The final stretch! Another perfect cruising day, blue skies, a few clouds, a comfortable temperature of 68.8º with a 3 mph SSW wind which increased to 9 mph S by the time we arrived at EGYC. It would be an easy day for us! Not only because of the weather but the fact that we were in home territory. Plus, sadly, no lobster pots to deal with. Sadly because at one time, there used to be a lot of them, particularly near Newport but due to the warming waters, lobsters are now relatively scarce off the coast of RI – they’ve migrated northward towards Maine and Canada.

Leaving Third Beach around 9:00 a.m., we headed northward up the Sakonnet River. As we approached Tiverton we would pass through the Sakonnet Narrows and under the Sakonnet River Bridge into Mt. Hope Bay, the site of early events of King Philip’s War in 1675. The state line of MA and RI runs down the middle of the Bay. Before we turned eastward, off to starboard, we could see the landscape of MA; to port, the islands of RI. Next we passed under the Mt. Hope Bridge and entered the East Passage of Narragansett Bay.

Our course was set to pass south of Hog Island but a large tanker was approaching so we took the scenic route around the north side of Hog and past the entrance to Bristol Harbor. From there, around the northern point of Prudence and Patience Islands into the West Passage and Greenwich Bay. Always a welcome sight seeing Warwick Neck lighthouse – that meant we were very close!

From down below, Pivot/Her Idea seems huge. So much wider to us than Quantum Leap and even our motorhome with the slides extended. For the entire trip back to RI, we kept commenting to each other is this thing really going to fit in our slip? The numbers don’t lie, but we still worried about it the whole way back!

At the East Greenwich Yacht Club, we have a 40′ long slip. According to the rules of the Club, a members boat can exceed the actual slip length by 10%, or 44′. Not a problem for Her Idea/Pivot which has a length overall of 42′ 2″ and one of the reasons we chose this model. If we went with a boat over 44′ we would have had to move to a different dock with longer slips, which would not only cost more, but there are fewer large slips and no current availability. We of course knew Pivot/Her Idea was a beamy boat at 14’3″ wide, but prior to our purchase we had carefully measured the slip. Most of the slips on our dock are arranged with a finger pier on one side and a couple of pilings in the middle, with the slip next door being a mirror image. The total width of the two combined slips is 32′ or 16′ each. However the diameter of the pilings in between is about 12″, so that leaves the slip width at 15’6″. A little tight, especially when you add bumpers to the equation, but theoretically it would fit.

Before approaching our slip, we stopped at the end dock to remove the dinghy. Without doing so, the boat might exceed the 44′ length and we didn’t want to deal with it at the time. Rob removed it then rowed over to another dock where he tied it up. Now the fun began!

We needed to back into the slip because the easiest way to board Pivot is from the stern. This would be Rob’s first experience backing her into a slip. One issue he immediately identified was that although he had a great view of the bow of the boat from the helm, he only had limited visibility to the stern (sounds like a new docking camera is in order). To help with that, I stood near the steps and tried to verbally direct him. It took a little maneuvering but with the assistance of a couple walking down the dock who helped with the lines, success! Having the bow and stern thrusters helped a lot. And best of all, she fit! Whew!

Our neighbors were excited for us, several of them asking for a tour. Everyone was surprised by the amount of room on her.

No time to relax! Our first priority, of course, was selling Quantum Leap but in the meantime, Rob had created a list of improvements that he wanted to accomplish on Pivot. The rest of the summer would be very busy for sure!