four days sailing

Early Saturday morning Mike and I packed up our sleeping bags and swimsuits and headed down to Rhode Island for four days of sailing in Narragansett Bay on his sailboat.

Jamestown Harbor is about 1.5 hours from Boston and so beautiful, serene and quintessentially small-town New England. We go sailing many times every summer, sometimes just for the day but more often we sleep on the boat for a night or two, sometimes with friends and sometimes just the two of us. 

This week, one friend stayed with us the whole time and four others came and went for a few days each, sitting and listening to the Newport Jazz Festival from near the shore, learning how to sail, swimming, grilling, diving off the boat and toasting to the dog days of summer.

The boat sleeps five (or six when you convince an adventurous dude to sleep outside in a hammock tied to the sail) and we ended each night moored in the harbor or anchored in a calm cove. After Saturday there was no threat of rain so Mike and I left the hatch above our bed open and I drifted to sleep counting the stars and feeling the gentle rocking of the waves. It is blissful. So is jumping off the boat for a swim first thing after waking up. And having a beer with your breakfast muffin. (Shh... judgement free boat.)

Throughout the days I grab my camera to snap anything that might look good in a painting and by the end of every trip I'm longing to dive into them and start new artwork. There is just something about the coast and the constant salt air (that completely coated my body and all my belongings) and the waves that fills me with a feeling of wonderment and possibility.