Summer Sailing Vacation 2000

This year, we visited Newport, Block Island, and Jamestown. Read about our travels!

Day One - July 21st

Drove up to Mystic after the usual long morning of packing all our clothes and provisions. Stopped in Milford to pick up our laptop (Dad was backing up all the stuff in case of emergency salt water contact on the voyage) and went to Stop & Shop to pick up more food! Got to Mystic, and did the inventory on Kiwi Pride, a 35.5' Beneteau with a 6-3 draft. Sweet looking boat, and easy to handle. Ben claimed the V-Berth and Jacq is in the main saloon, with Mom and Dad in the aft quarter berth (actually long enough on one part for Dad to fit comfortably!). While inventorying we saw many of the antique boats gathered by for the Antique Boat Parade that weekend. Dad also worked on attaching the fishing rod holder to one of the stanchions, but the holder's fitting was too big. Dad went to the machine shop to see if they had any shorter screws, but the best they could do was to cut the ones we had. Murphy of course intervened, and the screws were cut too short (Dan's fault!), so the holder ended up jerry-rigged to a smaller post. After inventory, we walked into Mystic for dinner and had a lovely quick meal at the Bee Bee Dairy. We had Awful Awfuls, a Rhode Island classic (milkshakes!) with our meals. Yum. After dinner we went into this marvelous book store called the Bank Street Bookstore and promptly spent muchos dineros on lots of books. Ben picked up John Glenn's autobiography to read (for school, he claims, but he won't or can't put it down) as well as The Perfect Storm, Clancy's Rainbow Six and some Star Trek books. Jacq picked up a whole series called Soccer Stars, about a girl's soccer team. She also got The Girls of Summer, about the US Women's soccer team. She picked up a rainbow sketch journal (yes, they make them with black, blue, purple, red, orange and yellow paper all in a rainbow, allegedly for Jelly Roll Pens) and was quite happy with her purchases. The kids headed back to the boat to read and Dad and I went to a grocery store for the last few things (milk and OJ). Nice to have all the amenities. We were happy to find refrigeration on our boat…

Day Two - July 22nd

Up and at 'em! We were ready to check out with Dick Kerr from Yachting Services of Mystic by 8:40a, all breakfasted and tucked away. Dick showed us how to maneuver her in tight quarters, told us the sails were easy to figure and he leaped off, leaving us to our own devices. As he said, she's quite easy to handle. We took her out of Mystic Harbor, and managed to raise the sails. The only tricky part is letting the jib out, as the furling line gets tangled on the drum roller. No charter boat is perfect. We threaded through the lobster pots of Fisher's Island Sound and out past Watch Hill Point, set for a reach toward Block Island, then jibed back to go to Point Judith. A long sail, but a gorgeous day to do it, and Mom got two naps in. Jacq managed to get three naps and Ben read two books. We got to Point Judith and the Southern View Marina at about 5p, with enough time to swim in their lovely salt water pool. Jacq got to show off some of the strokes and tricks she's learned in all of her swimming lessons this summer. Point Judith, like Montauk, is largely a commercial and sport fishing village, but we were well treated at the brand new marina. After showers, we bummed a ride from a nice man from New York, owner of Amore, one of the few other "sticks" (sailboats) there, and had dinner at Captain Jack's. Got a taxi home from a nice man who's been there 48 years (!) and had the traditional game of Uno. We'd brought back dessert's from the restaurant and enjoyed strawberry rhubarb crisp and peanut butter chocolate cake with chamomile tea while playing. Jacq managed to win two out of the four rounds before we all collapsed into bed.

Day Three - July 23rd

Dan snuck out early to get a new rod holder - an expensive alternative to getting two screws the correct length. Then we had a cereal and fruit breakfast and left for a pleasant sail to Jamestown. We left Point Judith at about 10a and put up the sails inside the breakwater. We easily slipped through the channel and out into the "open ocean", with Spain just below the horizon between Block Island and Martha's Vineyard. We turned northeast toward Newport and once again had to adjust to the wind being directly on our stern. The wind was moderate, and we chose to try and sail directly downwind, with the sails set "wing-and-wing", with the jib opposite the main. This worked well for a while, until the waves became larger, which made it harder to control the jib. So we went back to tacking downwind with long broad reaches, watching the Jamestown bridge loom over the hills of the Narragansett Islands.

Ben rigged the fishing pole, and set the lure to troll behind us about 75 feet. After about 15 minutes, the reel began to sing - we had a strike! Now landing a medium size fish on a sailboat is a bit of a trick. First, someone has to keep the boat facing into the wind, so that the boat speed is almost zero, and it doesn't pull on the fish. But when you do this, you can't steer. Next, someone else has to pull in the dinghy and set out the bucket. Since we didn't really think we'd catch anything, we hadn't prepped a bucket, so Ben and Jacq quickly emptied one of the storage buckets and set it on the aft swim platform. Dad kept reeling in the fish and eventually we saw the blue back and gold sides of a bluefish. Dad brought it to the stern of the boat while Jacq took pictures. Ben hefted the fish into the bucket, and everyone turned to Dad as if to say "Now what?" Dad made a command decision that the fish looked a little small (5#?), and since we had no way to cook it that night, we had to toss it back. In the face of a possible mutiny, led by Jacq, who felt that this was the last bluefish in Narragansett Bay, Mom removed the hook and released the fish. This entire process took about 45 minutes; it would take about 15 on a fishing boat.

With the excitement over, we resume our course toward Newport. As we approached, we watched the final afternoon race of at least 2 different J-class fleets (perhaps 32' and 40'). Lots of boats sailing really fast in close quarters - beautiful and exciting! We continued up between Castle Hill Point and the south end of Jamestown Island, once again marveling at the enormous mansions, some used just as summer resorts, on several groomed acres of waterfront hillsides, with or without cliffs.

But we had to pay close attention to our sailing, as the J-fleets were flying in under spinnaker, and 6 of the 12-meter racing yachts were heading out for some afternoon match racing. Add in a handful of sport-fishing boats, and a couple of old-time schooners full of land-bound tourists, and we were simultaneously staring at and dodging around a lot of boats. Everybody say "Awww".

As we passed Newport harbor, we turned north toward the Jamestown bridge, headed to the Conanicut Harbor. Conanicut is the original name of Jamestown Island, which meant "summer resort" to the Narragansett Indians. Despite pausing for the fish and the pretty boats, we were dockside at 3pm. The Charbonneaus and Downeys met us and we chatted for an hour around the ice cream shop. Unfortunately, the Downeys had to head back early, but the Charb's joined us for a quick harbor sail, up under the bridge and back. Tom was pondering joining us for the rest of the week, but was dragged back onshore by the rest of his family - it was fine with us! We all went out for a quick dinner, catching up on old times, and enjoying how well our combined 5 kids got along. At around 8:30pm, we sent off our dear friends and went back to the boat for the night. We had dessert at the ice cream shop; Ben discovered a marvelous black raspberry chocolate frozen yogurt and had as many helpings as we would let him. Jacq had chocolate ice cream and Mom and Dad finished the last strawberry rhubarb crisp. More chamomile was made so that we could continue the Uno rounds; Ben was determined to win at some point and managed to do so. Family Uno is such a relaxing, non competitive game (NOT!). It is all in good fun, though, with lots of laughs. Then into bed with more reading; Ben had finished the John Glenn bio and has moved on to Rainbow Six. Jacq is still in the middle of several of the Soccer Stars; Dad having finished the Aerosmith bio is deep into the latest Marcia Muller pb (set in Hawaii, I think) and Mom is ensorcelled by Harry Potter IV.

Day 4 - July 24th

A lovely mellow morning, as we didn't have far to sail. Dad made bacon and eggs for breakfast which went nicely over the bagels Mom bought during her morning trip to the shore head. (Amazing to find bagels at the shore head!) Breakfast was quite yummy, and we were serenaded by the children practicing their instruments (Jacq-clarinet, Ben- flute) afterwards. A leisurely start, and we sailed up Narragansett Bay, under the big bridge again and around Gould Island before coming back close to the Naval Shipyard. We saw two aircraft carriers and a battleship, #59, 60 and 61. Jacq was the camerawoman and took lots of lovely digital pix. We sailed into Newport Harbor, dropped sails and then found our way to Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina. The children fished with another older child on the dock and managed to catch a sergeant major (up visiting from the tropics), a needle fish and a baby blue. They also managed to get some pool time in, before showers and an early dinner, because at 5:45p we were due on the dock to meet the crew of the 12 Meter that we were scheduled to sail at 6. We were assigned to the Intrepid, a two time America's Cup winner, and a most gorgeous boat. After leaving the harbor and raising sails (Dad and Ben helped), Jacq got to drive. She was quite steady at the helm and took us out past Castle Hill. She had to use the head, so Mom took the helm, tacked and then handed it off to the only other non-Lasley sailor aboard. Ben got to grind and learn many of the parts of the ship. What a gorgeous boat; with so much history behind her, it was positively awe inspiring. And yet, when all is said and done, Intrepid is just another sailboat, with lines and winches (ok, grinders) and all the same parts as any other sailboat. She glides through the water very calmly and, of course, very fast. Her captain, Mike, and crew, Heather (an ex-engineer from HP who quit and is now sailing around wherever…) and Kevin, were all great in letting us learn about the boat and how she works. Happy Birthday to Dad (a belated gift) and a Happy time for all. We bought souvenirs; a white polo shirt for Jacq and a yummy green fleece for Ben. It was too quick a sail and soon was time to go ashore. We sailed into Newport Harbor, right past the Ticonderoga and other several multi-million $ boats.

Once ashore, we headed to the Black Pearl for really scrumptious chili and chocolate mousse. Mom was the holdout and had a cup of chowder instead; everyone else was nice and shared chili. Jacq finished a whole bowl! Back to the boat, where a game of Kings in the Corner was set up. Quite fun, and Mom had the lead in points for most of the evening, but Dad managed to sneak in despite a slow start and win the whole lot. In bed, with our various books 'til 10 or 10:30.

Day 5 - July 25th

Woke to a grey sky. Listening to the weather forecast, it seemed that crossing to Block would be best done sooner, instead of later. So we cast off at about 10a, clearing Castle Hill by 10:30 or so into some 1-3 foot seas with a good wind from the NE. (Note, rarely is a NE wind good.) A run the whole way if we chose, but wing became less comfortable as we rocked side to side. We let the children put out the fishing line, first with Ben's green tube (no joy) then with his good hook, already proven a winner. Within ½ hour or so, we heard the singing of the line. As Mom steered into the wind, Dad tried to reel in that fish, which promptly bit through the line above the leader and bye bye fishy! Must have been a bad tempered blue. Dad says it felt quite large. The kids were disappointed, but then we decided to put out a spare smaller lure, similar to Ben's now mourned good lure. Lo and behold not 15 minutes later, we heard another singing of the line. This time (after about 45 min of trying to sail into the wind, with the seas having picked up to 3 ft or so) we were able to bring on board, into an already prepared bucket, a nice sized bluefish! Yes - we can be taught! Of course, being such expert fishermen, we had no idea what kind of fish we'd just caught. We just knew it was big and in the bucket. After a proper interval when we determined "it's dead, Jim", as Jacq said, Mom turned over the helm to Dad and risked her life to go onto the swim platform and take the hooks out. We sailed the rest of the way to Block Island in grey weather, with the seas up to 6 feet at times, on a broad reach, with only two tacks to get us to the channel. Amazing how quickly everyone's seasickness abated, with the fascination of the fish aboard. We did some amazing surfing, with the whole boat as the surfboard along the way. Block did disappear in rain for a short while, but reappeared 45 min later. Luckily, the compass seems fairly true, so we made it into Block's Great Salt Pond with no difficulty. We sailed all the way in, as the wind was favorable, and got a few looks for that. (Get on board a 12 M and get ideas!) Mom steered us into a tight parking place (it is Champlin's!) with good directions from the dock hand and Dad, and we were pleased to be dockside. The rain held off until we had all the lines tied, and then started to spit and drizzle. A J-30 sailboat, Phat Cat, was rafted to us later, and Jacq was delighted to find that the crew was 8 and 10, named Nikki and Maisie. Their parents, Scott and Mimi own a ski house, and swap that for time on the Phat Cat. Jacq played with Nikki and Maisie the rest of the afternoon, including time in the pool, while Mom and Dad lost quarters in the laundry. Inquiry at the restaurant led to the chef graciously preparing our bluefish (Mom got out of cooking another night!) with a lovely rosemary, thyme, basil, garlic, butter and lemon mix. A dish of mashed potatoes and veggies completed the delicious meal. We headed to the ice cream shop/bakery for dessert and then read until bedtime.

Day 6 - July 26

"Rain, rain, go away…" It rained enough all night and all morning that we had found all of the leaks in the boat - every boat has at least one. Walked up to Chaplin's snack bar and ordered a cholesterol breakfast: bacon/egg/cheese on an English muffin, fried French Toast sticks, and hash browns. We forced the kids to practice their instruments, which engendered some curious looks from the dockside. Then Jacq took off to play with her very-new very-best friends. They went for a swim in the pool and then went off to see a matinee of "Chicken Run". They went fishing off the docks and pulled up all kinds of interesting items. A lure, a boot, and a vest were some of the items that took their bait. Dad finally decided that he had earned a nap and so he crashed from 12-3. At 4, we went shopping for souvenirs and milk - the essentials. In 2 hours, we hit a dozen stores and bought a few things, and remembered the milk too. Dropped in on the proprietress of one of the inns, who is the mother of one of the nurses that Laura works with. Then back to the boat for cheese and crackers and relaxing. We had a take out type dinner with burgers, chicken fingers, fries and onion rings from Champlain's take out window and continued our reading/computer game marathon. Mom finished Harry Potter 4 at 11:30p. What a marvelous book in a terrific series. A lovely lazy day thanks to the rain.

Day 7 - July 27

Yummy pastries from Aldo's Bakery for breakfast, with intermittent rain all morning. Jacq got more play time with Nikki and Maisie, and we got pictures of all 3 girls. Mom ran into town to pick up a few odds and ends; more groceries and souvenirs. By noon it was clearing, so Phat Cat took off and so did we, just after helping them away. We had a beautiful sail to Stonington, with good visibility the whole way. We only had a few sprinkles along the way. Jacq felt a bit of mal de mer, but was immediately cured once Mom convinced her to take the helm. Unfortunately all the moorings were taken at Dodson's. We tucked in under a large sailboat (Cathleen) and anchored off of Can # 7. Ben and Dad got the dinghy motor hooked up, and Jacq drove us into the dock at Dodson's, after some dinghy lessons from Dad. Hot showers at a beautifully renovated facility at Dodson's were a treat! Heading back to Kiwi Pride, Dad noticed that the gas can was empty, and so was the outboard. A quick purchase on the docks and we were on our way. Jacq is a steady helmsman, whether by dinghy or sailboat. Once aboard, Mom hauled out the traditional sailing/mooring dinner; spaghetti sauce on shells! Accompanied by freshly made garlic bread, this was a culinary treat enjoyed by all. We had a family game of Uno with poor Ben having a tough time winning a round.

Day 8 - July 28

After cereal and fruit breakfast, we motored back to Mystic, with Ben taking a turn at the helm. We returned to YSM earlier than they anticipated and there was no slip for us. We pushed and pulled our way into dockside parking (low tide!) and cleaned the boat. We had lunch from an excellent market (Mystic Market) and shopped some more in downtown Mystic (books and hairclips!) It was disappointing not to be able to go to Napatree with the overcast weather, but all in all we had an excellent trip.