As Eitan and I pulled into the marina at Westport, Connecticut, the delivery from Annapolis was officially complete and the charter had begun. The first order of business was to finish the shoddy cleaning job performed in Annapolis and prepare the boat for the charter guests. Eitan and I were busy trying to complete the detailing, but were continuously interrupted by people asking about the boat. The catamaran was clearly the largest boat in the marina and received some attention from those passing by. We managed to get everything cleaned, polished and ready to sail about an hour before the guests were scheduled to arrive, allowing just enough time for Eitan and me to get ourselves cleaned up.
The main character guest had reserved the boat for two weeks. The first week, Eitan and I would take the main guest and their friends on different day sails around Long Island Sound. Then the second week would be a family trip to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. This all sounded pretty straight forward until Eitan told me our first trip out would be with 25 of the guest’s colleagues. Based on the age of the guest, and having a feel for the kind of wealth needed to charter this boat, I assumed his colleagues would be in the 40’s to 60’s age range. Eitan and I waited patiently at the end of the dock in our matching outfits for the guests to arrive when we saw a school bus pull up, unloading about 20 college-aged passengers. We assumed they must be doing some kind of sunset party booze cruise until we realized we were clearly the only boat in the marina capable of holding that many people. It turned out that by “colleagues” the main guest actually meant summer interns.
It was a little hectic getting so many people onboard. I tried my best to get an accurate headcount while Eitan counted the lifejackets to ensure we had an adequate number onboard in case we were questioned by the harbor police or US Coast Guard. We pulled off the dock and raised the sails, even though there wasn’t much wind to be had. Contrary to our initial impressions of the group, they were actually quite easy and didn’t have any issues with motion sickness or dropping things overboard. Eitan had done a number of sunset cruises in his day and planned the trip perfectly to get back into the marina just as the sun dipped below the horizon.
After the 25-person charter on our first day in Westport, the day trips that followed during that first week seemed easy-peasy. The guests would come either for an all-day sail or just a sunset sail and we would go to anchor somewhere in the sound or just meander around until the sun set. For the first time since joining Eitan in Mexico, we sailed just for the sake of sailing. Normally we travel to cover nautical miles, but rarely do a day trip just to return to the same spot. It was so nice to just be out on the water with no real destination in mind.
Compared to the motor yacht, the work was quite easy and Eitan negotiated a small daily rate for me as a deck stew. My main responsibilities were to check if the guests needed any drink refills, tidy up throughout the trip, then clean up after the guests left. The work hardly felt like work at all and, to top it off, the guests were a delight to be around. We even spent a few nights at their home and got to enjoy some long hot showers and do a few loads of laundry.
After the week of day sails, Eitan and I helped the wife provision the boat for their family trip to Newport, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. Since it would be a two-day sail and the weather conditions didn’t look enjoyable, the family agreed to meet us in Newport in a couple days. And, once again, we were on the move!
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