Beating to windward
Saturday 3rd October 2020
As you all know, “Gentlemen do not sail to windward”. Well, my friend Sheila considers Mike to be a gentleman. Personally, I have always considered our friend Will to be a real gentleman. Today’s sailing, illustrates how deceptive appearances can be....
We spent the morning in a small flurry of tidying, removing masking tape, recovering the second mooring line and doing some cooking. At about 11:30 am, Mike left for shore to go pick up Will from the airport. By about 1:30 pm, Will and Mike were aboard and we set off. We made a complete hash of getting the sail hoisted, getting it tangled in our “lazy-jack” lines and then continued to motor out to R8, a red can about 2 miles from East Greenwich. Then we unfurled the genoa and set sail for Newport. Unfortunately, the wind was from the south. This meant that to get to our destination, we were forced to tack repeatedly. The closer we got to Newport the stronger the wind became. Eventually a combination of boat traffic and exhaustion overcame our desire to sail. A short motoring session brought us into Newport harbor.
After the usual anchor drill, we enjoyed drinks and appetizers in the cockpit. As the sun declined the temperature dipped sharply. We enjoyed our delicious dinner (salmon in a mustard panko crust, rice and broccoli) in the much cozier salon. A consultation over the charts helped us outline the plan for the week and highlighted some options for Will to travel back to the airport next weekend. Now boater’s midnight approaches... I plan to stretch out on my bunk pretty soon.
Gloria
41 28.793 N, 71 19.408 W
Amazing photos, as usual, Mike!
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