Pictures: In the Wilmington boatyard; Ken Maitland working on the stuffing box problem; VICTORIOUS at the dock
We started the spring boating season early, with a trip to see a boat in Wilmington North Carolina in April. We had been to see the same boat, on the way home from spending the winter trailer-camping in Florida, in March. Now we are rethinking our choices and opinions from March and are pretty sure we want to buy the Wilmington boat. It is a 37' Lord Nelson Victory Tug, named PUFFIN.
To make a long story short, we did buy the Victory Tug, and spent a week in mid-May working to get it ready for a cruise north, to Massachusetts. We have picked the name VICTORIOUS, and brought with us the decal with new name and homeport. We were advised by the boat surveyor to have the propeller shaft's cutlass bearing replaced, and to recondition the propeller. There were many other tasks to attend to, and we prioritized. And the temps were in the low 90s all week! Unfortunately the boatyard, Bearing Marine at Wilmington Marine Center, was late getting the propeller back and reinstalled, and we were not launched until the end of the day on Friday May 22. The boatyard foreman disappeared for the next 3 days, Memorial Day Weekend, and left us to our own devices.
On May 23 we attended to last-minute tasks on the boat, returned our rental car, and on May 24 we motored out of the marina and into the Cape Fear River. Luckily Ken checked the bilge about 30 minutes down-river because we had a big leak! Ken tried to tighten the stuffing box, which seemed to not have been tightened properly after the shaft and cutlass bearing were reinstalled, with no luck, so we returned to Wilmington Marine Center, pumping the bilge all the way. The boatyard was closed for another two days so Ken worked on the stuffing box some more back in the marina, and did get it tightened.
Now it is Memorial Day, May 25: many boats, jet skis, and kayaks are out and about, and we had a glorious trip back down the river to the Intracoastal Waterway, continuing to the U.S. Marines' Camp Lejeune for our first anchorage of the trip. All day we were waved at, photographed and recipients of lots of smiles. Our new choice of boat is a "replica tug" with lots of character and a great, loud Kahlenberg whistle. Ken surprised me, and maybe himself, by enjoying the chances to send a whistle salute to many of the people we saw.
The rest of our trip was quite efficient, as we were able to travel every day, We had light winds, or days with a lee shore if there were heavier winds. We weren't in the mood to dawdle, and made good miles each day, even though going only 7-8 knots/hour. We spent one day at Rock Hall, Maryland, taking advantage of the $1/ride trolley there, and celebrated Ken's birthday by eating out in Cape May, New Jersey. We saw lots of birds, humpback whales, sunfish, dolphins and stingrays along the way.
Our final day of the trip was the leg from Onset, Mass., through the Cape Cod Canal to our mooring in Cohasset, Mass. It was 16 days and approximately 990 miles.
Ken continues to toot the whistle as much as possible, especially when passing the sandbar at the entrance to our harbor, where many families congregate in the summer, and we always get a big cheer in return!
Most of the rest of the month of June was spent showing VICTORIOUS off to friends, and getting to some of the many projects that come with a 30-year-old boat. We are stripping the decks down to bare teak, getting the generator running, making new curtains for the windows, constantly fiddling with the Xantrex Link 1000 battery monitor, finding and fixing some leaks in the cabin roof, making a temporary fix for the steadying sail mast (it is buckling) and getting the refrigerator doors to close properly.
Pictures: in New York Harbor passing the Staten Island Ferry; Sally Seymour, Bicky Howell and Heidi Maitland in Camden, Maine; four Victory Tugs at the dock in Camden; lobster bake steam on Warren Island; VICTORIOUS and MYSTICO in Red Brook Harbor
In July we traveled to Camden Maine to attend the gathering of Victory Tug owners and VICTORIOUS was on the dock at Wayfarer/Lyman Morse Co. with three other Victory Tugs. Camden is a favorite stop for us when we are in Maine, and the owners gathering was a lot of fun. We participated in a tug parade, taking several of the other owners with us, and traveled out to Warren Island for a lobster bake with all the boats and owners. There was a Tug Talk one morning, and a pot-luck dinner one evening. After the gathering, we traveled with two of the other tugs for a few days, to nearby islands, and finished up our Maine cruise by going to a few more favorite Maine towns: Castine (and Holbrook Harbor nearby), Buck's Harbor, Lincolnville (our friends' brewpub is at the beach there), Rockland, Vinalhaven (Carver's Harbor, Winter Harbor and Long Cove), North Haven (Pulpit Harbor), and Southport (Ebencook Harbor).
We finished up our cruise by stopping in Yarmouth, Maine to see our friends the MacLeods, and their new boat. Then we headed home, with an overnight at the Isles of Shoals in New Hampshire, and a night in Marblehead on one of the harbormaster's moorings.
Besides enjoying our home harbor for the remainder of the summer, we took two short trips by boat to the south. We went in company with our son and daughter-in-law Pete and Eri. They were in their boat MYSTICO and we met them in Red Brook Harbor on Cape Cod. We had a fun four days there and in Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard. In September we cruised to Bristol, Rhode Island to meet up with new friends Linn and Ray Clidence. Last winter in Florida they told us stories about their island summer home. Hog Island has mostly summer cottages, only cart paths, and is within view of the old estates in Bristol. We got a great walking tour of the island and had company celebrating our wedding anniversary at dinner in Bristol.
Pictures: VICTORIOUS passing Bug Light in Duxbury Harbor; and nearing a cargo ship in the Cape Cod Canal
Now we are concentrating on making even more updates and repairs to VICTORIOUS so it will be in good shape to travel the ICW next year. We are about to finalize the sale of our previous boat, a Mainship 34, which is a big relief to us. It looks as if we can continue to concentrate on our new "love" and keep us busy and happy throughout the cold weather months to come.
