Saturday 10 October 2009

Speeding South

 

October 10, 2009 - Yorktown VA, United States

After a week in Newport it was time to move on. We sailed on to Grotton CT to visit Dave who we met on the course and his wife Sue. After waiting for a few days for the weather to let us out we sailed down the Long Island sound and through New York. Spent a day washing clothes, then sped south whilst the wind was good to Ocean City MD. Our longest single trip yet of nearly 200 Miles.

After a rest in Ocean City we sailed another overnight trip to a creek near Yorktown VI. The weather then turned cold and rainy and we stayed huddled below waiting for some sunshine to help us on the last stretch of the season back to the boat yard.

Monday 5 October 2009

Fire fighting for the STCW 95 basic training

 

October 5, 2009 - Hartford CT, United States

We stopped in Newport RI for a week in order to attend a 5 days course. The STCW95 basic training is a requirement on many commercial vessels and will enable us to work on larger yachts. The highlights of the course were the day spend fire fighting in Hartford CT and meeting lots of people in many different parts of the boating industry.

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Di looking sexy

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How come everyone else look sexy in this stuff

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Making a mess

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Barney spraying with his hose

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Meeting lots of new people

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Hanging with real firemen

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Di with her big hose

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Fighting big fires with big hoses

Thursday 1 October 2009

It got cold, so we turned back south

 

October 1, 2009 - Boothbay Harbour ME, United States

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Maine coast

Towards the end of August it started to get colder, so we decided we had reached our furthest north for the year, and turned to head south. The coast of Maine was very different from the rest of the East Coast, with deep water, rugged cliffs and rocks to avoid. There were thousands of islands to explore and sail between. Definitely worth returning.

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Installing the heater

The temperature was dropping and it was finally time to install the heater we had bought the year before in Deltaville.

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This is the picture I would have got with a super zoom and great timing

Whilst sailing south passed Cape Cod we passed through a Right Whale designated sanctuary. We looked long and hard for hours and eventually were rewarded with a pair of whales jumping and playing. Thankfully not too close to the boat. This is the picture I would have taken with the right camera and timing.

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Right whale blowing

Later in the day more whales came closer but were calmer just doing the blowing and swimming stuff.

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Right whales near the boat

This time I got some pictures, but never quite at the right time, but you get the idea.

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Another beautiful sunset in Maine

The weather was treating us well and we made good progress south for our training course we had booked in Newport RI.

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A rare picture of us sailing

We were heading for Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, but were held in harbour by some strong winds for a few days. Luckily we had found a very sheltered bay with free moorings. When we finally left, along with others in the bay we had a great sail to Newport. We were passed by another sail boat and had the chance to take and exchange pictures of our boat under full sail.