The Departing 41:29.42N 71:19.19
Ellatrout3
Wed 2 Jul 2014 13:17
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30th June 2014
Hello again! I think Ella Tout and I are ready
to move.
Ella has had major repairs to her mainsail, the
rigger has sorted her jib halyard and furling gear, without which we could not
sail, and all the other issues that arose because of the strong weather we had
have been resolved. She and I are hoping for an easier trip to the Azores
hopefully arriving with nothing broken, bent or battered.
While I am ready to go I shall be sorry to
leave. Norm Bailey has been an admirable host, attending to our every
need, introducing us to the people who can fix or replace our broken gear,
taking us to his and Diane's new home, driving us anywhere we need to go and
entertaining us royally on several occassions. I particularly enjoying an
American style breakfast with him. Newport Yacht Club have made us most welcome
with pontoon mooring and all their facillities freely available! I know
the weather was against us but it is a great pity only two of us made it. They,
Norm in particular, have gone to a lot of trouble to make the Jesters welcome
and facillitate their arrival. It would be fair to our Newport backers if
in 2018 we let them know a bit in advance the likely number of starters, a bit
of weeding of the entry list a month before, or maybe
earlier, would be a good thing to sort the wanabe's from
the serious contenders.
I was leaving Newport early morning
Tuesday 1st July and heading for Martha's Vineyard, where I was to stop
briefly, subject to getting a mooring, to see the Island. I was
told it was well worth a visit and as I was passing very close
I intended to stop, it's a long way to come back! and
report what I found. That has all changed; late Monday night we were
warned of a potential Tropical storm forming near Florida. Initial
forecasts suggested if we set off we could get 300 miles clear before it
arrived, but we delayed to get the next forecast, just as well we did, it
showed the storm expanding and tracking along our course home. If we had gone (I
say we because Paul and I were going to set off together) this morning as
planned we would have had a rough and dangerous passage with possibly 60 to 70
mph winds if the centre had passed over us. As it is Newport Yacht Club members have provided moorings at no
charge where we can sit out the storm and set off back on it's tail, probably on
Sunday.
This was to have been my first return blog at sea
but mother nature and modern technology has changed that so it is in advance of
me setting off and the next blog will be when I'm at sea,probably Monday
7th.
Love Poppa/Dad/Roger
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