Two weekends ago I got the opportunity to deliver one of the 1986 America’s Cup boats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_II) from Newport RI back to NJ. If you have seen the movie WIND (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_(1992_film)) the boats are featured there.
This was a unique experience and I’m so grateful that the Manhattan Yacht Club gave me that opportunity. Both of the boats will be sailing all summer for races and charters out of Jersey City. First challenge was to get the entire crew up to Newport (5 of us). We rented a car and wore face masks to keep the potential infection concern to a minimum. When we finally got going we realized that the battery charger was not working so we had to visit the next marina to get that repaired. We arrived at 11.30pm in Old Saybrook the first night and the biggest challenge was to get a taxi to our hotel. Finally the hotel manager woke someone up to give us a ride (7 miles). The next morning we planned an early start (5am = 3.5hrs of sleep), unfortunately the keel was stuck in the mud until 830am. On the positive side we could enjoy our McDonalds breakfast and get some fuel. Due to the delay we hit the worse current when we reached NYC, but we got rewarded with a nice cruise down the East River with all the lights on.
It was an unforgettable trip with an amazing crew. See below a quick video of our trip I took.
what a thrill that must’ve been!!
Wow!! What an amazing and exciting opportunity! Thanks for sharing your adventure!