Good morning all,

Friday morning 10/24/08 started out a little cool.  Overnight temps were in the teen so the dock and deck of the boat were quite icy.  We motored straight out to the race and fished Valiant rock in the early morning hours (before sunup).  The water was dead calm as you can see in the sunrise photo off in the distance.

Of course we were in the rips where the fish are, also pictured below.  After trolling the race for a few hours we heard a warning call from a US warship entering the race on the VHF radio, also pictured a Nuclear Sub headed toward the Thames river in New London.  We then headed to Goshen ledge off Waterford to anchor up and try for some Totaug (blackfish).

Jeff caught one Porgy and performed a very careful surgery to remove the hook from the fish unharmed.  A seagull was apparently watching and snatched the fish as soon as it was released, so much for unharmed.  Shortly after we spotted a family of Whitetail deer playing on the beach nearby.

Boating season will come to a close soon, and I hope you all enjoy the fall.

Captn. Dave Big Red

Thought I'd take the opportunity of the mass email with everybodies address to reply to all and relate our experience this last weekend.

Our new (to us) catamaran is pretty big (to us at least) at 44ft. You see some sailboats in the 50-70 foot range in L.I. Sound but not too many. In Newport it's quite a different story. Join us by boat or car if the squadron cruises there again next year and see for yourself.

There is only one marina in CT. that can easily haul us due to our beam and they do not want cats for winter storage. We had to go to Newport to find an expensive facility. I know, poor us.

Well poor us is actually very correct.

I sailed (downwind and gusty with 2 to 4 foot seas) solo from Mystic to Newport on Friday. A couple of uncontrolled gybes made for an interesting trip but otherwise it was a fun sail. I anchored off Ida Lewis Rock to wait for Carol to drive to Newport so we could go to Newport Shipyard for the winter. I dinghied to the marina Saturday to meet Carol and to see where they would like me to tie up when we moved the boat. They offered me two spots to choose from. One of them was next to another boat but they said there was plenty of room in that slip for our 24 ft. beam because the other boat was small. I walked down to the slip to check it out and found that the small boat was a 52ft. Swan. That's their idea of small.

I realized just how small potatoes we really are. Some of the sailboat lengths approached 200 ft. and most were in the mid hundreds - like 400-500. Those are real sailboats. We just have a toy. One boat ashore was around 200ft. and its waterline was so far over our heads that we could not tell what the draft was. At least 12ft. and maybe much more. The anchors and chain were on the ground while they were working on the boat. Two 400 pound CQRs!!!!

Carol talked to some of the people from the boats in the slips. It was hard to tell owners from crew except owners talked about keeping their boats in the eastern Caribbean or the south of France. She had to make up future sails to the Med to fit in. Our egos were shrunk by these people with real money and real boats except when one young fellow wanted to know if we were headed south so he could offer himself as crew in exchange for a ride. It was at least a little ego boost that he thought we and the boat were blue-water capable.

Whatever size boat you have there's always someone with one that's bigger. Dream and strive for something larger if you want but be sure to have fun with and enjoy what you have. I believe we all use and enjoy our boats more than these people do. None of these people are going on Power Squadron cruises or meetings. Their loss.

Mike
Improbability _/ )
KB1FYG@arrl.net