Boat shopping.

We had decided on paper that a Bristol 29.9 could be our next boat, but before we knew for sure we needed to see one in person. Fortunately there were a few for sale in our area, so we figured it was time to start looking.

We began by posting on the Bristol Yahoo groups that we were thinking about moving up from our B24 to a 29.9 to get some input from owners. I posted about our cruising plans and asked if the boat would work for us, and the responses that we received were very encouraging. People that owned 29.9s loved them and had taken them out in all sorts of weather and conditions. I even received a response from a guy who was currently in Fiji on his 29.9, having started in San Francisco. This was definitely a good sign. Continue reading “Boat shopping.” →

Researching the next boat

If there was any way that we could take Pegu Club cruising with us, we absolutely would. We love her. She’s solid, dry as a bone, we like how she sails, and she’s very forgiving of our mistakes. She’s built to sail anywhere we want to go. But at 24′ feet and with only 15 gallons of water (not to mention insufficient headroom for Jeff), we knew she just wouldn’t work long-term, so for the past year or so we’ve been heavily researching what we want in the next boat – the one we want to sail away on.

The sheer number of boats out there is almost overwhelming, and everyone has an opinion on everything. Just for the keels there are full keel, modified full, fin keel, wing keel, bulb keel, or centerboards. There’s shallow draft, deep draft, spade rudders, skeg rudders. There are cutter rigs, sloop rigs, ketch rigs, etc. How do you prefer the hull-to-deck joint to be attached? Bolted? Screws? Bolts and screws? How beamy do you want it? How long? What about headroom? Are you going offshore or simply coastal cruising? Of course the big one: what’s the budget?

We started by making lists of boats that are typically considered to be good off-shore boats (some needing a few more modifications to make it so than others). Then we set our minimum requirements – headroom, beam, draft, construction – and started winnowing the list down. Our first go-around we were way too restrictive and ended up with very few possibilities. So we reevaluated and started all over again. It’s no exaggeration to say that we spent hundreds of hours researching. Continue reading “Researching the next boat” →

7/11 – 7/12: Chocomount Cove, Fishers Island

Another great weather forecast greeted us for the weekend of June 11th and 12th. So far we’ve only had one washout this season, which is amazing.

This weekend we decided to return to Fishers Island and check out Chocomount Cove, which is near West Harbor. I was intrigued by the way it looked on the chart, and Active Captain reviews indicated that we would be alone (which isn’t so easy here in crowded Connecticut), so I was excited to check it out. Continue reading “7/11 – 7/12: Chocomount Cove, Fishers Island” →

Fourth of July Weekend

Hooray! A three-day weekend with a fantastic weather forecast. How lucky and rare!

Our original plan was to spend the holiday weekend in Montauk on Long Island. A group of Shenny members were going to head over there and it sounded like fun. However, a bit of research led us to decide that we would be better off going on a different weekend. I was interested in going to see the lighthouse, but the shuttle bus wasn’t going to start running until July 5th. It makes no sense, but there you have it. Also, Lake Montauk is very large and without an outboard yet on our dinghy (also known as “The Ugliest Dinghy on Fishers Island Sound”), rowing wasn’t going to be practical. So we decided instead to head to one of our favorite spots, West Harbor in Fishers Island. Continue reading “Fourth of July Weekend” →

Shenny

As I’ve been alluding to in previous posts, Pegu Club has a new home. After much discussion between Jeff and I, we decided last month to join Shennecosset Yacht Club (“Shenny” for short).

I have a co-worker who is a member of Shenny (and my boss was a member back when he had a sailboat), and they both spoke highly of the club from the moment they discovered that we had bought a boat. There were a lot of weekend activities which appealed to us, but with Jeff working on Saturdays it didn’t make sense to join. Once Jeff got his new job and we started having weekends off together, we decided to revisit the subject. We attended an open house and met several nice people, and it was clear that it wasn’t stuffy at all. As one member told us, “No pressed pink pants are allowed.” We hemmed and hawed for a while, crunched the numbers, and finally decided to join. Continue reading “Shenny” →

6/20 & 6/21 – A two-sail weekend

With school out for the summer Jeff has a new early-morning schedule. So on Friday, June 19th, we were able to head down to the boat after work for a true full weekend on the boat.

We were able to start the weekend by attending our first Friday Night event at Shenny. Every Friday evening during the summer the club holds “Friday Night.” People bring three dollars, a dish to share, and their own drinks. The club provides hotdogs, hamburgers, and all of the fixings. Typically more than 75 people show up each Friday, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to meet some more people. We arrived a bit later than we intended because Alex from our old marina dinghied over to chat for a while, but we still had a good time and met a few people, including a couple that had spent a year cruising in the Bahamas. Very cool.

Saturday was cloudy with temps in the upper 60’s, and after lounging around the boat for the morning we headed out for a sail. Winds were in the low teens and we didn’t have any real destination in mind. We were simply going to sail. We practiced tacking quite a bit, trying to see just how close to the wind Pegu Club could get (answer: not very), and just generally enjoyed being out for a few hours and 10 nm.

When we had left for the marina on Friday we weren’t certain if we were going to stay for the whole weekend. The remnants of Tropical Storm Bill were forecast to come through on Saturday night, and most of Sunday was supposed to be a washout. After we came back from our sail though, we checked the forecast and saw that Sunday might be salvaged after all. It was going to rain hard starting late Saturday afternoon and all night, but the skies were supposed to clear by Sunday at noon. Reasoning that it would be good practice for our future cruising life (which, after all, won’t be sunny blue skies every day), we decided to stay. Yay! Continue reading “6/20 & 6/21 – A two-sail weekend” →