Another sailor has moved to the dark side. This new boat owner decided to move from sailing to power boating and gave Captain Chris Yacht Services a call for transition training.
Wishing for more deck space and a swim platform, the Tiara 41 was his obvious next boat. Goals included travel to Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket all in one weekend. While sailing is his passion, this sailor couldn’t visit the islands in a short 2 day sailing cruise so a faster boat was the solution. This Tiara has a wide open aft deck and helm area, swim platform, a large saloon and stateroom, air conditioning and a generator. Propulsion is achieved by TWIN Caterpillar 3208 diesels with a sensible cruising speed of 20 knots.
I flew into Providence RI to help with the transition from sail to power, anticipating a learning curve to include all the below deck systems as well as basic power boat handling. We rode together to Osterville, Mass where his new boat was currently berthed. We had about a 120 mile trip to his home port near Duck Island- Old Saybrook, Conn and we planned to make the voyage in one easy day.
Upon arrival we reviewed the entire boat, stem to stern and top to bottom. We crawled through the bilge areas and spent a lot of time in the spacious engine room looking over the drive train, battery systems, switches, circuit breakers, vacuum system toilet, rudder tie rods, auto pilot sensor and the electrical bonding system.
After our thorough inspection we fueled her up, went to the grocery store and settled down for the night….AFTER enjoying a mouthwatering New England dinner at a local waterfront pub. Yum!
We waken to a chilly sunrise (remember I live in Florida!) and our adventure begins. Start the engines, check the exhaust flow, then a look at the tide level reveals we do not need to open the bridge opening up to West Bay. A slow idle out the channel brings us into the Nantucket Sound of the Atlantic Ocean, the island of Nantucket in sight as we steer west. Time to get the boat up on plane and cruise past Marthas Vineyard, Woodshole, Block Island and into the Long Island Sound. Connecticut here we come!
AS we travel we experiment with the RADAR and watched the RACON signals, maneuvering around a few Ferries. The world of a cruiser is smaller than you might think. During our journey we spied the first Kadey Krogen 55, having met the owners in Stuart FL a few years ago. A short chat on the Marine VHF radio and poof! Our Chamber of Commerce day on the water is almost complete. Nearing Duck Island we drop our speed to ease into the channel of her new Connecticut homeport.
Take a dream cruise through the photos below to see the RACONs and other landmarks along the way.