Newport R.I.

Now that I am back from Denver I will be able to catch up on the blog. We arrived in Newport RI from Mystic before Noon on September 12th. First we went to The New York Yacht Club to sign in and see if they had any information on that's days racing. All we found out was they had not started the first race.
My sisters Trish and I then proceeded to The Inns of Newport not to check in but to park our cars and walk to Lunch. It was a short walk to The Black Pearl where we had a fabulous lunch, mostly Lobster. Trish wanted to head right back to the Inn so Mary, Margaret, Joan and I walked over to the Newport Shipyard. When we got there it turned out they were hosting the brokers show (used yachts) for The Newport Boat Show. The new boat show was on but we had tickets for Sunday so skipped it for now.
Once in the brokers show we were in for a treat. While we did not board any of the yachts we did get to go up next to them and get a good look at another world. I have included some pictures of the yacht for sale. The price tags if there was one tended to be in the 6 to 7 million range.

On Thursday night NYYC held a lobster dinner for all the competitors and supporters. Needless to say it was fantastic. NYYC their staff and members could not have been more gracious host. RCYC had about 80 supporters while Seattle Yacht Club came a close second with about 65.

Everyone enjoying Lobster under the tent

One of the few pictures available of me in a bib standing beside our Commodore Jamie Keating

Mystic Seaport

Trish and I have been doing a lot of travelling and I have not been keeping up with the blog.

Back on September 14 we headed to Newport via Mystic Connecticut. Our first stop was Springfield Mass then on Wednesday Mystic. On the way to Mystic we stopped at Hamden to pick up a pump for Irish Mist's air-conditioning unit.

Mystic Seaport was great. they are rebuilding an old sailing whaling ship. The required bits and pieces are manufactured right on the site. Like the whole eastern seaboard it is a beautiful location.

If you enlarge the picture below it will tell you all about the Charles W. Morgan.

 Here is a picture of the ship being rebuilt.

Some of the shipbuilders inside working on bits and pieces.

My sisters and I were particularly interested in The Cooperage since one of our great great grandfathers was a cooper.

One thing we have all heard of but perhaps not actually seen are figure heads. At Mystic Seaport you go into a room and without warring one is greeted by a wonderful collection.

I will leave you with the thought that you must go to Mystic Seaport. I have included a couple of yacht pictures.

Last two videos

The last two videos were marked private on YouTube.

Thus you could not see them, I have fix the problem.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

The NYYC Invitational

Trish and I just returned from New Port R.I. where we watched the third New York Yacht Club Invitational. four years ago in 2009 they invited 20 clubs to compete in an even sailing race. The idea was that the best sailor would win not the best boat. Twenty New York 42 built by Nautor Swan with identical sails would race every two years off New Port.

The crews would be from yacht clubs from around the world. If you would like to see an impressive list of clubs go to the NYYC web page and look at their section for The Invitational. In the first race we, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club did very well coming second to the host NYYC. two years ago we surprised every one and won the regatta easily. This year it was anything but easy. After three races Lachmont lead with 6 points and we were far behind with 30. Races 4 through 8 were then won by RCYC, our club. The last race was abandoned and we beat Lachmont by 6 points.

I have lots of pictures but we are hurrying off to Denver to see the grandchildren. I will have more later, but for now i will give you a poor video. I hope my camera work improves.

A trip to Wiggers

From Presqui'le Bay we headed for Wiggers Custom Yachts. We were sinking in our beautiful new yacht. Our center board sits in a trunk which has a plate on top for inspection. It turned out that the bolts holding it down were insufficient for the job. Wiggers lifted us enough to raise the trunk top above the water level fixed the fibreglass, re bedded and put larger lag bolts in. When we got home it started to leak again so i replaced a few more of the undersized bolts and we are no longer sinking.

Irish MIst in the Travel Lift

Centre Board Trunk with plate off

Plate re bedded and back on

Wild life at Darlington

The Murray Canal

The Murray Canal is a 5 mile canal linking Lake Ontario with the Bay of Quinte. Built between 1882 and 1889 as an alternative to travelling around the south shore of Prince Edward County. It was two swing bridges with a toll of $5.00 covering both.

Below is a picture of Mary sitting on the bow of Pipe Dream as it navigates the Canal.

This year we saw about 25 turtles sun bathing on the rocks