Waves from the Northeast (Tuggers Vol. 61)

By Sally Seymour, Sally W #42

We've all heard it: the inquiring knock on the hull … or the meager "Hello? Anybody aboard?" 

... or nearby shouts, "I LOVE your boat!"  Reactions range from the modest: "First I have to sell my sailboat"… to the rabid "I want one now!" 

The interest this summer has been particularly intense here at our dock where we sit surrounded by half million-dollar (and up) toy yachts. And we've noticed that the list of available LNVTs has shrunk quickly this year.  Looking back over the last five years, the trend is even more impressive.

Even though prices have not returned to 2009 levels, interest has rebounded. But we'll leave others to conjecture on the "whys"  while we observe and report.

Ron and Peggy Davis of Richmond, ME, new owners of Brendan Luck #48, spotted our tug in the harbor over Labor Day weekend. They stopped by to inquire, and we directed them to the LNVT website.  Six weeks later they bought After All #48 and made their inaugural cruise from Rhode Island to Maine.

Al and Diane Robichaud of Acushnet, MA are not far behind, but still eyeing the prize. We expect the number of available 37's to drop by one soon after they finish harvesting at their cranberry farm. Al enjoys grilled cheese sandwiches aboard Neptune #35 every Tuesday with John Isaksen in Fairhaven, MA.

Having guests aboard always tops the list of favorite activities. Roger Lee and Martha Burke enjoyed a family cruise in Penobscot Bay aboard Fram #71. The McChains cruised with friends and family in the Chesapeake Bay region, including the "tongue-twister" rivers Piankatank and Rappahannock. John and Jeanne Niccolls joined up with Bob Allnutt, Victory #2, and Dave and Bicki Howell, sans Nellie D. #63 who spent half the summer on the hard and the other on the dock at home. Sigh. [We are happy to report that Nellie D.'s  dock lines have been cut and she was recently spotted happily bobbing in Naples, FL - ed.]

Some tugs in our region spent a lonely summer at their docks. Carl Butterfield says, "Carla B. #5 spent a lot of lonely nights in the slip," while Hal Findlay says that Le Papa #24  "is screaming mad."  But Hal plans to make it up with plans to do the Great Loop in a couple of years.

There's a lot of talk about doing the Loops in the near future. Bill and Keefer Irwin took Callisto #19 on a trial run on a portion of the Mini Loop. They cruised the Champlain Canal and a portion of the Erie as far as Lake Oneida.

John and Lisa Taylor played good Samaritan with Aramis #40, towing a 60-foot sailboat off the rocks. However, no good deed goes unpunished and the little exercise compressed the arms of their tow bitt. Ed McChain reminds us to be careful when towing. He volunteered Thistle #47 to rescue a boat aground and missed disaster when a cleat flew off.

Photo by Sally Seymour, Sally W #42

In August, while Nellie D. #63 languished at the dock, Dave and Bicki drove to Maine, jumped aboard Sally W #42 and took a mystery cruise to Islesboro for a surprise rendezvous with Fram #71. Could it be any better?