Toodle-oo! spashed as planned on May 13th (well done Brandon and everyone at Pirate Cove Marina) having been washed waxed buffed and had her hull tidied up with bottom paint where necessary.
With everything fitted and installed, we took a short trip down to Newport while Abigail was visiting, where we anchored and then dinghied across to Fort Adams to watch the In-Port Race of the Volvo Open Round the World Race. It was an interesting event – though the race it’self was a bit of a procession…
On the Sunday, (having listened to the foghorn all night!) we up-anchored early enough on a misty morning to not get blocked by the exclusion zone that was due to be set up in the East Passage, and headed through that passage and out to sea for a trip up to Mattapoisett, summer home for Toodle-oo!, some 45 miles.
Leaving Newport
Winds were OK to start with, but turned very light so we ended up motor sailing into Mattapoisett some 8 hours later, and because our mooring was not prepared, took a guest mooring – where she still lies a couple of weeks later…
The following weekend was Labor Day weekend, and unfortunately, Laurie had to work on the Saturday, so I arranged to have our squash team join us for a trip over to Hadley Harbor. Wind was light to moderate on the way over, but came up boisterous on the way back, with Toodle-oo! having a blast crashing through waves at 9 knots! Fortunately, the team managed to keep it together – no spewing required!
Rick, Kim, Doreen and Dave…
Laurie got a reprieve for the rest of the weekend, so we had a great sail across to Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday with winds up to 28kts on the beam! We got to Vineyard Haven in record time!
Unfortunately Vineyard Haven has allowed the mooring field to encroach well out into the anchorage now, so in the windy conditions, we opted to take a mooring within the breakwater rather than have a really rolly night. That perhaps was not the best decision as our mooring put us just a few feet from the rock breakwater – blocking our view to everything.
Our return from VH was uneventful – we got through Woods Hole before the tide changed against us and then hung out in Hadley Harbor for a while while I rigged the Monitor Wind Vane (Self Steering gear). We used the Monitor to come back across Buzzards Bay, and it turns out that the complete re-build I gave it during the winter months was worthwhile, with the Monitor being able to hold a course within about +/- 10 degrees in moderate winds. Good enough, and I’m sure with practice we’ll improve.
We were back on our borrowed mooring by lunchtime and had a lazy afternoon!
Sure feels good to get back on the water!