North on Gallatin’s Ditches 8

The last leg for now goes from Newport to Warren RI, but given the favorable wind before the torrent, let’s watch those contemporaries who play in this N-Bay city with such a long colonial and post-colonial history.

I’m quite unschooled about these speedsters, like the one showing her red belly.  A 12-meter, I suppose?

Northbound past Beavertail Light?

 

Madeleine heads out to play.

This racer is sponsored by the Danish wind energy company, quite appropriately, as I would hardly expect an ExxonMobil sponsored wind boat, although petroleum energy companies have started investing heavily in renewables . . . so someday soon there might be an Exxon sail racer.   Here’s BP’s portfolio.

 

Aurora has been featured here almost two year ago.

Marilee (1926)  is a classic, as is Pam (1921), once a whiskey runner.

Just as the wind boats use moving air currents to speed, this red tail benefitted from it to hover over a snake, which he eventually dropped, caught, and hauled off behind the tree line . . .

This is not a great photo, but Wallace Foss (1897!!) can be yours for a mere $165,000.  Those winds eventually brought lots of rain, which we

saw as we did the last short step . . . Newport to Warren.

I’d love to have seen NOAA’s Gunter and Bigelow closer up . . .

Gracie M. Reinauer (2016) waited for more favorable offshore weather before heading to the sixth boro.

And finally, after over a 1000 miles on our itinerary, we return to home base, where Niagara Prince welcomes us back.  So does anyone have photos to share of Niagara Prince in the Champlain Canal, the western Erie, Chicago Sanitary Canal, or any other inland waterway where scale make her look immense?

All photos by Will Van Dorp.  For a similar focus on sailing vessels associated with a specific water mass, click here for photos from the Great ! Chesapeake Schooner race.

And if you’ve not caught the connection of this journey to Albert Gallatin (a US founding father), click here.

Narragansett Bay 4

Summertime . . . and today I’m lazy after finishing two projects that’ve been transfixing me all month.

So how about some sail . . . in the evening, like Aquidneck,

Long Island built?

a moth . . .

in flight

a Fathead (?),

a classic catboat,

I’m wondering if Meow man has ever tagged one of these?

Aurora (1949) with tanbark sails,

Adirondack II,

launched 1999

The Blue Peter  . . . unfortunately AFTER she had dropped her parachute spinnaker.

and finally Black Watch . . . built in the Bronx and a veteran of World War Two.

Note the different materials of each mast.

I’ve been to the Narragansett Bay before, but I need to spend more time there in summer.

But first, I hear there’s some big sail coming to the sixth boro.  Last but not least, all photos by Will Van Dorp

Twelve Hours on the Sound

USMMA Foundation vessel Tortuga needed hands for a transit from Kings Point to Newport RI, where it is serving as support for Warrior Sailing program races this weekend.  I didn’t wait for a second call. I just needed to get there by 0250.  No problem, since this IS my favorite time of “day.”

tug Elizabeth Anne at 0236 h.

sunrise from the bridge of Tortuga at 0502.

Past Port Jeff ahead of ferry PT Barnum  0638

Passing Bruce A. McAllister with Vane barge on the wire along North Fork 0937

Meeting ferry  John H near Plum Gut at 1002

Seeing a distant ferry Cape Henlopen (?) and  S/V Mystic Whaler off New London 1030

Many thanks to Chris.

UNREP from M/V Otter for second breakfast at 1035

Passing S & S yawl Black Watch off Fishers Island 1042

F/V Skipper off Point Judith Light 1259

Schooner Aurora near Newport  1352

Tortuga at rest as Warrior Sailing crew moves in 1615

 

Many thanks to Jonathan Kabak for the invitation.  All photos here by Will Van Dorp, and I have many more.

Click here for numbers on Long Island Sound.   Actually this trip involved the Sounds of Long Island, Block, and Rhode Island.

 

Inside Beaufort Inlet

Click here for an account of gallivants in and around Ocracoke and Hatteras Inlets as well as my connection to these waters.  Beaufort Inlet–near Cape Lookout–is scheduled for some depth maintenance these days with Marinex Construction excavating what McFarland count not extract.  Katherine Weeks enters the inlet from sea with a light scow.

The only USACE presence I saw was Snell.  USACE awarded Marinex the contract to subtract a half million tons of sand from beneath these waves.

I believe this is cutterhead/pipleine dredge Savannah, connected by pipeline to this

scow and loading equipment.

When Katherine tows the loaded scow out–here past Sea Quest II, a dive boat (more on that later)

Na Hoku-formerly a K-Sea vessel—

tails.  The Sea Knight helicopter

just happened overhead.  I’d love the view from a helicopter here.

Once through the narrow inlet, Katherine heads out for the dumping area and Na Hoku returns to its holding station.

Who knew the inlet could be this busy . . . l to r:  Grace Moran, Aurora, Na Hoku, and Salamina1.  More on the last one on that list tomorrow.   Aurora, listed as a sulphur carrier, carries PotashCorp colors.

Potash Corp has their big mine about 35 miles from here, as the pelicans fly.

Chief is clearly a Marinex tug.

I’m not sure the ID of the inbound vessel here passing Chief, here heading out to the dredge.

I can’t say for certain about that dive boat early on and whether the divers had been on Queen Anne’s Revenge, but there’ve been lots of salvage activity around the Inlet in recent days.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Road Fotos 33

Heard of Morehead City?  Know much about it?  It turns out to be quite the bustling port, with Grace Moran,

Na Hoku . . . previously of the sixth boro,

a pilot named Able,

Fort Moultrie and Matamoros,

Snell,

and Aurora.  More on this later.

All fotos today by Will Van Dorp.  More soon.

And the population of Morehead City . . . less than 10,000.

Ice and Unusual Sail

A reprise of the approaches to ice:  some vessels (Is Morton towing Esopus light?) and loads need to fracture it, whereas

these skim over it, harnessing the wind as was done in the past and will again happen in the future . . . not to suggest there has ever existed a hiatus between the two.

A gaff-rig trails a lateen-rig.

And here two gaff-riggers compete, Galatea pursuing Puff.  A few names:  backbone is supported by the perpendicular runner plank, which itself supports the port and starboard runners.  On Galatea, I estimated the backbone to be 30′–35′ with approximately 15′ runner plank.  Someone correct me?

I was quite taken by Vixen with its lateen rig.  It reminded me of the rig I’ve not used for years on the canoe, which I wrote about here two years ago.    This shot also clearly shows the jump skeg, near the stern just below the cockpit and forward of the stern runner.    The purpose of the jump skeg is –in the case the boat glides over some open water and then back onto ice, the substantial wood there would “jump” the stern back onto the ice, preventing the stern runner from catching on the edge of the ice.

Like most boats, iceboats have name boards.

Vixen alone.  With people, of course, two of whom look unmistakeably like frogma and bowsprite.  See frogma’s gliding at –dunno . .  at least 100 kts here, AND her second post about the experience here.  Check both, as the first has great video and the second has dozens of fotos.  We’ll soon see what bowsprite and Jeff come up with.

Vixen juxtaposed with 999.  Note:  over 200 years of wooden boat are posed here, many more years than the years of people admiring the rich wood and sail colors.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.  More on some gear tomorrow.