Newport Boat Show: Part 2 - Wickford to Newport

Wickford was the perfect place for staging the boat for Monday's cruise over to Newport.  It was convenient for Scott and Lesley to leave a car (i.e., not requiring them to cross the bay) and only 11 nautical miles to Newport across Narraganset Bay's protected waters. Additionally, Wickford Shipyard gave me a good deal on the slip ($1.50 a foot with power) and had a pump-out.

Explanatory Note: Dockage in New England is very expensive, often $3.00 or more and pump-out facilities are not plentiful. Remember Nantucket at $7.50 a foot PLUS $55 for electricity.

Kodi and I started the morning with a 3 mile walk from the Wickford Ship to the Wickford historic district and then to the Wickford Marina.  It was a lovely morning and the historic district was worth the effort.  The 63 was across the harbor from the Wickford Marina and I took the photo below from that vantage point.

Guided Discovery as viewed from the Wickford Marina

Wickford, settled in 1637, is a small village in the town of North Kingston.  The village is built around one of the most well-protected natural harbors on the eastern seaboard, and features one of the largest collections of 18th century dwellings to be found anywhere in the northeast. Today the majority of the village's historic homes and buildings (most in private hands) remain largely intact upon their original foundations.

Wickford Harbor

North Kingston Town Hall

Art shops in the Wickford historic district

A 1795 historic home

View of Wickford Harbor from the Wickford Marina (which is across from the Wickford Shipyard)

End-O-Maine Lobster Company

End-O-Maine's house overlooks their boat

Narraganset Bank and former Bissell House circa 1768

 

First Baptist Church circa 1816

The walk was followed by several hours of work.  My goal was to be fully prepared for the Boat Show with a full water tank (300 gallons) and an empty holding tank (100 gallons).  I also needed to catch up on maintenance having been away for two weeks.  High on the list was cleaning the HVAC sea strainer, one of my least favorite tasks.

Explanatory Note: The HVAC sea strainer operates 24/7 filtering thousands of gallons of seawater containing numerous varieties of sea life, which if unfiltered would clog the HVAC's cooling lines. The trapped sea life must be removed.at least monthly.  Unfortunately, Outer Reef installed a Groco SA 1500 unit that is particularly difficult to clean and tricky to seal. At least it is accessible.

I contacted the Newport Boat Show's operator at mid morning to get an update on our arrival time and learned that they would not be ready for us until after 3:00 PM.  This was good as it gave me more time to accomplish my maintenance tasks.

Narraganset Bay
Wickford is 2/3rds down the left side
Newport is in the lower center

I departed Wickford Shipyard's fuel dock (after pumping out) at 2:00 PM and motored slowly east across the west side of the bay toward the north end of Jamestown and then south along the east bay toward Newport.   The 11.2 mile trip took a little over an hour running at 1350 RPM.  I was operating single handed for this leg.  While enroute I positioned fenders and lines for a port side tie

Goat Island Lighthouse on the south end of Goat Island

Massive Fort Adams

Large yachts along Newport's numerous wharf's

Hurry up and wait.  The show operator was not ready when I arrived requiring me to hold station while they finished their preparations.  Notice the photo of the antique tour boat passing moored dock fingers awaiting installation

Antique tour boat passing moored fingers awaiting installation

The Newport Yacht Center at Commercial Wharf
Notice the boats already locked into the show

Now to the docking situation.  Once I made VHF radio contact with the show I learned that the docking maneuver was going to be very tricky.  This was not a great surprise as I had seen this movie before in Lake Park and Palm Beach.  Fortunately, I now have 6 months and 2,000 miles of experience with numerous docking situations.  I've also learned how the 63 handles and have developed a moderate degree of confidence.  The 63 is very maneuverable, which is made even easier with the remote that controls both engines and thrusters (bow and stern).

The photo below shows the problem.  They want the 63 port side to in the slip where the two guys in blue shirts are standing. Note the the round fender ball between them.  Also notice the black and white runabout and finger floats tied to the wall on the right.  I estimated that I had 30 feet of clearance.  Given the 63's 17 foot beam, I would have at least 6 feet on either side.  I asked them to move the fingers and they declined saying "it is what it is."  The position of the runabout and fingers required me to back the boat down the fairway followed by a clockwise spin while backing toward the pier between the green fishing boat to the north and the fingers to the south.  This would position the 63 for forward movement into the slip. Complicating the problem was the finger to which the runabout is tied.  It extended 4 feet north negating a straight in approach.  I also had  a 15 to 20 knot wind from the north east (pushing me toward the runabout).

A mega difficult docking situation

Explanatory Note: In principle the backing maneuver was no more difficult than backing the boat into a regular slip where I would have maybe two feet on either side.  Here I had six.  Hence, no big deal.

When I pointed out that I was operating single handed they sent a dockhand out to the boat.  He agreed that he would use a ball fender to prevent contact with anything and give me feedback on distances.  Show time! I executed the maneuver flawlessly.  The photo below shows the 63 safely in the slip.  Notice that we are now locked in with a finger installed astern.

Notice how the dock to which the runabout is tied juts out.  This blocks a straight in approach

The 63 next to a Hackercraft replica
The open water was filled with boats as the afternoon progressed

Good news!.  Unlike Miami and Palm Beach, where there was no power for 24 hours, here there was power on the dock and I immediately was able to plug in.

The day ended with the 63 safely in the slip and a beautiful sunset.

The Newport Bridge at sunset

Written by Les.