Rocking and Rolling

We have been in Newport, Rhode Island for a week now. The hurricane situation is looking about the same, we still have to wait to see if Franklin is going to follow projections, and we need to see if anything else is going to pop up when we want to leave. We figure at the earliest we will leave this coming weekend, but most likely Sunday. And likely this is our last chance to try crossing before it is just too far into the fall storm season.

Meanwhile, we have been trying to make the most of our time here. Rolling with the punches, as they say. We did manage to finally get the new radar up, which is a big feat because it requires Kevin going up the mast about 1/2 way and taking off a large 1 meter disc and replacing it with a new one. Then, there is all the wiring to do. From the radar down the mast to the navigation station where the power supply is and to the helm where the chart plotter is. We are very happy to have the box that housed the new radar out from under our dining room table. Just another bit of clean up on the boat that gives us that much more space. Plus, we can now see storms ahead of us when sailing – big bonus! Although, using our weather app on our phone has been very helpful. We use Windy.com and mostly it allows us to see what is generally head of us, but we find it isn’t the best predictor of the amount of wind we are going to see. Often the wind is over-predicted.

This anchorage has been very rocky. It is probably in part because we are north of the main bay. When we arrived there was no room for us at the main anchorage. This is a very popular boating place during the summer months. We were told by the harbormasters to try the northern anchorage, where all the big yachts go because they don’t fit in the main anchorage. So, when we anchored, there were several large yachts around us. They are impressive looking boats. They didn’t move much with the waves that came in from Long Island Sound. Usually we don’t rock much either, being a catamaran, but there are more waves here. Plus, we have noticed that there are a lot of people that just drive their boats at wake speed through the anchorage and causing extra waves.

We also had a rainy day here. I think it is our second full rainy day that has kept us on the boat since our trip began. Otherwise we have been in perpetual summer weather. We spent our rainy day making a big breakfast. We tried to make dutch pancakes for breakfast. It has been a stable of our Saturday mornings for many years and we have been missing it. Now that we have a bigger oven, we decided to try it again. However, the key to dutch pancakes, is that they need to be whipped a lot. Usually we make them in a blender and they rise so well in the oven. We do not have a blender. So, instead we took turns whipping the batter by hand as much as we could. It was pretty airy when we put it in, but didn’t rise much at all. We think the main reason wasn’t so much because we didn’t whip it enough, but rather that the boat was too rocky! The batter was rocking around in the pan inside the oven. The things you have to consider when living on a boat! On the other hand, the handmade pizzas we made later in the day, worked out great. We enjoyed our pizza with a family movie. Our boat is starting to feel like a real home.

Saturday, we completed a major boating project. No, not the solar panels. Those are a slower work in progress. Instead, we put in the washer and dryer! I think Kevin was finally up to it because he ran out of clean shirts to wear. Installation of the washer/dryer involved creating a connection to the water, the drain and the electrical. None of these were in the cupboard that we had cleared out and kept the washer/dryer in. Luckily, the cupboard, which is below our pantry, is also next to our bathroom. So, we connected into the fresh water and grey water drain from our bathroom. Kevin and Owen ran the wires to the cupboard to hook up the necessary plug. Those two have done so much wiring now, that the job only took them about 30 minutes, and no swearing (trust me, this is huge)! This job actually went very smoothly from start to finish. We now had our first load of laundry going as we headed to bed. We have been running this machine hard for the last few days to get all our laundry done.

Sunday, in addition to doing laundry, we went for a walk through town. Actually, we walked through town Saturday night as well and grabbed a quick dinner on the main strip. It was incredibly busy! There were lots of restaurants and they were very pricey. It is a neat place to visit and the main harbor is very picturesque, especially with all the colonial tightly-spaced houses nearby. Sunday’s walk took us in the opposite direction, away from town. But we still saw some pretty housing districts before walking over to the Walmart and shopping store. It took us along a old railroad and a graveyard, both of which the kids found facinating. It was nice to stretch our legs for a longer walk. I think as our boat projects are finally winding down we will have more time to do these things. I have read about a fort and a state park at the south part of town that I think will be fun to explore in the coming days.