Aug 6-9, Newport, RI

We wake up in Jamestown to a cloudy cooler day with the wind blowing 10-15 mph so the bay is a little choppy. We motor across the bay and see an interesting home built on a rock all by itself. We remember seeing a realtor sign in Jamestown offering this home for rental at $6,000 per week. For access you must bring your own boat.


We cross the harbor and we're back in Newport visiting Rick and Connie Bischoff, who live here in Newport on the water. And they have a boat slip for us to use for a few days. What a wonderful place. Rick and Connie and their boys have been coming to Newport many times for sailing events over the years and about nine years ago they decided to make it permanent and become part time residents, spending as much time here as in Miami.

Rick and Connie Bishoff and daughter-in -law, Christina and grandsons Wyatt and Owen Bischoff at their dock

Connie with Owen and Owen

KOKOMO II is now docked at Rick and Connie's in the middle of mega yacht row, in the south end of the harbor across from Fort Adams and within walking distance of a dozen restaurants and ice cream parlors.

Linda and Bethany notice CHEVY TOY which is berthed almost next to KOKOMO II. We see her crew working every day but have not seen the owners as yet. Linda and Bethany are ready to go over to make friends and to try to arrange a tour, but no luck so far.

This seems to be the summer home for every large yacht in the whole New England area.


It is a rainy afternoon in Newport. Bethany keeping in touch with friends and family on board KOKOMO II. We all use the Internet connection aboard almost every day.

Our second day in Newport starts out as overcast. Linda and Bethany walked to the Breakers and then tour the Marble House, then to town for lunch. Owen goes with Rick to see the young sailors (ages 8-14) and their optimist prams (460 of them) that have come from all over the US for a regatta here in Newport.






The overcast begins to burn off about 10:30 but not much wind to start the day and so the prams are launched from a staging area near Fort Adams and were towed to the race area.





There were prams everywhere. We spent the morning and early afternoon in Rick's boat watching the races and then had a tour of the Newport harbor with Rick as our tour guide.


His narration gave special emphasis on the sailing craft, old and new.

A 12 meter yacht

He showed us about a dozen 12 meter yachts and many beautiful wooden sailing boats. Rick was able to give us the history on many of the yachts moored in the harbor. And there were at least a dozen newer mega yachts and 100 foot plus sailboats that look like world cruisers that were newer or transient to round out the very interesting boats in the harbor.

Newport facility of the NY Yacht Club

Rick cruised us by the Newport home of the NY Yacht Club (the NY Yacht Club was the home of the America's cup for many years before they lost the Cup to New Zealand) and their magnificent clubhouse, which was one of the great houses of Newport. The house was purchased by the Yacht Club in the 1990's and was originally the home of the Brown Family of Providence.

This great house is now condominiums

Our third day in Newport is overcast and rainy. Owen, Linda and Bethany do some shopping with Rick and Connie in the morning and lunch at the Newport Shipyard. After lunch Rick and Owen head out for another day of optimist pram racing.

The large car carrier turning around

Our fleet of prams that were in the way

The car carrier heads out to sea escorted by our chase boats

The 400 plus prams (the largest regatta of prams ever held) are on the water again today and, as the weather is better for sailing, there are five sets of races completed today. About 1pm a large car carrier freighter comes into view about two miles away headed for our fleet. There is a lively discussion heard over the VHF radio between the local race organizer (who has a permit to race in this area and has arranged for the Coast Guard to be here to monitor the race activities) and the ship captain who is asserting his right to use the channel as usual. To make a long story short, the ship captain takes the ship within a mile of our fleet while talking to the Coast Guard (who confirm the permit and the notice to mariners) and takes another look at the 400 sails (and 400 young sailors) in front of him and turns the large ship around. He goes around our fleet and uses a nearby channel to head out to sea. It was an interesting confrontation between very different users of the water. The adults are very relieved and several lawyers among our crew are smiling and talking about the potential liability of the ship captain if he had made any other choice. We have some rain at the end of the day and all our young sailors get wet.

Our fourth day in Newport is beautiful. Clear sky and cool temperatures.


Bethany goes exploring with Virginia, a new friend, who was visiting the Bischoff's with her mom, from Miami. Owen and Linda go back to the Lobster Pound to find another 10 pound lobster for dinner tonight. Rick is heading out in his boat to cover the pram regatta for the last day of racing. Rick reported that by the 2pm deadline (end of the permit) there had not been enough wind to get a start, so there were no races completed today. He says "it happens". We go for a last harbor tour on Ricks boat ..... It is a beautiful evening and we see some great motor yachts and sail boats. We return to KOKOMO II for a farewell 10 pound lobster dinner. Delicious.