2009 - Stretching Boundaries.
May 6th, 2009 - headed to New London. I am about to shake out the reef in the main as the wind has dropped a bit.
The tiller-tamer does make it easier to attend to different things for a few minutes at a time. The nuclear-power plant Millstone is in the background.
I flew my new asymmetrical spinnaker single-handed - what a thrill! The main and jib combined makes 185 square feet of sail - the a-sail alone is 205.
The a-sail's tack block should be centered (it slipped). I didn't have the sheets run properly, so I fouled the sail attempting a jibe. Better luck next time.
Back at the mooring. The IdaSailor rudder retracts completely out of the water, so there is no need for anti-fouling paint, and the tiller-tamer keeps it in place.
May 19th - sailed off of Pine Island, Groton. Uninhabited and owned by UCONN, a Revolutionary War veteran who owned 2/3 of the island was buried there in 1788.
Grabbed a mooring "stick" by Pine Island to put away the asymmetrical I had just flown, read a magazine and take a short nap.
You don't see these every day! Here is the AMISTAD off of Fisher's Island heading to New London to be available for tours.
Stopped at the Niantic Bay Yacht Club on the way home to stretch my legs. Not many boats in the water yet!
The Mariner's large cockpit makes her seem larger than 19 feet. Many people have estimated Orion to be between 23-26 feet long!
June 28th - sailed with my wife Liz from Niantic to Essex and stayed overnight. Here is ORION on her mooring off of the end of Essex's historic Main Street.
The next morning we motored back down the Connecticut River before setting our sails. Here we are passing underneath I-95 headed for the railroad bridge.
August 7th - sailed with Liz to Mystic Seaport to stay overnight. We anchored just north of the Seaport by the Elm Grove Cemetery.
Mystic is a beautiful place, especially when viewed from the water. Here is ORION at anchor with beautiful historic houses in the background.
We left Saturday morning after briefly tying up to a floating dock to use the restrooms. The L. Francis Herreshoff ketch ARAMINTA is in the background.
We passed the Morgan Point Lighthouse at Noank. This is now a private residence!
September 19th - Here is ORION nestled in with other Mariners in Riverton, New Jersey, waiting to be launched to compete in the Nationals.
ORION proved to be an able racer, coming in 10th out of 22 boats over the course of the weekend. Here she is rounding the leeward mark ahead of the entire fleet.
October 10th - Sailing with Chris Albert (foreground, #2714) and Dan Meaney (#2024) during the first annual Southeast Connecticut Fleet Rendezvous.
A small craft advisory kept us from meeting with three other boats a two-hours' sail away; we stayed in the Niantic River and ate lunch at a nearby beach.
November 3rd - The last sail of the year. The old 1907 railroad bridge was stuck in the "down" position, so I stayed in the River.
I passed a gentleman motoring his beautiful Noank sloop-style boat to the nearby launch ramp to haul her out for the season.
One of the remaining boats on the River happened to be the sister to Mariners - a Rhodes 19.
Back on her mooring after removing cushions, mainsail, rudder, boom, and all interior items. She'll be hauled out this coming Sunday, November 8th.