Reader Note: It's been a busy 12 days since were returned from Newport. Time to catch up.
The Newport Boat Show ended on Sunday, September 14 at 5:00 PM. My Outer Reef friends asked if they could blow our Kalenberg (read as very loud) air horn as is traditional at the show's end. We immediately evacuated Kodi knowing that she would be upset by the noise. The horns never blew. Apparently New Englanders are more civilized than other regions.
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Outer Reef team
Mike, Tracy, John, Geoff and Danny (Missing is Joel) |
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| Danny on the boat deck chatting with prospects |
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| Crowds walking by Guided Discovery |
Blowing the horn would have been appropriate as we had much to celebrate. On Thursday at the start of the show Mike handed me a copy of Passagemaker's October issue with
Guided Discovery on the cover (and me too if you look hard enough). On Friday, we closed on our Chicago property making us official "live-aboards." And finally, on Sunday, we finished our boat show obligation.
Three Cheers: Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah!
Newport was great fun, which was not the case with the other three shows. Miami was consumed with resolving boat problems as was Lake Park. We headed off to Sarasota during Palm Beach and did not return until it was over. At Newport I actually enjoyed the town, went on boats, including a 75 foot Molokai Straights being brokered by Outer Reef, and enjoyed the exhibitor displays.
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| Outer Reef was brokering this 2006 75 foot Molokai Straights |
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| Very impressive Molokai Straights pilot house |
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Tempus 90 foot
Solid African Mahogany for only 5.5 Million |
Kodi also had a good time. She sat with me in the Outer Reef tent and entertained passer's by. The conversations always seem to follow a pattern. Someone will walk by and say "that's a pretty dog" or ask if they can pet her. This is almost always followed by the question "how old is she?" My answer is always the same. "She can tell you." The puzzled reaction is predictable. At that point I put her in a down settle and ask "how old are you?" She counts to six with her paw. A crowd usually gathers and we proceed to put on a show of our own. Kodi loves to perform. In retrospect I should have put out a hat. I bet we would have made a hundred dollars.
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The Furry Kid entertained passerby's
Unfortunately, no sales were attributed to her efforts |
During the show I met a gentleman who follows my blog and who is a serious prospect. He spent considerable time on the boat both with John and myself.
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| Blog follower Simione and John from Outer Reef |
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| Scott, Lesley and Amelia joined me on Friday afternoon |
Diana and Pam flew in from Chicago and joined me on Saturday afternoon after being picked up at the airport by Lesley and Amelia. We then had a dinner at the White Horse Tavern (established 1673) and celebrated our three major events (boat on cover, house closing and last show). Diana and Pam accompanied me on the return trip to Hingham.
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| Sunset on Sunday after the show ended |
The next major event took place on Monday morning and it went off without a hitch. We were slated to depart early and that is exactly what happened. They pulled the docks locking us in at 8:45 and we were on the road 8 minutes later.
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| Show management removing the dock that locked us in |
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| Passing Fort Adams as we depart Newport |
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| A massive Newport Mansion, one of many |
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We pass the USS Arlington entering Narraganset Bay
a 684 foot San Antonio Class amphibious transport dock
The crew is on deck for review |
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| Taking photos of Billy Black, the yacht photographer, as he photographs us |
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| Guided Discovery off Cohasset at Sunset (approximately 7:00 PM) |
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| We pass Minot's Light marking the reefs off Cohasset |
The 97.1 NM cruise to Hingham took just under 12 hours at an average speed of 8.7 Knots. We ran at 1400 RPM for most of the trip and burned a total of 93 gallons of fuel. Contributing to our speed and fuel economy was a favorable current through the Cape Cod Canal, The weather was perfect with clear skies and seas less than 1 foot.
The sun set at 7:00 PM as we passed Minot's Light off Cohasset. At that point we were still approximately 12 NM and 90 minutes from Hingham. Time for a run in the dark. Well not exactly. Nautical twilight lasts another 38 minutes and provides some illumination. That got us to Boston Light, From there we were operating in the dark. We traversed Nantasket Roads, turned left at Hull Gut and ran southwest down the main channel to Hingham navigating with lighted buoys (great practice) and bread crumbs for security (chart plotter tracks from previous runs).
We arrived in Hingham at 8:30 PM. By 9:00 PM Pam and I were dining at Alma Nove and toasting a successful return trip.
Written by Les.
