 

We may have mentioned previously that bought a new main sail. Well apparently if you write a different number in the text of the check compared to the numerical figure the bank doesn't like it and returns the check. We were just about to go under the afore mentioned bridge when we got a call from the sail maker - can we send him a new check, preferably with the correct amount in words and numbers! So having anchored at 3rd beach, Mike jumped in the dingy and rowed to shore to find a mail box. Sticking his thumb out he was picked up by Mike and Neil, a couple of great guys dressed only in swim suits, who drove him to a post box in Newport and then back to 3rd beach. A job that could have taken ages was accomplished really quickly through the kindness of strangers. We have a nice picture of Mike and Neil, which we can see but you can't, because it's a RAW file and my Nikon Capture NX2 software doesn't seem to work on my laptop. The program works fine on my iMAC at home, so why doesn't it work here … and why didn't we check it before we left?!

All in all a great day and a good start to the voyage.

Mike and Gloria

Mike and Neil - a couple of friendly helpful guys