Nautical Chronicles

NAUTICAL CHRONICLES:

Another Boat Delivery

As many of you already know, Paul & I got our Captains Licenses several years ago in an effort to secure our current and future fortunes through boating. Thoughts of captaining large pleasure vessels for others, chartering vessels for cruises, parties & events, fishing and potential boat deliveries drove us to persevere through countless nights and weekends of classes and study course material for countless hours in pursuit of “the license”.

We have not yet made or kept our fortunes; in fact we may have lost more than we’ve gained but it always continues to be a good ride. Our adventures have been eventful, challenging, comical, sad, and frightful; some have been fraught with error and miscalculation…and some actually go as planned with surprising results.

Such was our most recent boat delivery. Boat Owner Rick contacted us to pick up his new-to-him 1988, 36’ Tiara Convertible in Point Judith, Rhode Island and deliver it to Cove Marina in Salisbury, Massachusetts. An easy trip on a nice day with calm seas. We acquired our one-way rental car (a mini-van since they were out of compacts) and headed down to Rhode Island the night before the delivery to stay on the boat and check out the systems. In heavy traffic we arrived at the drop-off location of Enterprise, after hours, in North Kingstown where we had dinner and contacted Uber to safely drop us at the Point Judith Marina, which Dave the driver did with astute driving acumen.

Since it was now well past dark, the only system we were able to check out was the interior cabin lighting to be able to see where to sleep. This particular trip, I was the Captain and Paul was the mate…he slept on the saloon floor since the couches on a 36’ Tiara are too small to lay on comfortably; I got the v-berth.

We were up at the break of dawn, and standing at the marina diner when the cook arrived promptly at 6:00 am. After a complete breakfast and several cups of coffee, we were out the door and ready to go. Promptly at 7:00, both motors started easily and we were untied, unfendered and out of the slip, on our way.

We headed out the break-water toward Block Island, veering north just before hitting it. At exactly 10:00 am, we arrived at the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal, slowed to just above no wake speed, waved pleasantly to the patrol boat officer, and at 10:30 arrived at Sandwich Marina where we topped off the tanks; one hundred twenty gallons; one quarter of the tanks volume; we could have made it without fueling up .

At 11:00 am, we set our course for Thatcher’s Island, fifty nautical miles to the north. Seas were slightly bumpy but the Tiara handled them well. Travelling at seventeen knots+/-, we arrived at our waypoint precisely at 2:30 pm having no complications save a Coast Guard training exercise just two miles off of Eastern Point, Gloucester. Since we were three or four miles out, they did not interfere with our passage.

We estimated one hour to the mouth of the Merrimack River, but were pleasantly surprised when we arrived twenty-five minutes earlier than planned. We arrived at Cove Marina precisely at 3:30 pm.

The lessons to be learned from our most recent boat delivery are: that sometimes a plan does come together, as planned, and sometimes when that plan comes together, the surprising results can be extremely boring! Especially if the auto-pilot is working.       And that’s that.

Captain Bob Brown

1^st Mate Paul Fougere