It’s July 4th, and we cross our fingers and head
into Newport. We assume the harbor will be packed and
anchorage room extremely limited, but we are surprised to find space still
available and score one of the best spots in the harbor for boat watching –
just off the main channel and off the New
York Yacht Club. Here we notice that Hinckleys far
outnumber ________ (insert the name of your favorite production boat). At 44
feet, Exuberant is definitely small potatoes. We have a dilemma as son Bryan
and his fiancée Beth are joining us for the afternoon and evening; do we just
sit on the boat and watch the parade of tourist-cruise schooners, historic
twelve meter boats from previous America’s Cups, a fleet of Farr 40’s gathered
for their North American Championship, and a multitude of mega yachts pass by, or
do we hop into the dinghy and explore whatever else is in the harbor? The
excitement gets the best of us, and we take a dinghy ride along the
circumference of the harbor. Mansions with
their sloping grassy lawns sport traditional day sailers moored just off
shore.
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| One of many mansions lining Newport Harbor |
The New York Yacht Club is
setting up for a Fourth of July party.
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| New York Yacht Club's Newport home - we weren't invited in! |
Mega yachts are tied up along the way at
various marinas. We actually recognize
some of them from our winter in the Bahamas. Back at the Newport
Shipyard sailing yachts in the 150 foot range are docked awaiting the summer
charter trade. When we return to our
boat, we notice we have a new neighbor, Brillliant, a restored boat out of
Mystic Seaport with a crew of teenagers on a sail training adventure.
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| Our next door neighbor - Brilliant - out of Mystic CT |
That night we are treated to a spectacular
fireworks show off of Fort
Adams.
While in Newport,
we will have our mainsail furler rebuilt and thus will be twiddling our thumbs
for a few days before we can get underway again. That leaves us with some time
to be tourists. We stop at the International Yacht Restoration
School to check out some
of their projects. Students come from
all over the world to spend two years studying restoration techniques for classics
yachts. Typically, they work on smaller boats although the school has the
restoration of a large yacht underway at most times. Currently, the Coronet, an 1885 schooner that
once sported a piano and marble grand staircase, is being rebuilt from the ribs
up. It will take many years and around
$13 million dollars to complete, but from the looks of their previous major
project, docked just outside, the results will be spectacular.
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| Classic motor-sailer restored by the students and staff of IYRS |
We spend part of another day biking along Bellevue Ave., home to many mansions of
the gilded age. It’s not hard to envision the Vanderbilts coming along in their
coaches or the characters from Great Gadsby playing croquet on the
rolling lawns. Bellevue mergers onto
Ocean Drive, and we are riding with the rocky, surfy coastline on one side and
large summer homes of the Newport elite on the other.
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| A scene from Ocean Drive |
At one spot Bretton Point juts out into the
ocean, and we stop to watch an amazing display of decorative and stunt kites
aloft. We continue on past rock wall
lined farmland dedicated to sheep and horses to Fort Adams State Park, home to
the community sailing program, SailNewport, and the site of last week’s
America’s Cup Trials. From here, we can overlook the crowded harbor and our
anchorage.
We have been in Newport
a number of times but never made the effort to tour any of the mansions. This visit we have the time to do so. We start with the Breakers, built in 1895 and
the summer cottage of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Some summer cottage – it has 70 rooms, many of which are sheathed in
marble and gold leaf. One room actually
has platinum leaf walls. It is beyond ostentatious, but is breathtaking in its
opulence. This is the American equivalent
of a European palace, and it doesn’t take much imagination to envision
gatherings of Vanderbilts, Roosevelts, Rockerfellers, and Carnegies in its
halls, their yachts at anchor in the nearby harbor.
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| Burt standing on the front lawn of the Breakers |
We also stop at William and
Alva Vanderbilt’s Marble House, built in 1892, and modeled after the Petit
Trianon at Versailles.
It took only two years to complete, an amazing feat considering that vast
quantities of marble that had to be imported from Europe
for the construction. The massive cast bronze and glass front doors are
estimated to be worth $11 million in today’s money.
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| Marble House, another Vanderbilt summer home |
At the rear of the house, atop
the cliffs facing the ocean, is an authentic Japanese Tea House for days when
the residents needed to escape the confines of the mansion.
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| Japanese Tea House on the grounds of Marble House |
Harold Vanderbilt, their son, went on to win
three America’s
Cups in his sailing career, and the building houses one room dedicated to his
trophies and memorabilia. We are
surprised to find that the family occupied the home for only two summers before
divorce and other interests shuttered the house.
While we were not able to arrive in Newport
in time for the America’s
Cup Trials, we will be able to enjoy the Tall Ship Challenge, a gathering of
Tall Ships from around the world that cruises the East Coast every three years.
One by one, these massive relics of the Great Age of Sail enter the harbor and
tie up at wharfs along its perimeter.
The town is packed with visitors for the event, and we choose to stay
away from those crowded areas. After all,
we have the ability to view the ships from the dinghy rather than standing in
long lines onshore. The climax of the
festival is the Parade of Sail. On the last day the boats head out into
Narragansett Bay, form a line to the south, and one by one, under full sail,
pass by Fort Adams
and under the Bay
Bridge. We head out into the Bay with the dinghy and
follow along, getting quite close to these beautiful sailing vessels.
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| The Picton Castle and a Trumpy motor launch in the foreground |
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| The Bounty, built for the movie Mutiny on the Bounty |
The Pride
of Baltimore brings up the rear, and as we are putt-putting next to her, we
notice the crew arming the cannons.
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| And our favorite, the Pride of Baltimore |
We
back off just in time to avoid being in the line of fire as the cannons go off
in the direction of Fort
Adams.
Newport
is a study in contrasts. We have
explored mansions and seen exquisitely restored yachts from the gilded age.
Yet, a week ago these same waters hosted some of the most technologically
advanced sailboats in the world, battling for the right to participate in the
coming America’s
Cup. At the Tennis Hall of Fame, about a
half mile away, a professional tennis tournament is taking place on what we are
told are the only grass courts still in existence in the United States. The grounds and façade are modeled after Wimbledon. At the far end of the harbor, super yachts,
both sail and power, their value beyond our imagination, are docked awaiting
clients or maintenance. And here we are
in our floating home amidst all this beauty, wealth, and history.
