Blog of S/V Salty Beach

We ventured across the harbor to the Newport Folk Festival again, getting a nice, close spot to anchor where we could hear great! A relaxing day of good music as usual.

I finally had time to address the compression post support platform, so I brought the boat into a slip for the night for easy access to shore power. I got to work cutting out the damaged area. The aft edge of the platform held the mast compression post, but surprisingly, there was no support directly below the post and the 3/4" marine plywood had failed after 50+ years. I had been meaning to add a hatch to the platform since it was the last remaining area that was closed off with no access to the hull underneath, but I hadn't considered structural issues. I decided to simply use pressure-treated deck boards spanning the width of the platform, with a short section of pressure-treated 4x4 as a support post directly underneath the existing mast compression post. Luckily, the inside of the hull was built up with many layers of fiberglass to a level surface, since externally this section of hull is "v" shaped. This could have been done to facilitate a post like the one I ...

Along with my daughter and a friend of hers, we left Newport on Saturday around 0800 heading for Block Island, trying to get there ahead of (or not long after) the racers in the Mitchell Regatta, for which I am the organizer. It was a decent traditional southwesterly, with wind speeds around 15-20 knots and the seas were good size, up to 6 feet or so and oddly confused. We had a full main and a 100% jib which worked well. As we got past Beavertail, we decided to tack in by the Narragansett shore hoping for a little reprieve from the seas. As we neared Point Judith, my daughter yelled up from the v-berth "did you hear that bang?". I hadn't but looked around and noticed the leeward shrouds were unusually slack. As I was pondering the cause, my daughter yelled again "the post is moving!" I realized she was talking about the mast compression post, so I immediately depowered and doused both sails, started the outboard, and turned downwind back towards Newport. After ...

With the help of friends Dan and Paul, I got the boat launched at the Monahan's Dock  ramp. With light conditions, we then motor-sailed to Newport where we had left a car for the return trip home. It went well! I neglected to take any photos, but here's one of the boat ready to go from a few days prior.

 We made it to the Newport Folk Festival again this year with a slightly smaller crowd. Despite arriving mid-afternoon, we managed to get an incredible anchoring location and could hear much better than last year! Everyone seemed to have a blast! We did have a slight scare when my step-daughters both drifted away from the boat with the outgoing tide current and couldn't swim fast enough against it. I initially swam out the them, but quickly realized I couldn't assist both back at once and they didn't want to separate so I swam back to the boat, quickly attached a spare halyard line swam back towards them only to find the line was still too short to reach. I returned to the boat intending to pull up anchor and go get them with the boat, but as I climbed back aboard, the Tow Boat US boat picked up the girls and brought them back. We thanked them profusely! The girls were a little shaken up, but unhurt. They both were wearing PFDs so it was just a matter of getting to them, bu...

Some friends from Vermont came to visit for a few days so we naturally had to get them out for a sunset harbor cruise. Fortunately, conditions did not disappoint and we were treated to a beautiful sunset!  

My aunt came to visit from Missouri so I took her and my cousin's family out for a little harbor sail. Unfortunately, there was virtually no breeze so we motored. They all wanted to check out the sailing yacht  M5 , the largest single-masted sailing yacht in the world, so we did a loop around for a few photos, then returned to the inner harbor for the usual harbor tour loop. The fog came in thick and fast so we had to cut that short, but everyone said they really enjoyed seeing M5 . The first photo is my own, the rest were taken by my aunt.