Monday, June 16, 2014

THISTLE

Thistle

THISTLE

We departed from Laguna Beach CA over a week ago to start the 6,000 mile Great American Loop Adventure aboard THISTLE. This summer we plan to cruise up the Hudson River through the locks and canals, then to Montreal for the FINA Master World Championships and store her for the winter in the Great Lakes area.

After two years of dreaming and searching in October 2013 we became the proud owners of THISTLE, a Mariner 40 Sedan Trawler. We were thrilled to take a quick one week end of summer shakedown trip to Port Jefferson NY and then we took her to Norwalk CT for winter storage.

The week before we left Laguna Beach was a little overwhelming (but super exciting) to realize we had to get our house ready to rent for the summer, packing and enjoying special visits with family and friends.

THISTLE is a 40 foot Maine Sedan Trawler new in 2006 with an overall Length of 42'6", Beam of 13'1", Draft of 4' and a Displacement of 23,500 lbs. She is powered by a single 370 - HP Yanmar Diesel Engine. At wide open throttle she can reach 13 knots, but since we are in no hurry we plan to travel at a fuel efficient 8 knots.


Sunset our first night aboard THISTLE October 2013, Stamford Yacht Club.


 Map of the Great American Loop:   Red - Summer   Blue - Fall/ Winter   Green - Spring



 Greg & Reenie Boyer departing Laguna Beach CA.

NORWALK

We have enjoyed spending the last couple of weeks based in NORWALK CT while getting Thistle and the two of us ready for departure from Norwalk Cove Marina.  NORWALK is considered to be part of the New York Metropolitan area, it was incorporated in 1651 and today has a population of about 85,000.  Oyster farming has always been an important industry here, the town was once nicknamed "Oyster Town".

At the beginning of our stay here we had a rental car for a few days and made a couple of trips up the coast about an hour and a half to spent time with our good friends Frank and Marie in Niantic CT.  They were kind enough to let us ship our many boxes of gear to their home. One of our highlights was to to have dinner with them at the historic Bee & Thistle Inn in Old Lyme CT. (Yes, thats our boats name too and that night we decided to name our dingy Bee :)

With our rental car returned we have been riding our bikes every day! SONO (South Norwalk) is about a mile away where there is a West Marine (almost a daily trip there?).  The downtown area also has many great restaurants and sports bars.  Since we are in the middle of NBA playoffs, The Stanley Cup and World Cup Soccer we have enjoyed watching many games. There is also a Whole Foods close by for provisioning and Greg signed up for a week of yoga classes.

Our favorite restaurant find is Partner's Cafe close to the Marina here in East Norwalk. Very friendly people and great food. We voted their pizza best ever: Thin crust, extra crispy with broccolirabe.

The NORWALK spring weather changes all the time....sun, rain, wind, thunder & lightening, cold, warm...? You never know.



 Old town Norwalk.


Biking around Norwalk.


 Spring flowers.


 Our Boat Cards arrived :)






Tuesday, June 10, 2014

THISTLE

We departed from Laguna Beach CA over a week ago to start the 6,000 plus mile Great American Loop Adventure aboard THISTLE. This summer we plan to cruise up the Hudson River through locks and canals, then to Montreal and store her for the winter in the Great Lakes area.

After two years of dreaming and searching in October 2013 we became the proud owners of THISTLE, a Mariner 40 Sedan Trawler. We were thrilled to take a quick one week end of the season shakedown trip to Port Jefferson NY and then we took her to Norwalk CT for winter storage.

The week before we left Laguna was a little overwhelming (but super exciting) to realize we had to finish getting our house ready to rent for the summer, packing and enjoying special visits with family and friends. 
                
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
   
THISTLE is a 40 foot Mariner Sedan Trawler new in 2006 with an overall Length of 42'6", Beam of 13' 1", Draft of 4', and a Displacement 23,500 lbs. She is powered by a single 370-HP Yanmar Diesel Engine. At wide open throttle she can reach 13 knots, but since we are in no hurry we plan to travel at a fuel efficient 8 knots. 


                               

Sunset our first night aboard THISTLE October 2013, Stamford Yacht Club.
                               
                              
                                          

Map of the Great American Loop     Red-Summer  Blue-Fall/Winter  Green -Spring
     
                                         
                                          
                                                             
   Greg & Reenie Boyer departing Laguna Beach CA.