Blog of S/V Salty Beach

My neighbor who helped with launching was out of town, and my dad and brother were busy so I was alone for haulout. I wasn't too worried; I made a plan: Tow the empty trailer over with my Corolla to get the U-Haul pickup I had reserved Switch the trailer over to the truck Drive the truck and trailer to the Fort Adams boat ramp Ride my folding bike from Fort Adams to Newport Yacht Club Take the launch out to Salty Beach Motor the boat to the boat ramp at Fort Adams Load the boat on the trailer Drop the rig and prep for transport Tow the boat home Park the trailer Return the pickup Drive home in my car Things went pretty well according to plan, except when dropping the rig I may have bent the mast slightly when I stumbled and dropped it the last little bit with the base still bolted through the tabernacle. The wind blew it slightly off to starboard so it missed the stern pulpit and levered against the cabin top. It may have been slightly bent previously, but I can see a slight bend w...

Payne's Dock, Block Island  As one of the organizers of the Mitchell Regattas I was looking forward to taking Salty Beach to Block Island with the race. I didn't have the boat ready in time for Memorial Day and simply took the ferry out with my bicycle and a trailer filled with trophies to run the awards, but I was really looking forward to sailing the new boat this time. We had pretty ideal conditions for a quick trip, at least initially. The wind was forecast to be and started out NW, but after Point Judith things got light and shifty. Still, we had a pretty great sail and finished around 14:30 after starting at 9:00. We had just three of us aboard: my youngest son, the dog, and myself. My wife had to work and none of the other kids wanted to go. The weather was considerably cooler than typical, starting off in the upper 40s F in the early-morning of Saturday, but quickly warming to about the mid 50s. My son was unusually nervous when the boat heeled, perhaps due to some l...

 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.