It felt like it would never arrive, but we finally found ourselves on Friday night loading up Pegu Club to begin our two weeks of vacation. The initial itinerary was to sail to Block Island on Saturday, Jamestown, RI on Tuesday, Warwick on Thursday, Bristol on Friday, Battleship Cove on Sunday, Newport on Tuesday, Stonington on Saturday, and back to Groton on Sunday. We expected to have to make adjustments to accommodate for weather conditions, but we didn’t expect to change things up right away. Nevertheless, a look at the forecast showed 30 mph gusts and 3-4 foot seas for Block Island Sound on Saturday so we decided to make Stonington our first stop instead.
Saturday morning we made a last minute run to Target for a few items we had forgotten, loaded the dinghy motor onto the stern rail and finally headed out. Two weeks of living on a boat! Yay! We caught the current and flew towards Stonington until the wind died, leaving us to motor for the last half hour. Little did we know this would be a sign of things to come. Still, we made it to Stonington in 2 1/2 hours – Pegu Club was flying!
We’ve been to Stonington a few times this year so I did some pre-vacation research looking for a few off the beaten path things to check out. The Velvet Mill, an old factory that houses a variety of artists studios and a nanobrewery, sounded like just the ticket. It was only a mile from the marina and although it was HOT and HUMID, the walk was entertaining, capped off by sighting an old classic Jaguar.
By the time we made it to Beer’d Jeff was welcoming the free beer flight. Unfortunately there wasn’t any air conditioning in any of the studios (only fans blowing hot and humid air), and frankly after having a cool dry summer I was starting to get overheated so after browsing in some of the other studios we trekked back to the boat where it’s always quite a bit cooler. Besides, grilled chicken drumsticks, cocktails, and a pretty sunset awaited – not to mention Block Island the next day!
Adventures on the Club 