Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Bringing Galadriel Home!

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!

No comments:

Post a Comment