What kinds of trips?

While my grad course work and other aspects of life keep me ashore, my mind turns to wondering how I would characterize my trips.

At least half of my trips are adventures: either going to new places, sailing in difficult conditions, pushing the envelope a bit in a new boat, or trying to achieve something I haven't done before.  The rest are a mixture: returning to favorite places like Fogland in the Sakonnet River, or Martha's Vineyard or Cuttyhunk; trips with the boys in mind, like the trip up the Cole River with Trevor a few years ago or the camping trip among the Boston Harbor islands with Stephen last year.  A few have been event-related, like the trip in Boston Harbor two years ago to watch the Tall Ships come into port.  Then there are the few that are more about relaxation than about going places--the shortest of these (sailing distance-wise) was my two days anchored in Newport Harbor, there only to sight-see.

My adventure trips are often related to covering ground.  I decided when I was first dreaming about the new boat-to-be that I would sail all the coast of this area.  After 5 seasons of sailing, I've met that goal for nearly all of Narragansett Bay and its islands, nearly the entire lengths of the Providence River and Taunton River (in various drifting and paddling boats as well as sailing), the "Southeast Corner" and sailed parts of the south coast of Massachusetts, Boston Harbor, and Cape Cod Bay.

My most memorable of this sort so far were the very first overnight with the two boys around Prudence Island in '05; from Narragansett to Block Island with the boys (while hurricane Beryl was heading up the coast) and a solo trip from Oakland Beach all the way out around the end of Jamestown and back in '06; the spring trip with Aron and Stephen from Fall River past Fogland in the Sakkonet River, a trip across Cape Cod Bay from Plymouth to Provincetown (our longest so far at 4 nights), an overnight in Lake Pepin with Bea and the two boys on a trailering trip to the midwest, all in '07; '08 trips from Warwick to Fall River, a trip around Aquidneck from Sakkonet Harbor with Stephen, from New Bedford to Martha's Vineyard with Trevor, and a solo from New Bedford to Westport, where Bea and the boys met me for dinner; our '09 trip out of Hingham for the first time to see Tall Ships, our adventure from New Bedford to Nantucket and the near-loss of the Beatrice Ann when she dragged anchor; our '10 trip in Surprise up the Providence & Seekonk Rivers, my solo to from New Bedford to Hyannis, with Stephen from Hingham to Georges Island and camping on Grape I., and now my solos in the Taunton River in December in Surprise, and this year's March float trip in Bebe.

Here are some adventures I'd like to do some time in the future, in no particular order.

1. Sail from New Bedford, through the Cape Cod Canal, into Cape Cod Bay and tour the inside of the Cape. This won't be possible until I have a real motor: the Coast Guard does not suffer passage of boats that can't reliably maintain 6kt all the way.

2. More adventurous than the above: sail from New Bedford across Buzzards Bay through Woods Hole and along the south coast of Mass, around the outside of the Cape and then across Cape Cod Bay to Boston (maybe via Plymouth).  That would be about six days of sailing, most of those days long.

3. Explore Boston Harbor and the coast of Massachusetts Bay

4. Sail from lower Narragansett Bay westward along the Connecticut coast to Mystic: a visit to Old Mystic Seaport was one of the inspirations for my return to sailing.

5. Sail west from Narragansett Bay to Long Island, NY--possibly via Block Island.

6. A kayak camping trip along some of the Indian river trails of eastern Mass.

Earliest Ever Trip with Boys

Having already adventured alone between snow-covered river banks, it was time to plan an adventure for all three of us.  I wanted to take advantage of Surprise's peculiar capabilities as a fully-enclosed boat, and that meant working within her limitation as a boat suitable for more protected waters.  I chose a two-night trip in upper Narragansett Bay.  Life interfered, the trip was off, and the chosen day was all but over when I suddenly decided we could get awy with going out just overnight.  With all that had to be done, we didn't  push off from Oakland Beach ramp until almost 1am. 

Our planned anchorage off beautiful Goddard Park was only a couple of miles away, but winds were almost vanishingly light and on the nose.  To make matters worse, the leeboard wouldn't go all the way down--difficult to fix when your children have collapsed in a sleepy heap between you and the uphaul that might be jammed.  I finally woke the boys and dropped the hook in about 8 feet of water in the lee of the park.  Trevor did his usual good job of readying the beds while I fired up the stove to prepare hot water bottles that would warm our sleeping bags.  We finally closed up the boat and snuggled into our beds at about 4am. 

I got up only when I couldn't figure out how to keep the sun out of my eyes without suffocating in my sleeping bag.  It was after 9:30.  For once, Stephen wasn't up with the sun, casting about for something to eat or do and generally being an unwelcome distraction from sleep.  I got water heating for coffee and oatmeal, and the boys ate a lazy breakfast in bed.  While I lounged with my coffee cup, Trevor read his book The Birchbark House and Stephen pronounced himself pleased with his new bunk and our little adventure and then snuggled back into his sleeping bag.

We finally got the cabin squared away (by the expedient of stuffing all bedding into the forepeak) and got the boat rigged and anchor up some time after noon.  We sailed around Sally Rocks and beached the boat at the park at dead high tide.  I sent the boys off to explore while I returned to the boat to figure out how to keep her from grounding on the falling tide in our absence.  An anchor on the beach and another in a foot or two of water managed to keep her in shallow enough water that I could keep my feet dry in my rubber boots but still be assured that Surprise would still be afloat after a little walk.  Goddard Park is a beautiful place and worth a drive down.  It has lovely paths still trodden by horses--we saw several from the water afterwards.

We only stayed an hour or so at the park, since I was determined to try to get to the head of nearby Greenwich Cove--a place I'd never sailed to despite all my past sailing in that area.  It promised access to a good eatery we might patronize for lunch.  Back aboard and under sail once more, we headed around the point and into the teeth of a strengthing wind.  We fought our way nearly to the end of the cove, getting knocked down once along the way.  (When the starboard windows were all but submerged for a moment, Stephen decided he WANTED TO GO HOME--but he soon got over it, mostly.  Trevor and I, who had seen Surprise neatly recover from worse, were more relaxed.)  I disappointed Trevor, who had been looking forward to lunch in a restaurant, by deciding I did not want to anchor the boat here is such strong and fluky winds.  Instead we headed out of the cove and started for our ramp. 

We were in more open water by 3:15 and found that the wind had whipped up some real chop in the shallow waters.   We put the front door into place, but found that a little spray still made it over the top.  As I fought the tiller and the boat's tendency to round up, I began to wish I had reefed; it was too late for that now.  Fortunately the boat steadied and her motion eased when I turned downwind for our destination.  We hit the ramp soon after 4:30 and managed to get the boat onto the trailer and the car off the ramp before the tide dropped too far.  On the ride home, we finally had leisure to munch some of our snack food

Designing vs Building

          I put the roof panels on the bike shed today, leaving only a day or two of work.  The shed will be moved to its permanent location tomorrow.  Then I will put the back wall on.  Perhaps on Monday I'll frame up the doors, and finally decide what the bikes will be locked to.  By Tuesday the doors should be in place.           When the last screw was in the roof panels today, I felt a glow of satisfaction, but no great pride. On the other hand, I'm quite proud of the design.  I had worked out the dimensions and layout that would meet my objectives, compromising where needed.  I had figured out how, with standard ply and lumber, I could build it with least waste in materials, and get the most shed for the money.  I had made detailed drawings to show how all of the pieces would fit together.  (This last was more difficult than I had imagined.)
          I found the design process interesting.  I worked in stages: First design the 6 foot by 5 1/2 foot  pressure-treated 2X4 base with its cross beams supporting a 1/2 inch pressure-treated ply deck.  Then work out how to put uprights at the corners, taking advantage of this to add a few inches to the overall length.  Then work out how to attach the 1/4 inch ply sides with 2X2 reinforcements along the top.  Then work out how to build roof trusses and make them the backbone of the roof framing.  (By this point I was doing more and more of the design "in wood"--which is to say, on the fly.  But this was still design.)  Finally how I could combine simplicity with utility by using entire ply sheets to make the roof panels overhang front and back, keeping rain out of the open ends of the shed.  All that remains to be decided is how to frame and attach the doors, and how to lock up the bikes in the shed.
          The working-out of the best overall plan, and the anticipation and solving of problems is what I like best about designing.  This experience has wet my appetite for the far more challenging task of someday designing a boat.