U.S.A.

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Wed 27 Jul 2011 18:26
WEDNESDAY  27th  JULY  2011
 
Here we are today in " Martha's Vinyard " , we sailed up from Pilots Point yesterday, the wind was light yesterday morning
at 08.00 when we slipped out of the Marina and headed east in Long Island Sound,
The wind picked up at 14.00 hours and we had a great sail in a 20 knot breeze with flat water and we arrived at our destination
at 7pm , having sailed almost 90 miles,
 
So much has happened since the last blog,
We spent 5 days in New port, R.I. the first 2 nights in the "New York Yacht Club" and the rest in B& B in down town New port.
mind you the B & B was more like a botique hotel, small and well maintained,
Our NBF " Tom Delaney arranged the Yacht Club accomodation for us and we had dinner with Tom and his wife linda on the Saturday
night in the club. we all had a great relaxing night and do you know what, its great to be in America, where most people have such
a positive attitude to everything and almost everyone were full of praise for Aileen & Myself for sailing " A Lady " around the world,
 
Of course we had to go and visit the famous " Mansions " in new Port, these were built in the golden era of Rhode Island 
and consisted of buildings belonging to the Vanderbilts, and their society friends, massive holiday residences , used for basically
10 weeks of entertainment during the summer months,  One of these " The Marble House " cost $ 11,000,000  in the late 1800's
Most of the society ladies here would spend $ 12,000 each on their clothes in Paris once a year, how about that,
 
Skipper spent a day down at the Shipyard, thats where all the boat things happen, skipper had a coffee with Bob Johnstone,
the brother of J24 designer Rob Johnstone, Also met Molly from Oyster and lots of other people, mostly Irish Students out there
on their J1 visa's ..... Gawd be with the days when Skipper worked in a Hospital on Statin Island N.Y. ( last centuary ) for his student
summer holidays, designing extensions and alterations to the hospital , plus driving the ambulance occasionaly when the
drivers of the gear shift vechicle would call in sick.  and then , to make real money, get to do the garbage on a saturday. 
You had to be well in with the boss for that job,
Thats another thing thats great here in the States, Pull and Connections, and all that stuff, it really works well here. You can
get or do anything here, all you need to do is find the right connections ......and when they promise something, you know it will be done.
 
We travelled to and from NewPort by " Amtrack" , the local train service, a bit unrealible when it came to time keeping, so we
decided to hire a car to go up to Christine and her family ,plus our grandchildren in Merry meeting Lake in NewHampshire,
There was a party on the 20th for Christines Dad, " Hector" and that was a good night, Hector did a BBQ and we all stuffed
ourselves to the gills with steaks and chicken , plus lots of other goodies. It was great to meet Aunt Jackie, Aunt Pattie
Bob , Hector, and all the other relations again, plus our grandchildren Emily, Rachel, and Annabel. 
Everyone at the party had to relate a storey which referred to Hector, this was funny and Skipper told the storey of the
time Hector took skipper in a dug out canoe up to the big falls outside " Manilla" in the Phillipnes .. on reaching the Falls
Hector pointed out to skipper that he was the only white person in the massive crowd and that kidnappers loved whites for their
ransome's ............................Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh Shit !
 
The following day Skipper and Aileen took the kids out for a ride in a " Cris Craft" reproduction on lake Winepesaukee ,
this was followed with big IceCreams and a tour of " WolfBoro" on a tram.
 
The week flew by very quickly and before we could scratch ourselves, we were off on the 23 rd to the inaugeration of Christines
mothers ( Cynthia ) memorial garden at the Fells ,near lake Sunapee ( thats not quite right )  These gardens and the original house were
once owned by John Hay who was Secretary of state for Roosvelt, and played a big part in American overseas forign policy.
We were royally fed and given a few glasses of Champaigne to celebrate the occasion, everyone had a great day. It was late when
we all returned to the family home for a skinny dip in the lake before going to bed....
 
We returned to the boat the following day, having been to Mass first and a trip to the Outlets on route,
Actually , Mass was interesting,  A Franciscan friend of the priest did a 15 year study of old civilizations, tribes, countries, etc.
stretching back thousands of years and came up with 5 points that formed a common bond between all, usually handed
down from generation to generation..
 
They are as follows :-    1      Life is difficult,
                                   2      You are not important.
                                   3      Its not about you.
                                   4      You are not in Control
                                   5      You will die
 
mmmmmmmm,
 
When we returned to the Marina, we met skippers other NBF, " Will "   Will owns and operates the restaurant on the marina
and skipper had some great nights there after hours with Will, sipping glasses of wine and having the odd cigarette, yeah, good for the
night, but maybe not so good for the body,  We told great stories and of course he has Irish Blood in him,
 
 
There were other things that occured in merrymeeting Lake,  Emily passed her stage 4 and rachel passed her stage 1 in their
respective swimming courses. we also took a trip to the fish farm close by. this place always amazes Skipper because of
the amount of 15lb trout just swimming around in some of their ponds, this is on top of the millions of other trout at
various stages of growth in the multitude of ponds spread along the side of the river,  and no security............ in fact one
can buy pellets for feeding the fish and its a family trip to go to the ponds to feed the fish, with tables and benches for picnic's
and relaxation,
 
On that, we will sign off,
 
Signed  :--   Stephen Hyde    ( skipper )