With the survey having passed, and the negotiations and sales final, it was time to make a visit to our new waterfront home. The plan was to spend the better part of the week meticulously going through the systems and owner manuals (there are a lot of them, all carefully organized in binders) but we decided to split our time between homework, home living, and home-in-motion…. Read More
Tracks: Great Bay Marine to Adam’s Point
Date: September 18, 2015
Time: Afternoon
Distance: 3.48 miles
The galley got the first workout, first with learning the process to get propane from the stack on the cabintop to the cooktop, and then with putting together our first meal on board.
Being at the far end of the pier gave us great views of harbor activity, especially since the fuel dock and pumpout couldn’t be reached by boat unless they passed by our transom. Most impressive was when a gundalow appeared. We later found out that these cargo barges worked the Piscataqua River in the 1800’s and the one we witnessed was a replica built in 2011. No matter though since it still took us back to another era. We didn’t realize it at the time but we were to come across the gundalow later during our first cruise.
Barry and Nancy, the previous owners, volunteered their time to accompany us on our first time out. With all the unknown handling characteristics of a single-engine, 40 foot displacement trawler it was much appreciated (not to mention our first time navigating through a field of crab pots in the swirling current of the Piscataqua River).
Our destination was approximately 3.5 miles up Great Bay and Little Bay until we reached Adams Point. That was where we dropped anchor with plans to launch the dinghy. As soon as the anchor was down we saw the gundalow PISCATAQUA approaching a nearby dock which appeared to be her home base. A quick call on the radio found this to be true so we up-anchored, scooted down the shore line a couple hundred feet, and found a spot on the outskirts of a local mooring field. The anchor chain hadn’t seen much use recently and was taking on rust which made a powdery mess on the foredeck (note to self: investigate local sources for regalvanizing services). But the anchor did its job even though we didn’t have much room to back down should we needed to stay longer.
Off the cabin top came the dinghy and we buzzed around HIPPOKAMPOS a few times. First impression was that the dinghy was fine for a quick to-and-fro if we stayed on a mooring but for longer range cruising, which would require transporting provisions, it would need to be upsized both for room and stability.
We returned to the harbor and made a perfect landing as we slipped into our slip and accepted compliments from all that witnessed our accomplishment. Unfortunately we forgot to top off the fuel tanks and pump out the holding tank to prepare for a later decommissioning in October. After casting off and motoring over a couple hundred feet to the fuel dock to do the deeds we returned to the slip with a less-than-pretty landing that required dockside assistance from all available hands. Hey! We’re still learning.
