September 6-16
John MacDonald & Bob Madrell

Ports - Greenwich, Bristol, Newport, Montauk, Sag Harbor, Mystic, Portsmouth

John and I arrived at Greenwich Bay Marina http://www.byy.com/warwick%20greenwich%20bay/ on the 6th.  Boat checked out good after a weeks absence and Herb Lewis had done an excellent job on varnishing the rails while we were gone.

Due to our late arrival we missed the dinner hour at the Post Office Cafe and dined at their sister facility across the street.  It was good but not of the caliber of the POC.

We departed the following day for Bristol and the Herreshoff Museum http://herreshoff.org.  We had reservations for their dock, however Halsey Herreshoff had come in unexpectedly and took our spot so they gave us a mooring.  With a significant chop from 15-20 knot winds this proved to be unworkable as we would have to launch the tender to pick up Bob Madrell who wouldn't be arriving till after dark.  After some discussion they found a spot for us at another dock, which was greatly appreciated. 

Bob arrived about 10 PM after a long drive from Maine following a golf tournament.

The next day we toured the museum.  Halsey was there and conducted part of the tour himself as a small cruise ship had docked at the museum and about 40 people from the ship got a special tour so we joined in.  It's an interesting museum, featuring the history of the Herreshoff boat building family and facility in Bristol.  There are a large number of Herrshoff boats in the museum, along with a sidebar America's Cup Hall of Fame and the Koch syndicate America3 boat from the 1992 campaign.

During the rest of the week we visited Newport, Montauk http://www.montaukyachtclub.com/, where we hiked and gotten eaten alive by chiggers, Sag Harbor http://www.sagharboronline.com/, the most expensive overnight on the sound and Mystic.  In Mystic we stayed at the Mystic Seaport Museum dock which was fun.  Mystic and the museum are quite a ways up the Mystic River, just past a drawbridge that only opens once an hour.  There is also no place to wait on the south side, they have some docks beside the bridge but only allow tie up 15 minutes before the bridge opens.  Someone needs to rethink this.  There is also a railroad bridge a few hundred yards away which only closes for trains, but you don't want to get caught on the wrong side of it near bascule opening time or you can really have a long wait!

The Mystic Seaport Museum http://www.mysticseaport.org/ is worth visiting.  The museum includes several old scooners, and other boats, a restoration facility, reproduction of an old maritime boat building village and a scale model of 18th century Bristol. On the next trip we need to visit the town itself.

The last day was a 40 mile run to Portsmouth to the Hinckley yard for layover and some maintenance work before heading back to Florida after the hurricane season.

John at the antiquity helm                                        Halsey Herrshoff

Newporters                                                                        Boris after a "dip"

Chigger country                                                                    Mystic boat