Newport – 28.05
Things are getting in place for us now. Two days ago we got visited by Whit Batchelor that did flotation test and measured what we missed to get our rating for the Transpac. Even though we had emptied the boat in San Diego it was still a lot of stuff that needed to go out, sails off and so on, but now the job is done. We have done this job earlier too in Norway but that was 5 years ago before all the long distance gear came on board. Apparently we are floating 3 cm deeper at the stern and 2 cm deeper in the front, which probably is pretty much in line with the boat being 300-350 kg heavier. The hard part now is to decide if we should bring our Code 0 on the race or not. That will affect the rating but may also affect our finishing time.. If you look at the fourth pictrue below you can see the difference in race trim (weight) and long distance trim. We are actually on the painted waterline when all gear is on board, about 12-15 cm deeper than the race trim.
Another thing that has been sorted out now is a good place to leave the Cubaneren for a longer period of time. From the 4-15 Th of June we are going for a quick trip back to Norway and we are very lucky to have got good contact with the sailors and dockmaster Rick at Oceanside Yachtclub. They had a slip available and we look forward to be back there in a couple of days.
After the measuring was done here in Newport we moved out on the bay and are now anchored. It is a pretty small anchorage and a lot of boats want to be here so many tie up alongside to each other with anchors in all directions. 12 on one row is the record until now. We figured it would be safest to drop a stern anchor too since most of the other has done so.
We have been around the big bay with the dinghy, north yesterday and south today. Looking at all the boats and also all the nice houses close to the water and the narrow sounds. It is very nice here and we are enjoying!