New England Trip

Today was a perfectly beautiful day – blue sky, just a few white wispy clouds, and temperatures in the upper 70’s. We got moving early enough to go to the US Submarine Force Museum just west of Mystic Seaport, in Groton, Ct., home of the USS Nautilus submarine, which is the premier exhibit of the museum. The USS Nautilus was the first nuclear powered submarine in the Navy, and it is permanently moored at the museum in Groton, CT, home of the Electric Boat Company, which builds submarines for the Navy. The museum’s location is adjacent to the US submarine base in Groton, which is the homeport for all of the Atlantic Fleet fast attack submarines. We took a self-guided tour of the sub, and then wandered around the museum, looking at pictures of old and recent submarines. The museum was hosting a Change of Command ceremony for the SSN Miami today, and we saw lots of seamen and officers making the arrangements for the festivities, setting up seating and audio systems. A peek behind a door in the museum revealed a seaman pouring ranch dressing from a 2 gallon bottle into a dipping dish for the veggie tray.

From the museum, we drove back through Mystic Seaport and had lunch at a little snack bar on the water on the way back to the campground. We then had a couple of hours to walk Wicket and do some repairs to our rain gutters. The campground here has an adjacent RV parts store that helped us find the parts we needed to fix the gutters.

Around 4 p.m. we set out for Newport, RI for our America’s Cup Cruise. We had made reservations, and were advised to get there early because of traffic and parking problems. As it turned out, we allowed more than enough time, though we did have some hunting to do to find the meeting place for the two-hour cruise.

The sail was absolutely spectacular. We were assigned to the Intrepid, which is the only 12-meter to win the America’s Cup twice (1967 and 1970). She is a beautiful wooden boat, and we both got to take the helm for a while under sail. While Steve had the helm, he passed the 12-meter Enterprise that had set sail with us (where there are two boats, there’s a race), and Margaret held the lead downwind. We were both coached by the skipper, Mike, who shared with us a history of sailing catamarans. The weather conditions were perfect – mid 70’s and 12 mph of wind. The Intrepid had a perfectly balanced helm, and was very easy to steer. We got to sail her under the Newport Bridge twice, downwind with Margaret at the helm, and back upwind under Steve’s hand. Upwind, she made 7.5 knots and reaching she made 9 knots. Because it was a charter, we only had the smallest jib (designed for 25 mph wind) and a mainsail that was smaller than used racing.

So far, this was the high point in the trip - but only because we are sailing nuts.

On the way back to the dock, we passed an absolutely beautiful boat on a mooring, hailing from the Marshall Islands. Steve asked a crewmember if he knew what type of boat it was and he replied “Swan 80.” Back to an Internet connection, we looked up the Swan 80. We found a 2000 model for sale in Europe for about $5.3 million US dollars. There is a huge amount of money floating in Newport harbor.

It only took about 35 minutes to drive back to the motorhome, where Wicket was thrilled to see us, and Pumpkin put up with his boisterousness generously, as she always does.

A few pictures follow:

First, the tall ship Spirit of South Carolina docked as we waited for our 12-Meter charter.

Second, the 12-Meter Enterprise (photo from Intrepid) as Steve passed her to leeward sailing downwind.

Third, Margaret at the helm of Intrepid sailing downwind with Enterprise in the background.

Finally, Steve at the helm of Intrepid sailing upwind with the Jamestown/Newport bridge in the background.