Allen Harbor II 2015

[Tsatzsue]

Well I pulled off my first rendezvous without a hitch. A good turn out and no casualties! Thanks go out to everyone that attended.

I arrived mid day Friday with Grace to get set up and aid folks with launching. Ed Fatzinger,Up4Sail was already in the harbor as was Toni D. with Drifter. Paul Seeberg. Mildred Rose launched then Andrew Found, Over easy. Not long after Ken and Judy Levitz cruised into the harbor from Wareham. Paul B joined us in the am with his Drascombe Dabber. A real cool gaff rigged 15" yawl.

I fired up the grill at 6:00 pm with some nice hardwoods from the backwoods of Charlton. The din- din layout was classic. Whole fish on the bone, hamburgers of every shape and size, fajitas, roasted jalepenos, giant steaks, fish kabobs, hot dogs and chicken. Not a square inch was wasted.

A classic captains hat made entirely from duct tape appeared from Overeasy's ditty bag and the fun began. rumor has it that the commodores address was pretty funny. A copy can be seen on the clubs facebook page.

We agreed that rounding the Beaver tail was a little ambitious. We ended up with the Kickemuit river as our destination. Six boats including the Tsazsue made anchor Saturday afternoon. The Kickemuit is absolutely beautiful. Remote. In fact we were serenaded by mooing cows and church bells on Sunday am. Just before our swim. The water was 73 degrees!

The Dabber was great he made good time with the crew and arrived a little behind the fleet. He actually pitched a ten in the boat.

Sunday was windless in the am and we motored back lazily to Allen Harbor.

In all a great rendezvous! I hope all had a good time and we are looking forward to the next one. I will post pictures once I have them put together. Attendees please post as well.

And as usual....

Happy Sailing!!
Ken Boutiette
CMDRE - NETS
S/V Tsatzsue

[OverEasy]

In typical last-minute fashion, Over Easy was quickly reassembled, loaded and prepped in the five hours leading up to getting on the road. For days I kept reminding myself to check / charge the battery but it wasn’t until I went to tilt up the outboard for road travel that I realized that the battery was dead! Too late to charge at this point, I knew I’d be rope starting the 50 hp outboard at the launch ramp.

We made good time on the road traveling south to Rhode Island, chuckling at the slow moving northbound traffic on the other side of the highway. Arriving at Allen Harbor in the late Friday afternoon, we proceeded to rig and launch Over Easy. It only took six pulls to rope start the motor. After tying up to what we thought was our transient mooring, we rowed in to join the cookout underway at the pavilion.

Grilling fish kabobs, we enjoyed reconnecting with familiar faces and meeting new members. Before breaking up for the night, Commodore Ken gave the club a boisterous and rousing… (or “knockabout”, as we like to say in the business )… address and we discussed the next day’s float plan. On the verge of sleep, I was awoken by a knock on the hull and a voice by another boater alerting us that we were on his mooring, so we proceeded to rope start and motor off into the darkness to locate another empty mooring at the far end of the mooring field.

By nine o’clock Saturday morning, the fleet was underway on Narragansett Bay. Initially the wind was lacking but we were able to sail northward thru Coggeshall Cove between Prudence and Patience Islands. Rounding Prudence Island, the wind continued to grow for a great afternoon sail toward the Mt. Hope Bridge. After the bridge, the wind dropped significantly for a while but we then found a pleasant breeze that carried us on a straight tack up to Fall River. One more tack across Mt. Hope Bay put us on a fast approach to the Kickemuit River inlet. Preparing to drop sail and switch to power, I discovered that the battery was dead again and had to lean over the transom in choppy seas to loosen the mechanism allowing manual lowering of the motor. Before long, we were dropping anchor with the rest of the fleet, enjoying a swim in the refreshing Kickemuit River and sharing adventures with the group gathered on Tsatzsue & Mildred Rose - a great end to a 19.4 nautical mile day of sailing! K9 sailing crew, Jib & Genny have been freshwater river swimming all summer and didn’t mind the salty taste of this new body of water. They even enjoyed expanding their swimming skills by jumping from the dinghy to fetch balls in the water.

For dinner, Sandy and I invited new member Paul Bourgoin aboard for a plate of grilled veggies and rice. Paul deserves recognition for his singlehanded sail / row adventure aboard his 15’ Drascombe Dabber! Two masts, three sails, two oars and no cabin!

Sunday started out as a very hot no-wind day. After breakfast and a swim, we set out under power. Approaching the Mt. Hope Bridge, we ran into heavy big boat traffic, which meant BIG wakes and much bouncing about. We retraced the previous day’s route without enough wind to even think of raising the sails. Upon reaching Coggeshall Cove, we dropped hook near a beach for a swim before the last leg back to Allen’s Harbor. Eventually the wind was offering what would have been some spirited sailing, but we were ready to call it a day and haul out. On our three hour drive back to NH, we were once again chuckling at the slow moving traffic on the opposite side of the highway!

It was great to see and sail with everyone! We are looking forward to the next group sailing adventure!

Andrew Found
S/V Over Easy

[highlander]

My first weekend sailing with the North East Trailer sailors exceeded my expectations. I felt very welcomed from the beginning. I enjoyed the stories and rank Ken's “Commodore in a duct tape hat” brief up there with Chris Farley's big guy in a little coat. The sail to Kickemuit river provided just the right amount of pleasant wing-on-wing sailing and a few fun moments when I had to quickly let out the sheets to avoid testing the limits of the Dabber.

I appreciated the hospitality and patience of the experienced sailors. I learned a lot. This was my longest sail aboard Highlander and our first overnight. The tent worked out pretty well. The evening meal of grilled rice and veggies on Sandy and Andy's Over Easy was refreshing and delicious.

The return sail was full of both brisk SW winds and bits of dead calm (rowing). I pulled highlander into the garage at around 7 p.m. This sail on the Dabber was definitely one for the books. I do have a list of modification now that includes a larger sleeping platform; and yes in order to venture further, I have concluded if I can't find a suitable camping potty to stow in the aft locker I may have to look for a larger boat.