It doesn’t get any better than this
Issue 74 : Sept/Oct 2010
Like most boats in the north, mine spends the winter hauled out and bundled up, gathering snowdrifts and growing icicles. To feed my sailing craving during the winter, I anxiously await the snail-mail delivery of my personal library of sailing magazines, my favorite being Good Old Boat. The other glossies are replete with tales of idyllic island-hopping adventures and alluring ads for charter companies in faraway tropical places. This is nice daydream fuel for the long New England winter, but these siren songs fit solidly in the “someday” category. “The rest of us” resist the natural envy those images evoke by sharing tales of idyllic “backyard cruising adventures” that don’t include vistas of white beaches wreathed with palm trees. I have just such a special sailing memory.
When my wife, Margaret, and I relocated to Boston 10 years ago, we were able to fulfill our lifelong dream of owning our own boat, a 1989 Catalina 30 we named Saint Somewhere. While living in Key West In the 1970s, when Jimmy Buffett was just starting his career there, we connected with his music and were among the earliest Parrot Heads. We timed the end of our 2008 summer cruise to catch the last day of the Newport Folk Festival, featuring a first-time festival appearance by none other than Jimmy Buffett.
Our day for the festival arrived with clear skies. Armed with lawn chairs and a cooler full of food and appropriate libations, Margaret and I headed into Fort Adams to stake out a spot. All afternoon, we enjoyed a truly eclectic selection of wonderful live performances, both on the main stage and at smaller side venues. Jake Shimabukuro, an artist discovered by Jimmy Buffett, put on a performance that I can only describe with two words that I never imagined fitting appropriately together: virtuoso ukulele. By the end of the day, we were certainly ready for Margaritaville.
Special effects
At last, Jimmy began his set and the culmination of the three-day festival. Meanwhile, in the east, a mass of low, dark, ominous storm clouds, intermittently lit by lighting flashes, began rolling in toward Newport, across the harbor. As Jimmy made his way through Parrot Head staples and a pretty good tribute to Dylan with “Blowin’ in the Wind,” the storm gathered over Newport. As he started “One Particular Harbor,” we could look toward Newport and see — amid the thunderstorm — a brilliant full-color end-to-end rainbow over the town. Behind us to the north, with the Rose Island Light as background, two classic wooden schooners — the 72-foot Madeleine and the 82-foot Adirondack II, both harbor cruise vessels — were heading out under full sail, all flags flying. West, over Jamestown, the setting sun was a deep fiery orange, the color beautifully reflected by fluffy clouds suspended in an azure sky. Because the storm was only over Newport (less than a mile away), the wind was light.
We had this unbelievable scene: brilliant rainbow, a pair of schooners beam-to-beam under full sail, and a sunset to rival any on a tropical isle — all while being serenaded with a live performance of “One Particular Harbor” by Jimmy Buffett. As Jimmy exclaimed mid-song, with nary a palm tree in sight: “It just doesn’t get any better than this!” the thunderstorm moved south, leaving a clear early evening sky in its wake.
We packed up and headed back to Saint Somewhere to enjoy cheeseburgers in our own paradise. With Parrot Head music softly playing, we enjoyed food, wine, and I must confess, watching the poor landlubbers ashore schlep back to their cars in the parking lot.
Ending on an up beat
The next morning, we cast off and turned Saint Somewhere northward for the return trip. Sometimes, the last leg of a cruise can be a bit of a downer. Not this time. Instead, we had the feeling of having had a truly special cruising experience on our old boat, one to rival any regaled in the other sailing magazines. Best yet, we enjoyed it in our own backyard. Who needs palm trees?
Marshall and Margaret Judges cruise their 1989 Catalina 30, Saint Somewhere, on Narragansett Bay and to Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and Block Island. Marshall grew up sailing Flying Scots on Chesapeake Bay. He now oversees the operations for two zoological parks (yes, real lions, tigers, and bears) in the greater Boston area.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
