August 13 and 14 -- Lay Day and a Half in Wickford and Passage to East Greenwich

It rained pretty much all day on the 13th. We did not leave the boat. I got the starboard water tank clean as a "whistle": remove cushions, unscrew ten screws and remove the boards that are their platform, remove the twelve sheetmetal screws that hold the "caps" that close the two viewing ports in the top of the tank and their rubber gaskets, pump out most of the  remaining water that the electric fresh water pump could not access, use sponge to get out the rest of the water that the hand pump could not reach, scrape out all of the slime that covered the bottom and sides of the tank, get the tank bone dry with paper towels, rub down the inside surfaces with clorox and then with hydrogen peroxide, reassemble the lids of the ports, the boards and the cushions. Four fours.
All meals aboard. Reading and relaxing. Two problems: One, though the rain was not hard, a trickle of water comes through the mast boot and runs down the mast to the bilge. But the book of charts was on the table and slid against the mast so each page had absorbed some water. (1) Paper towels interleaved between the pages, (2) a dry, low humidity day and (3) patience have restored the charts. The other problem is that I'm learning that several of the ports I had hoped to visit will not work for us. Either there is simply no anchorage, mooring or slip that can accomodate ILENE's length and draft, or in one case they could accommodate us in a "safe" harbor, but one that has nothing to offer except the marina itself - no restaurants or other attractions and this for $4/foot. No thanks. A free anchorage has at least that much attractiveness. So ports are getting scratched off the list. Others will be visited by paying the high fee or visited by dink.
Next day it was clear again and we explored the lovely, charming old village of Wickford. Here are a few of the many historic houses:

There were lots of shops including antique shops and art galleries and  nice folks to talk with,










Here is the  municipal beach with five lifeguards but no bathers.

We had good fish at Wickford on the Water. This was the place that Charley, who runs the Wickford YC, where we moored, had recommended. But another woman told us that the food was bad there. The third opinion, from a shopkeeper, proved decisive and correct: The place had been a good restaurant; new management had run it into the ground; but even newer management, as of a few months ago, had brought back excellent food.


Our mooring was adjacent to
 three beautiful old classic boats.

I love this detail of the taller mast of the dark hulled schooner.

And how about this gaff rigged low aspect ratio sloop: gorgeous.


With all the conversation we did not get underway for what would be our three hour sail from Wickford to East Greenwich until four in the afternoon. we passed Quonset Point, home of a naval air station. Our government first erected metal huts resembling half a tin can on its side here which is how they became known as Quonset Huts. It was at the dock here that I left the USS Hammerberg DE 1015 for the last time in the spring of 1967.
But what intrigued me was a bay, just north of of the point with a lot of water ten feet deep at low tide. It is at about 41 degrees 36.3 W; 071 degrees 24.3W, and shown in this screen shot.

  It seems like a good place to anchor for the night if the winds are forecast from the south or west. I do not know why it is not listed as a place to anchor and aim to find out.

We had to tack our way north and the MFD says our track for the ten mile journey was thirteen miles overall. The fun was near the end when we were heading west and going fast. Lene had the helm. Two separate classes of Tuesday night racers were out doing their thing. We got through both of them without hitting anyone of even messing up their plans or their wind. Lene was proud of herself. Another problem: the MFD stopped showing the little red triangles and green squares representing buoys. Oh yes, it did display "5," meaning green can five, but was the buoy north, south, east or west of that quoted number? once we were on the mooring, I tried to use the book that I had to pay extra for after I bought the MFD, but it was worthless. No index entries for buoys, navigational marks or any other item one would have thought to check out. So I just played with the toy until I changed a button marked "simple" and it changed to "detailed, and the buoys were back! It was obviously me, not the kitties, who had accidentally pressed the "simple " button. Our mooring is at the East Greenwich YC. They want us to call their launch by its name: "Patience."Actually the wait was not long.