Update on Point Judith to New Haven trip

[John Laton]

CD25 Happy Daze is now in her home port of New Haven Ct. Thanks to the sailing and navagation skills of one Don Carr (fellow board poster and gracious crew). Having him along was like hitting the lottery ! A brief description goes like this..

Friday June 1st -
With an 8' fiberglass dink in tow, we left Point Judith RI at Noon with 10-15 knot winds and made Noank CT. in 5 hours with an avg speed of 5.1 kn in what I would call a fairly close reach. We did hit 5.7kn for about a half hour. distance was 26 nm. Day one was wonderful with Don showing me the finer points of sail trim and course selection. Moored and on the dock at Noank Shipyard at 5:30. I can not say enough about the big boat feel the CD25 gave me and now why you are all here. Evening brought great conversation and an uncooperative alcohol stove squirting it's contents about the cabin. ( Don had to hold me back from throwing it over the side.. something about littering in his home port). Lights out 12:30am.

Saturday June 2nd -
7am - fog, Heavy Rain..wind 30+ kn. No signs of life save Don and I rowing the 1/3 rain filled dinghy to the dock for breakfast and waited for a break in the weather. It was supposed to lighten up a bit by noon. Don made what he termed a "calculated risk" and deemed it a go at 11:30am. Heavy fog and visibility under 1 mile, threatining skys, no wind gave both the new Nissan 8 and Don's navigation skill's a work out. Thank God for GPS and good charts. I must admit at this point I was getting a bit nervious but Don's words "we are golden" every now and then keep me from panic in this erie fog encased environment. During a gas tank switch we found out that the "floating" poly braided line to the dink does not "float" in strong tide currents and will foul the prop if your not looking !. Into New Haven harbor and the moored at 8:30 pm.

Sorry to be so wordy, just the excitement of being in good "CD" company.

Again, thanks to all and to Don to whom I am indebted for sharing his weekend, knowledge and sailing skills.

Fair winds,

John




laton@ynhh.com

[zeida]

John: Thanks for sharing your experiences with the rest of us. We love to hear about such big AND SMALL adventures in which our boats participate! It is double fun when you can share them with someone as knowledgeable as Don. Now you know a little better what your boat can do! Glad to hear both of you are safe and sound in your home port. Good sailing from now on.
Zeida Cecilia
Bandolera II / CD-33



zcecil@attglobal.net

[Lord Nelson]

Aye matey, sounds like ye learned your lessons well. You seem to be too generous in ye praise of this Carr fellow...seems as I recall he really screwed up at Trafalgar.
Take good care of your wee ship, she will serve you well. Small ships that sail are far better than large vessels in harbour.
At any rate.
1. The rigging indicates that you have a symmetrical spinnaker.
the spare line is the halyard. The line on the mast attached
to the car is a topping lift. The pole is an expanding spin
pole not just a whisker pole. In order to use this you must
climb the mast OR get into a bosuns chair and let th3e crane
at the Yacht Club lift you to the top of the mast, then attach
the block to a bail outside of the forestay (RF) this must be
mounted on a swivel head.

2. TRUST YOUR COMPASS.

3. Clean the teak rubrails with sea water (You know what I mean).

4. Harken sells traveler controls which have the block and
cam cleat in one unit mounted on the track ends. They
run about $88.00 a piece at discount. The cam cleats
are just about useless mounted where they are.

5. Actually the log read about 29NM from Shelter Harbor to
Noank mooring.

6. Those Thurston sails are of excellent quality and based
on the shape they held they would be high on my recommend list
although I haven't a clue as to price. Thurston is a local
R.I. sailmaker.

7. Enjoy the hell out of the boat very sound and well found.
Work on the teak off season.


Fair Winds.

[Captain Jack Aubrey, RN]

This tale is a fitting backdrop to the brilliant characterization and sparkling dialogue of your trip !!!!!