A bit of a catch up

Sunday

We had a day off from the boat and had a look around Rhode Island.  

Beautiful spot.....we started off driving the ten mile Ocean Drive coast road around the south coast of Rhode Island.  It is lined with magnificent mansions with sprawling lawns leading down to the ocean, manicured gardens and gravel driveways.  Many of the mansions are now not privately owned but some must still be.  All very Great Gatsby.

During the drive we stumbled upon the Newport Kite festival and true to all things American it was bigger and better.  Calley just had to join in of course ........

Newport Kite Festival

Calley Kite Flying 

Coastguard Station, Newport

After the drive we had a look around Newport.  Nic and I had visited here last year when we inspected Dulcinea prior to purchase but this was our first time to have a good look around.  Newport is a seaport with a great maritime culture.  Obviously it was the battle ground for the Americas Cup duel with the Aussies in the eighties.  Boats are everywhere especially in summer.  The town is full of quaint weatherboard houses and some famous landmarks from the American war of Independence.

Finally we managed to get to a beach but were horrified by the fact that you have to pay to park at the beach.  Who ever heard of such a thing....and not just a couple of bucks- it was $20.  Funny how different countries put up with things others wouldn’t.  Imagine charging for the beach parking in Australia.

Relaxing in Newport

Newport

Monday was back to the boat and the working grind.  We are being helped by three people.  Heather is our vessel manager and she looked after the vessel for us over winter.  She is very experienced and will be sailing with us to get us up to speed with handling the vessel.  Robbo is an Australian deckie and general hand who has been doing a whole lot of  maintenance work including servicing of all the deck equipment and teaching Sam and Calley.  He managed to get them both into the rig for the first time today.  Finally there is Derek who is the sparky and trying to get the electrical systems in order.

Calley at the masthead - 88.9ft up

Sam in the rig

Tuesday we took the boat out of the water and dropped the bow thruster for servicing.  It was not possible to get the refurbishment carried out the same day and so the boat had to stay on the hard for the night and we moved into a motel for the night.  Sometomes feels like we will never finish the maintenance works.

Dulcinea in the travel lift

Wednesday.  Thruster is in and Dulcinea is back in the water and moored to her dock.  Things are looking up.  We have decided to leave the yard for our mooring on Saturday.  That will give us to enough time to finish the outstanding works and to finish the purchasing of all outstanding gear.  After we got into the water a thunderstorm went through the area - 40knt winds, thunder and lightning.  We were watching it from the cockpit and a yacht close by got struck by lightning - very impressive.....sparks from the mast top and a puff of smoke from the cabin.  Just glad it was not Dulcinea.  Its one of our biggest fears.  So tonight we are still in the motel but will be back onboard the vessel tomorrow.  Will post again hopefully when we get on the mooring.

P.S.  Thanks for the comments to date.  Great to get the feedback.

P.P.S  Congratulations to Graham and Belinda.  Great news with little Florence Mae.  Three girls to take care of now Graham - you have your work cut out!