Blog of S/V Salty Beach

 A couple years ago, I was sorting through sails from my parents old Tanzer 22 and came across a spinnaker that was unfamiliar. Looking closer, I realized it was an old cruising asymmetrical, specifically a Thurston Thrasher (Thurston sails is now part of Quantum). I don't recall ever using it, nor seeing my dad use it. We always raced with the traditional symmetricals. I figured it would be perfect for Salty Beach , which lacks the hardware for a spinnaker pole, and would be easier to rig for short-handed sailing. I decided to try it on the next outing. Today was that day. It was drifter conditions, which was perfect for experimenting with the chute. Thankfully, I have two masthead halyards. The further forward of which I used for this spinnaker. It had a spliced tack line and, curiously, a single bronze hank near the tack. I figured the bronze hank was simply to stabilize the tack by clipping to the forestay, so I attached it. I failed to think through this though, and I ran my s...

The Conanicut Yacht Club Around the Island Race is an annual tradition for Floating Point (my old Frers 40). I didn't have any desire to race it in Salty Beach , but I figured I would take the opportunity to do a little single-handing and hopefully nab some photos of Floating Point and others racing. My initial plan was to leave early and sail around Beavertail at the south end of Conanicut Island (aka Jamestown) to hopefully capture the boats setting spinnakers after rounding the usual windward mark. I was far too late leaving though, so I took my dad's suggestion and drove to Beavertail State Park. Since I now had plenty of time to wait for the boats, I thought to stop at Fort Wetherill on the way to get some upwind photos. I'm glad I did as my favorite picture of the bunch was from that stop! I watched as Floating Point hoisted the very-recognizable blue and red spinnaker, but it apparently came out of the bag early and ripped near the upper part of the leech. Thankf...

 Took my daughter and the dog to Brenton Cove again for some swimming. Unfortunately, the Harbor Master informed us we had to move since our anchor was out and there was no anchoring there, even in two feet of water. I guess we would have to beach the boat completely to put in there. We headed back early, but next time we'll do the longer sail to Potter Cove across on Jamestown, where we can anchor.

 Beached the boat in the shallows adjacent to the swimming area in Brenton Cove. Set the anchor by hand after to make sure we didn't drift, then the kids swam until mauled by a vicious predator. The creature was later identified as a golden-doodle in a shark-fin lifejacket. 😁 It was the first real swim for the dog, not counting one brief attempt at the mooring where she immediately tried to climb up my daughter to get out.

 My cousin and his wife recently bought a house and became our neighbors! We took them out for a little sail, just around the harbor, a little outside, and back. His wife was worried about getting seasick, but said after she really enjoyed it! It was great to catch up with them too! After, we joined them for dinner at their house and had a fire in the firepit.

 Hadn't been to the Newport Jazz Festival in years, it was good to get back to it! It was my wife's first time, and her friend hadn't been in years either. The kids and I swam, and we all enjoyed a beautiful day listening to great music! It took a couple tries to get our little Danforth anchor set, and I needed quite a bit more scope than the surrounding boats so we stayed out a bit further than I would have liked. Next year, I plan to pickup a more modern spade-style anchor which should hopefully help a bit. At the end of the day we were treated to a beautiful sunset!

 Took the kids and pup for a swim and harbor sail. Scoped out the Jazz Festival, but the northwesterly wind direction made for tough listening by boat. Snapped a pic of the tour schooner Adirondack passing the moored schooner Columbia. Then got a good look at another tour schooner, Madeleine, as she sailed past us.