When I approached Ron McClean, the broker who had handled
my previous sailboat, he asked me what I wanted to look at this time; an
Oyster, a Hinckley? I replied that we could spend a lot of time looking at
boats or we could go right to the one I had always dreamed of owning; a Little
Harbor. He quickly arranged for us to examine all the Little Harbors on the
market on the east coast at that time; 6
boats. A 53, 54, 60 and two 62’s. Dolce (now Galadriel) was the last LH we
looked at a few weeks later and Christie and I knew immediately that she was
the one. A few weeks later, Christie and I were enroute up to the Hinckley Yard
in Newport, RI with friends Bob Reed, Harry Tenney and Bob Carol to sail her
home to Norfolk.
Picking up Galadriel at the Hinckley yard. One of the
highlights of my life.
She sure looks good!
Pulling out into the river. I’ve got a “woody”.
The two Bob’s look pretty satisfied too.
Ever since Harry had that surgery a few years ago, he has
been acting strangely.
One of the problems with flying several folks who have
taken off work to do a yacht delivery is you are forced on to a schedule- a no
no when dealing with the ocean and wind. Once we entered the ocean headed
south, the reality that the wind was blowing 25k out of the south began to sink
in. Within a few hours everyone, except the neophyte Christie, was sick.
Luckily, Harry had the presence of mind to suggest
detouring behind Long Island for a day or so to allow time for the weather die
down and us to get our sea legs.
The calm waters in the lee of Long Island put the fun
back in the trip and the approach New York City was impressive.
As we approached Hell’s Gate we could see
that its reputation for having a ripping current was well deserved.
The view was incredible as we passed close
by the Manhattan sky scrapers.
Of course nothing could top passing under the gaze of
the Statue of Liberty.
Except adding the Staten Island Ferry to the
experience!
When we rounded Sandy Hook it was still howling but we
had our sea legs and once we turned into the C&D Canal, we celebrated,
thinking it would be smooth sailing from there.
Boy were we ever wrong. We ran into the remnants of a
Tropical Storm that was moving north as we transited the lower Chesapeake Bay and
it was still an ass kicker!
When the wind hit, things got
interesting for a while. Meanwhile Harry and the Bobs were below with the generator
on and the AC set so low they were breathing smoke and sleeping like
babies….the bastards. Christie and her camera hung in there with me
though.
When the worst of it had passed I was exhilarated.
Christie and I had broken Galadriel in and all was well!
