Perfect day for a sail. Winds were around 10 kts out of the S. I decided to circumnavigate Prudence. Settled on a broad reach and had lunch (a very juicy peach and some trail mix). The boat was moving well (about 4-4.5 kts against the outgoing tide). I had to switch to more dead downwind or I would have ended up on Hope Island. I rigged the vang as a preventer and tried to get the whisker pole on but the boat wouldn't track straight while I was away from the helm so I gave up. I ran wing-and-wing for a while, with the sail slatting every once in a while. Finally got far enough north to switch back to almost a broad reach, although it wasn't quite as fast (about 3.5-4 kts). Once I could really get on a broad to beam reach, the speed picked up to over 5 kts.


Sailed over the top of the island then headed closer to the wind. The boat was moving well, still over 5 kts, when there was a pop and the genoa slackened. The clew ring has separated from the sail and the leech cord was the only thing holding the sail. I quickly turned upwind and furled the genoa. I tried sailing for a while with just the main, but the speed wasn't near enough (about 3.5 kts). So I decided to motor home. Going into the wind, I could run at full throttle without getting wet. The boat was moving at about 12-13 kts despite the full ballast -- not bad. Turning around the southern tip of Prudence and putting the wind on the front port quarter made the ride very wet. I slowed down to about 9 kts. I had to dodge two regatta race courses, staying outside of the buoys so as not to interfere with the race. The gentlemen on the race committee boat appeared facinated by this little sailboat going by them at 10 kts.

Cath and Colleen came with me for a nice sail. Unfortunately, the winds were out of the N and not that strong (Cath liked that!!) So we pottered around for a while, then decided to motor up to Sandy Beach and do some swimming. The water was very warm for the bay (about 76 deg. F) We anchored in about 5 feet of water off the beach and swam for about an hour. By that time, the winds had shifted to the SW seabreeze at about 10-12 kts. It would have been perfect, but a bit of tacking would be involved and Colleen needed to get back so we motored at about 8 kts to keep the spray down.

One of the great things about living close to the boat is you can steal off for just a couple of hours. I did just that for a nice day sail. I didn't start out with any particular destination in mind. I just figured I'd settle on a beam reach and enjoy myself. I did just that, turning around when I got to Halfway Rock.


I was surprised at how sun sensitive the antibiotics (for my Lyme Disease/Ehrlichiosis) have made me. I put on SPF50 for the Sandy Beach adventure yesterday and did fine in the midday sun. I figured it was late enough (3:30) that I would only use SPF30. Believe it or not I got a mild sunburn.

My daughter, Colleen, graduated from high school yesterday. She will be at Florida Institute of Technology in the fall studying Marine Biology. We hosted a bunch of her cousins, aunts and uncles for the weekend. I haven't been feeling well. It turns out I have been fighting Lyme disease, Ehrlichiosis (another tick-borne illness) and Mono/Epstein-Barr. I hit the trifecta. I was feeling well enough on Father's Day to take a couple of the relatives out for a beautiful day on the water.
We motored down to Dutch Harbor so that the kids could see the demolition work on the old Jamestown bridge. Each of the kids took a turn at the helm, which explains some of the loopdy loops you see on the track.

On the way back, we did a quick pass by their 2nd cousin's place. Then up went the sails. Winds were about 8 kts or so out of the SW. We just sailed around in the West Passage and enjoyed the beatiful weather and good company.

The boat is clean, the weather is good, the engine's running well, IT'S TIME TO GO SAILILNG!!!!
The track actually shows both yesterday and today. I tried to go out yesterday just as the wind was shifting from the N to the SW. There was a nice breeze in the harbor, but the bay was like glass. If I had waited about an hour, the breeze filled in nicely according to PORTS.
Today was great. I got off at about 10AM, after waiting a while for a friend who said he might call and come sailing. Wind was about 5 to 8 kts from the SW. I sailed down near the Jamestown Bridge to check it out, then turned north on a broad reach to do a loop around Hope Island. I didn't want to get too far away in case my friend called. The sky got cloudy as a backdoor cold front passed through, but it never rained. The winds built to about 15 to 18 kts. After looping around Hope, the skies looked pretty dark, so I motored to the harbor and into my slip. All in all, a successful first & second outings for the season. Here's to many more....

Just a post to catch up and show the tracks for the rest of last season's sails.

Bringing the boat to Wickford for winter storage 30 OCT 05

Around Connanicut (aka Jamestown) 11 SEP 05

Bristol Harbor 20 AUG 05

Dutch Harbor 07 AUG 05

Trying out the new whisker pole 02 JUL 05

The Seven C's is wet again. The marina put her in the water this morning, about a week late but the weather has been pretty bad these past couple of weeks. She was stored in a grass field at the marina and it's been too muddy for the equipment to get her.

It's been awhile since my last post, so let me catch everyone up. I bought a new radio after the sunset disaster as mentioned. Sailed the boat a couple more times, but then hit another snag. I went over to go sailing on a beautiful September day. When I got there, the wheel just spun -- the steering cable had broken. That pretty much ended the season for me. I replaced the steering with a UFlex helm. There was a mechanical interference with the throttle control so the wheel was a little cockeyed. Motored the boat over to Wickford from EPYC, cockeyed wheel and all.

I fixed the interference during the early spring by moving the throttle down and forward about an inch -- as far as it would go while still covering the previous holes. Now it is snug but everything is square.

The Seven C's has a new home at the Brewer's Wickford Cove Marina, only 10 minutes from home. I'm hoping to get the mast up tomorrow and get out on the water during the week. Here's to another great summer.

Took advantage of the beautiful weather today to sail around Hope Island. Went down to the boat about 11, stopped at West Marine for a new radio (with a proper on/off switch instead of needing to stick a bolt in place of the broken off volume control).

Cath and the kids were off visiting relatives so I took a sunset sail after work on Wednesday. The motor was sluggish to start, but I didn't think much of it. Had a beautiful sail in light west winds, 2 to 4 kts. All was right with the world until just off of the Sandy Point lighthouse I tried to start the motor and head for home. No love from the motor. I set the combiner to charge the starter battery from the house battery then ghosted at about 1.5 kts in the dying breeze. Tried to start the motor about every 10 to 15 minutes. It coughed but wouldn't turn over.

So, I got my dinghy oars out and set them up like a kayak paddle. Between the dying breeze and the paddle, I got the boat into the front facing dock at the marina. Two nice gentlemen out for a stroll helped me tie up. They said they remarked how nice that someone was sailing into the marina, until they saw me paddling.

Charged the battery for a few minutes then started the motor with the charger connected. It started right up and ran fine. Motored over to my slip and tied her up without incident. All I can figure is that we left the radio on July 4th and it drained it down. I left it connected to AC to charge until next time.

Well we had a full crew to watch the fireworks in Newport this year. Cathy, Colleen, Ryan and I were joined by one of Colleen's friends and my sister and her fiancee. It was the most crowded we've every had the Seven C's. It made for slow going under both sail and motor, but that was OK.

We converged on the marina at about 2:00PM and were underway by 2:30. The winds were about 5 to 8 knots from the SE. Not exactly what I was expecting. I was hoping to give the new whisker pole a workout. After sailing about 2 hours, I cranked the motor up to get to Newport more quickly and fire up the grill. I and the rest of the crew were all getting hungry.

It took two attempts to anchor. The first was a disaster - we dragged down on another boat in trying to set and ended up catching his anchor chain. After much excitement (and a few expletives from the Admiral) we freed ourselves and slunk away to a more open space further into the anchorage.

Dinner was Spiedees (grilled marinated steak on sub rolls - a Binghamton NY delicacy), corn on the cob and potato salad. As we were eating, we were suprised to see the Queen Mary 2 making a return trip to Newport harbor. They snuck in without the fanfare of last year - we didn't even know they were going to be there.

The sunset was fantastic,
as were the fireworks. I think they did were much better than last year. Maybe it was all the hype last year that caused such a letdown. The ride back was less eventful than last year, but there were still some interesting waves on the bay. I almost think they were echos of the Queen Mary's anchoring maneuvers.

Saturday, Cathy, Ryan and I put the new roller furler luff extrusion on. We had to lower the mast to get the forestay through the extrusion. The last foot or so was a challenge, but we finally got it. By that time, we were all to hungry and cranky to actually go sailing.

Sunday, I solo-sailed out to West Passage. Everyone else had had too much sun and "fun" the day before. The wind was SW at about 5 to 10 kts. I tried for Dutch Harbor, but hit a wall of cold air from the SE coming out of the harbor. Decided against a long slog upwind so turned tail and headed back north. Ahh, the joys of daysailing with no particular place to go.

Decided on the way north that it is time to get a whisker pole to help with running wing-on-wing. Bought one on Monday at West Marine. The Forespar 6-12ADJ, which everyone on the Macgregor board seems to favor. List price was 129.00, but it was marked 89.00. Not a bad deal.

Got the boat set up last weekend, with one minor glitch. In bringing Seven C's across the bay (mast down) from Wickford to EPYC, the furler bounced around too much and the luff extrusion cracked in several places. We didn't really figure this out without putting the mast up and down several times trying to raise the genoa. Needless to say, the Admiral wasn't pleased.

Finally took her out for a sail today with Colleen as crew. Sailed under full main and jib. Winds were light, 3 to 5 kts in the East Passage from the NNW, backing to NNE later in the day. In the West Passage, out of Prudence Island's wind shadow, the wind was a more respectable 5 to 8 kts. Had the boat moving pretty well there - up to 5 kts. It was chilly when the sun was behind the clouds. Of course, as soon as we got back to the marina the sun came out.
Today was the Quonset Air show. We had perfect timing to watch the Thunderbirds doing there acrobatics right over West Passage for about a half hour.

All in all, a good first outing for the season.

EDIT: I found out later, they weren't the Thunderbirds, but the Canadian Snowbirds. It is tough to tell when they are whizzing by at mach speeds.

The cold winter is finally over. We seemed to have gone from winter to summer with no spring. After one of the coldest Mays on record, the weather is now up in the 80s and 90s.

We stored Seven C's at Brewer's Wickford Cove for the winter, hoping to get a slip closer to our new home for the new season. No such luck. They launched it on Monday (the latest I've ever launched by 2 or 3 weeks). We'll move it across the bay tonight to EPYC - and then hope to be out on the water this weekend.

Happy sails to you, until we meet again!!

There haven't been many entries lately. It is not that I'm lazy, but very busy. I recently became gainfully employed (i.e., with a paycheck and everything vs. working for equity at RING). I am now the Director of Operations at Zebra Atlantek in Wakefield, RI.

So the family is moving to RI and we will be only 10 minutes from the Bay. (That's the exciting part).

The rest of the year won't see much sailing, with the new job and the move. But we'll be set for many new adventures in the years to come.

Ryan and I ventured down to Newport Harbor to see the Queen Mary 2 and the fireworks for the 4th. We left the marina around 11:30, winds were SSW at 5-10 kts. Pretty uneventful sail. I started with a furled genoa so as not to heel too much. Later I let the whole genoa out as Ryan got more comfortable.

Got down to Newport about 4:00. Anchoring was a challenge, given Ryan's inexperience and the crowding of the anchorage. I'll admit that I popped the anchor powering in reverse a little too much, too. We ended up with only about 2.5x scope out, but the anchor held and we weren't staying the night.

Ryan and I played "War" and ate burgers in the cockpit. The QM2 came in about 6 PM. Boy, this is ONE BIG SHIP! They started blowing their horn about 8:30, to which all the boats in the anchorage responded. Our little horn sounded like a kazoo!! The fireworks started at 9:15. They were good, but didn't live upto the hype. Cunard donated $10K, doubling the fireworks budget. I don't think they were twice as good.

The trip back gave us a good, closeup view of the QM2. Then it was a wild ride back. The seas were very confused by the wakes of hundreds of boats. At times, I was surfing at 15 kts with only half throttle. Tough to do in the dark; I almost broached once and almost buried the bow on another wave. But we made it back safely and put us and the boat to bed by 11:00.

Beautiful day today, although it was windier than predicted. It started out about 10 to 15 kts and ended at 18 to 20 with higher gusts. All from the SW. Tacking by Dyer Island, I quickly decided to reef the main (as soon as I thought of it :-)). That took care of the bad weather helm, although I never really got in the groove like I have in past weeks. The boat was moving OK, but not great.


Once past the southern tip of Prudence, I settled on a beam reach. I decided to go outside of Hope Island so I just stayed on that heading until the sunken boiler south of Hope. Then I turned to a broad reach and headed North. I gybed about half way up the island, but really too soon. It put me more dead down wind than the starboard broad reach that I wanted. Even though the genoa was very small and the main reefed, I was still moving 5+ kts.

As I turned to go across the top of Prudence I could see why - the wind had picked up. Of course, it is usually windier in that stretch than down by EPYC. As I turned I started to catch up and pass a 27 ft. sailboat with no genoa but full main. He was pinching too hard, I got a full tack ahead of him even though I sailed a much longer distance. Who says Macs have to be the slowest boat.

Just a quick note to say Ryan's egg launcher did very well. His egg went 15 meters and survived, giving him an "A" on the project.

Went down to the boat early Sunday morning. Colleen had to work all weekend, so I went alone. I took advantage of the unusual west winds to head down to Rhode Island Sound again. Winds were about 10 Kts but very gusty. Out near Beavertail Light, a couple of gusts were near 20 Kts. I really had too much sail up.

Turned around at that point. Headed for the entrance to Mackerel Cove, but couldn't make the cove without tacking. A tanker was coming down the bay. I quickly headed for the starboard side of the channel, then headed up the channel. As I got to Rose Island, I decided to reef the main.

Continued up the Bay, winds were lessening. Shook out the reef in the Main abeam of Coasters Harbor. Let the Genoa out not much later.

Back at the Marina, finally met Peter Barnes. Peter and I have emailed each other for years; having "met" on the Sailnet MacGregor list.

After a couple of beers and supper relaxing reading the paper, I went to bed. Should have brought a warm blanket or sleeping bag.

Winds on Monday started light and variable. Sailed about half way to Bristol, then motored the rest of the way. Checked out the ramps and the Thames Street dock. Motored out to Hog Island Light, then started sailing again. Wind was 8-10 Kts. out of the SE. Sailed back and called an early day of it, had to go home and help Ryan on his egg launcher project for Physics.

I took advantage of an ESE wind to take Seven C's down to Castle Hill and Newport Harbor today. Still needed a couple of tacks to clear Gould Island and line up to get under the Newport bridge. Got some good pictures of Rose Island Lighthouse,
then entered the anchorage north of Goat Island and took some pictures of Goat Island light, too. From there, I just pointed at Beavertail light and headed for the ocean. It was nice to get through this section without the tacking that is needed in the usual SW wind.


Turned around abeam of Castle Hill and headed for Newport's inner harbor. I had never actually entered the harbor before. Did a spin around the harbor then headed back out for home. Tried to cut a corner through the near-empty mooring field. Ran over a mooring and it's chain got caught on my rudder. The leading edge of the rudder got chewed up a bit. At this point the winds were pretty light and I didn't feel like doing a down wind run at 2.5 kts. So I fired up the iron and cruised back to the marina at 8 kts.

Just got back from another great day on the water. Winds started out at about 5 to 8 kts from the SW. Later in the day they were about 15 to 18 kts from the SE.

Went over to Wickford, still one of my favorite places on the Bay. The boat moved well again - about 5 kts close hauled and 6.5 knots on a beam reach. Actually hit 7+ a couple of times in the gusts - great fun. Slowed down in the wind shadow of the island again, but there was enough breeze to keep the boat moving at about 4 kts. It was one of those examples of making your own wind.

Didn't actually stop in Wickford, just did a tour of the harbor (both branches) then back out to "sea". A car carrier was coming into Quonsett just as I was going by -- boy they are big.

Went down for the first daysail of the season yesterday. Winds were 8-10 knots from the southwest, but not as steady as a normal summer sou'wester. The water and hence the air is still pretty cold if the sun ducks behind a cloud. Other than that it was a beautiful day.

Cleaned up inside, got the water and head squared away. Tuned the rigging to about 300# on each shroud. Only really needed to adjust the port upper shroud.

The motor started right up, which after our excitement with launching last week is amazing. The boat was moving well under sail, 5 knots close hauled and up to 6.2 on a beam reach. I tacked down south of Prudence Island then started for Wickford. The winds died in the shadow of Jamestown Island, so I motorsailed back to East Passage and then sailed back to just north of Dyer Island. Took the sails down and gave the motor a little workout - then called it a day.

Great start to what I hope will be a great season.

Well I'm finally well enough to tell the story. After all this, I came down with viral menengitis on Sunday - ran a 104.8 degF fever.

Our saga starts on Thursday 4/29. I finished washing, waxing and preping the boat. I also tested the motor to burn off the fogging oil and to not have any surprises at the launching ramp. Yeah, right! It started right up.

Cathy has been fighting a cold for weeks which has turned into a sinus infection. So she was off to the doctor early Friday morning. We headed for the ramp as soon as she got back. The ride down was pretty scary. We had trouble with trailer sway with passing trucks. Finally just kept the speed below 50 MPH and things settled out.

Got down to the ramp and, as is typical mid-week, it was nice and quiet. We don't rig at the ramp, we do it at the slip, so we just removed the two bolts from the rudders and backed her down. Turned the key and it cranked but wouldn't catch. Checked the Run/Stop switch. Checked the throttle for neutral. Turned it again, still no workee. Played and cranked for half an hour -- so much that I had to jump the two batteries together. By this time we were frustrated and hungry. So after much deliberation we decided to see if we could park it on the trailer at the marina overnight.

The folks at the marina couldn't have been nicer. Got our new parking pass and parked the trailer for the night.

Got up bright and early the next morning armed with my tools and manuals and a Dunkin' Donuts large black coffee. Set right to my task and checked the neutral and R/S switch with an ohmmeter. I felt sure that there was a problem with the neutral switch but I was wrong. So after puttering for a half hour with the wiring in the console, I decided to try it. No water hookup so I could not let it run. It started right up!!

So I called Cathy and sheepishly asked if she could come down and help me again. She and Ryan graciously agreed. While they were driving down, I moved the trailer near a hose spigot so that I could do a more thorough test. Again, it started right up and ran like a champ.

So back to the ramp I go. Now, of course, it is the middle of a nice Spring Saturday. The ramp is significantly busier. We wait our turn, then back down. Turn the key and... it won't start! Argh! Can't play with it for 1/2 hour this time, the ramp is way too crowded. Everyone was kind of curious why we weren't launching.

So I checked the torque on the spark plugs and scratched my head and cussed a lot. When the ramp had cleared, we decided to try the motor on land. It started right up!! Backed it down the ramp, raising the engine only as high as I need to keep it from dragging. Finally, it started in the water.

After all that, the ride to the marina was uneventful. The engine ran fine. Ryan was a great help into the dock lines. Before we knew it, we were safely back in the slip for another year.

I brought Seven C's home from storage on Saturday. Spent the rest of the day just pottering around, making my commissioning list and planning what to do. Sunday I bought new carpet at Lowe's (about $4.70 per lin. ft. for real boat carpet). Got that cut and in the boat, then I cleaned the interior and oiled the wood. It really isn't in too bad shape. It is supposed to be warm later this week, so I'm hoping to splash the boat on Thursday or Friday.

I figured out that, assuming a May 1st splash date I am more than half way through this long cold winter. The days are starting to get warmer and longer. The sun is getting higher in the sky. Come on Spring!!!

Dropped the boat off at the storage place this morning. Very sad :-(. I've bought a couple of new books for the winter on other people's cruises -- so I guess I'm living vicariously until Spring.

Took the boat out today. The mast was already down, so I just motored around Dyer Island emptying the balast and waiting for the First Mate to bring the trailer to the Weaver Cove ramp. Had to wait for two other boats to haul out - a veritable traffic jam for a weekday. Until next year....

Last sail of the year. Windy out of the NW with a steady 18 to 22 kts to start. I decided to head up into Mt. Hope Bay. Wind died pretty quickly though, so after a couple of tacks I shook out the reef and one tack later was able to beam reach around Arnold Point and right up into the bay. Winds were 8 to 12 kts at this point, with some higher gusts until I got by the bridge and behind Bristol Neck. Then they were lighter behind the lee of the point, but with some gusts upto 15 kts. Continued up toward Brayton Point, then gybed and went close behind Spar Island. Needed one tack as I turned too soon. The wind at the point was about 8 to 10 kts, but with gusts that sometimes approached 18 to 20. Hit 7 kts on GPS a couple of times during the gusts -- great fun!!

Took the mast down when I got back to the marina. It is supposed to get cold for the weekend, so I guess it is time to call it a year.

Started out very windy today, with NE winds 18 to 20 kts with higher gusts. Decided to go around Prudence Island "the other way". I usually go around counter-clockwise in the prevailing SW summer winds. I like to get my tacking out of the way early. Started out with a reef in the main and about half the genoa out. Had to fight both the wind and the outgoing tide, which is typically a 1.5 kt current. Light dawned on Marblehead today -- I finally realized in realtime how the current was affecting my ability to point.

Wind was lighter on the backside of Prudence, about 8 to 10 kts. I almost shook out the reef before I rounded the south tip, but decided against it. Winds were about 10 to 12 kts out of the lee of Prudence.

Went out yesterday for a day sail and decided to head for Allen Harbor since I had never ducked in there. Neat little harbor -- lots of courtesy dock space (20 minutes max, although I don't think anyone would have kicked me out yesterday, there was no one around). Not much to see or do, but looks like a nice quiet harbor to drop the hook for the night.

The sail itself was great. Winds were SW at 15-20 kts. with higher gusts. Was averaging about 5.5 kts with reefed main and RF genoa out about half way. I hit 7 kts a couple of times for brief periods during gusts.

Took a quick sail yesterday before getting the boat ready for Isabel. The hurricane is expected to miss us - going pretty far to the west up through PA. But better safe than sorry. I took the sails and bimini off and put an extra spring line out. They were forecasting 35 kt gusts, but now are just forecasting 25 kt winds. That's almost a regular day during the summer.

The sail itself was great. Nothing like a relaxing day on the water. Winds were 5 to 8 kts out of the SW. I tacked down the East Passage to just south of Dyer Island, then went west on port tack over to the west of Gould Island. The boat was moving well, about 4.7 to 5 kts (GPS). Took a couple of tacks to line up the red buoy at the south tip of Gould, which I cleared by pinching a bit. Rounded the island then fell off for the downwind trip back to the marina. Was only getting about 2.5 kts on the downwind leg, so I took the sails in and motored back.

Passed an old salt out of Norfolk VA with "ring around the boot stripe". He was heading north up the bay. I'm sure he was a liveaboard that was getting out of Isabel's way. I think he was a little freaked by a sailboat passing him at 13 kts. I wish him, and everyone down in NC/VA/MD good fortune as they ride out the coming storm.

Stopped in at the Newport Boat Show on Friday and checked stuff out. I didn't spend a lot of time drooling over the larger monohulls like I have in years past. I've decided that the next boat will be a catamaran, since the Admiral really doesn't like to heel. The boat that I'm jonesing is the Maine Cat 30 -- kind of like the MacGregor of the cat world. Sleek styling, mostly gelcoat finished for easy maintenance inside and out. The fit and finish are a lot better than the Mac, no unpainted, exposed fiberglass and no gelcoat voids.

Finally met Otho, the new owner of Havencraft. We reminisced/commiserated about negotiating with Art for a while but I had to let him do his job and try to sell some boats. He had a white hulled 26M, the first one I've seen. Looked very nice, but I'll stick with my 26X until I move up to a cat.

After checking out the tents, I buzzed up to the marina for a quick afternoon sail. The wind was out of the ENE, unusual for the Bay but perfect for reaching up and down the bay without tacking. Winds were 8 to 12 kts with higher gusts. Went south to a bit beyond Halfway Rock, turned around and went North to the SP buoy then back to the marina.

Welcome to the Seven C's Blog. This is the start of a weblog of the voyages on the Seven C's.