Seeking Newport

by Joe Heslin

1996

Eagles Wings is a solid thirty-foot sailing sloop owned by Captain Hal McLaughlin. She is perfect for a trip to Bermuda; the fall keel makes her seaworthy, and all the amenities below make her a proper vessel. She was not designed as a full-blown racer and might even be termed a real slug. Even though this is a story about three unsuspecting souls who went for a cruise to Newport, Rhode Island, it is worth noting that Captain McLaughlin raced Wings three times in the last ten years in the annual Round Long Island Regatta and came away with two first-place trophies in this 250 mile race.

On the July 4,1996 weekend, Captain Hal decided to sail Wings to Newport, Rhode Island. He was to rendezvous with wife, Pat, who would drive up and meet him there. Thereafter, the two of them were to cruise New England. Hal was trying to figure out how to get Wings north to Newport when he stumbled on his pal Ken Grabowski. Ken agreed to accompany Hal. Naturally, I could not let them do this adventure alone, so I agreed to take some vacation time and enjoy myself. The three of us would sail to Newport, meet our wives there, and stay in a hotel to tour the area-maybe even said one afternoon in the harbor. Total sailing time: twenty-six hours to Newport.

This trip was to be done in style. No racing menu or pip berth accommodations. All three couples would dine in a fancy Douglaston restaurant on Tuesday night. We would set sail at 10 p.m. so that we could sail water we knew at night. We had no watch rotation and no real schedule. If the weather turned sour we would head to the nearest port. The plan called for fun.

Leaving the Douglaston dock there was little wind and some fog. As we rounded Kings Point the fog got more dense, but we were not too concerned. We knew these waters well and tomorrow would be bright, sunny, and breezy. We would set the spinnaker, dine, and relax. Yeah, right. The fog got worse, not better, and we spent the night spotting channel markers to validate our course.

The fog cleared on Wednesday about 10 a.m. I remember the time because it was about an hour after we had a near miss with a ferry and shortly before the rain started. We still were not convinced because the afternoon would get better. The rain stopped late in the afternoon as we were going through the Race. The ferocity of the whirlpools in this part of the ocean where LI Sound empties into the Atlantic, twice a day, is truly intimidating. Even on the Wings we were tossed around like a spinning styrofoam cup. None of us will forget that few minutes of helplessness as we were thrown about and became disoriented. We celebrated with stepper afterwards.

Three hours later night came in-with thick fog. We could not see two boat lengths away. For the next three hours Ken drove the boat and Hal and I each worked our own hand-held OPS receivers. This allowed us to double check each other to be sure both machines always agreed. At midnight Captain Hal took a nap and his crew cooked up a new plan-mutiny! We woke him up and told him we should sail inside the sea wall at Point Judith and drop the hook till dawn. Hal had an entirely different view. He correctly pointed out that we would never successfully find the break in the sea wall and that crashing into the rocks was no fun. He decided that we sail an additional ten miles south, find a big red buoy and follow 063 magnetic directly into Newport. Lousy plan but his boat.

The two GPS receivers dropped us exactly on that buoy. In fact, we came within a whisker of hitting it. As we arrived a few miles out of Newport, the fog lifted and the city lights and harbor buoys led us in. We borrowed an unused mooring and collapsed until dawn. We had so much fun that we slept in our clothes, using our sleeping bags as pillows. And my feet were cold too.

Next time we drive to Newport.