Saturday 1 September: Newport Rhode Island, pick up deliveries and boat maintenance day.
Bright sunshine and we have an admin morning. Financial paperwork, emails and then we go ashore to the Newport Yacht Club. As we dinghy close to the wharfs, we admire the 12m America’s Cup classic yachts which are moored alongside. One was the winning yacht in 1978. All immaculate. Tourists can go for a 2 hour sail on one for $98.
At Newport Yacht Club we quickly find Rudy, who has kindly received our deliveries of spare parts over the last few weeks. The NYC looks very nice and in perfect order, even the dinghy dock is perfectly organized and numbered. Happy with our collection, we return to s/v Cloudy Bay.
Once we open all the packages, the first items we “attack” are the WiFi antenna and the RedBox. The WiFi bat is a replacement, as the previous one stopped working and Glen destroyed it in the process of taking it apart for “servicing”. But the RedBox is a brand new item to our inventory, and it should allow us to compress the internet data we use and to have hotspot on the boat. As with all IT stuff, of course nothing is straight forward in setting them up. But after a couple of hours and a few attempts, we have working antenna and RedBox. Now we only need an internet network to connect to. Maybe we get some passwords from the outlets ashore.
Then it’s time to cool off, too much IT gets Glen overheated. He goes for a quick snorkel around the rudder, to check if there is any damage. Yesterday night, we suspected that the chain of the boat who rammed us might have caught on our rudder. Luckily, there is no sign of damage.
Next item we received is the Raymarine MFD, back from warranty repair. They fixed and returned the screen in less than 1 week after we sent it. It is now quickly reinstalled ready to go.
Next item is a new battery for our Dyson vacuum. That was an easy one.
Last items are parts to fix the generator exhaust and a spare electrical board. Those will have to wait another day before installation.
After lunch we go ashore, to catch the last hours of daylight in town. We walk through the Old Quarter and then along the Runner Wharf, at the end of which we find the Lobster Shack. We might come back here tomorrow to buy fresh lobster or crabs.
While in the area, we stop briefly at the Newport Yacht Club lounge, where the members seem to be commenting on some regatta. We were contemplating having a drink here, but somehow we feel out of place so we leave.
We then stroll to the wharfs where the buzzing area is. We stop at 22 Bistro, a lively little outdoors bar where we meet a very pleasant couple from The Netherlands, Diane & Ben. We have a very nice chat to them, as Ben is very much into racing yachts. Oh, racing… we miss that thrill. After we say our goodbyes, we walk a bit longer then return to s/v Cloudy Bay for a bit more video and blog editing.
Newport Rhode Island photo album