Daily Archives: August 25, 2012

We just realized we’re anchored right off the New York Yacht Club. We discovered this as we watched two dapper gents having a cocktail on a modest-sized but very Bristol motor yacht. They were dressed in navy blazers, one with khaki pants, the other with pink. A gorgeous launch picked them up, then made several more pickups through the anchorage. Jack watched through binoculars until they landed at the dock at the big mansion beside us. Google maps told us it’s the New York Yacht Club Harbor Court where a serious party is gearing up.

We came through here last January on our way to the Providence boat show. It was pouring rain and the town was largely buttoned up for the winter. We had a great time anyway, and spent quite a few comfy hours in the People’s Cafe which is in a converted bank complete with vault.

Today we came ashore and were amazed at how different Newport is in full tourist season. Shops are open and their wares spill out into the street, bars and cafes and bakeries are full up. When I first saw all the people sitting at bistro tables overlooking the harbor my first instinct was to pick an establishment and grab a table with a view. Then I realized we enjoy that every day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner from the cockpit of our boat. And whereas before I may have envied the people their view, their leisure, their summer clothes, now I don’t, and I almost feel sorry for the ones who have to grab this hour, this day or week, and then go back to their workaday world. It’s times like these I feel so lucky!

We left the touristy waterfront behind and headed back to the People’s Cafe. It’s just as we last saw it except for the sun streaming through the windows. We’re having coffee and wifi and watching the summer visitors enjoying this beautiful, historic town.

Ok, this is bizarre. The outboard is afraid of the bonnet. It seems to run well enough until you try to put the hard cover on it. Then it starts to die. Really. You put the bonnet on it and the rpm starts to go down until it stops running. Honda says its an exhaust leak down in the leg, five hours at $85 an hour away. We’ve pulled the plug. The new plan is to run the damn thing without the cover, water be damned. Not a pretty solution.

I have never seen such a wide variety of beautiful yachts collected in one small harbor. Maxis are a dime a dozen, they must have cornered the world market of carbon fiber. We were last here in January, but to see Newport from the boat is a totally different experience. The harbor was nuts to butts, as they say in the army, with all manner of craft. Mooring balls continue their encroachment into the shrinking anchoring area, at $45 a night. The Harbor Master said it’s the Ida Lewis anchorage or nothing. We shoehorned Escape Velocity into a spot next to a Catamaran that I hoped would move like EV. Don’t want any bumps in the night. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have even considered being this close to other boats but you gotta do what you gotta do.

BOOM! Cannons are fired from several yacht clubs to mark sunset (to signal when the captains may strike colors) and the opposite in the morning.
After a quiet night we are preparing to try to stop the minor leaks in the watermaker and to go ashore.

Nice place to hangout.

Neither of us slept very well last night so we were slow weighing anchor this morning. We finally got underway at about 10:30 and dropped anchor in Newport Harbor about 1:30. Say what you will about our slow pace, but we’re just not in a hurry to get anywhere and won’t be until our 6-month banishment from Florida expires.

We were so tired that we didn’t even go ashore this afternoon but are lolling about watching the endless parade of amazing yachts go in and out of the harbor. We’ve got a loaner outboard so I think we won’t go ashore at night but will wait until tomorrow, just in case the outboard gives us trouble.