September 2026 – November 2026
We are on our way south again for Season 4! But first a quick recap of the summer of ’26.
Our BIG news was Ryan and Bridget’s engagement! Ry worked hard to surprise B – which was not easy. He used Carried Away as his platform and his friend Nate was on board to capture the moment. While Bridget might have had an inkling it was coming – the big surprise was the arrival of her family and close friends at the post-proposal luncheon at the EYC. It was a blast planning behind the scenes with Ryan. And most importantly, she said “Yes”!
Probably because we were so focused on the August engagement, the summer just flew by. I had my 40th Cornell reunion in June and had a blast reconnecting with my “214 Eddy St” roommates and many of our ’86 classmates. Mitzi spent a week with us – which meant great “Jones family” time. Bridgets parents (Lori & Paul) came for a visit in June (prior to the big engagement). We had a great 4th, though it was super hot! Trevor and Sarah bought a beautiful home in Marblehead and we had a blast helping them settle in. We made a couple of road trips to Osterville to visit the Ho-Jos and made our annual “cruise” to Marthas Vineyard where all the kids joined us for a weekend. Our “Sunday Sails” brought lots of friends aboard CA and with several (4) concerts sprinkled in. It was a great summer!
Boat-wise our big projects included a dingy upgrade (new steering station and engine) and a whole new rig which required taking the mast down and replacing all the cables. Carried Away is 8 years old now and we’ve put over 22,000 miles on her so it was the right time to do it. We love working with Rob at Dion’s boatyard – he has a great team and Billy got lots of “extra” projects done while we were there (cha-ching).
Before we knew it, it was time to start heading south for our 4th winter in the Caribbean. We left MHD on September 16th, made a quick stop in Padanaram for a lovely dinner with our friends Kevin and Mike. We sailed around to Sakonnet Point to spend a couple of days ashore with Karl and Nea in Little Compton. We had planned to stop in Newport for our 35th wedding anniversary and then continue down LI sound, but the September Nor’easter had other plans. Given the severity of the forecast we decided to just hunker down and got a well protected slip at the Newport Harbor Marina right in downtown Newport. We had a blast.
We needed to get to Hampton VA by mid-October so we left Newport as soon as the N’oreaster passed and headed directly for the Delaware river. With little wind we motored most of the 350 miles up the river and through the C&D Canal. We stopped into Bodkin Creek, just north of Annapolis, to visit with our Salty Dawg friends Beth & Peter (SV Lasata) who have an awesome waterfront home. It was so cool to drop the anchor nearby and dingy to their dock for dinner. We spent several days in Annapolis and then worked our way down to the Solomon Islands where my long time friend and business partner Julie and her husband Jeff came for an overnight on the boat. We made it down to Hampton right on schedule and tied up at the Downtown Docks so we could head off the boat for a week of fun family events.
We first headed back home to Boston where our daughter-in-law Sarah was being inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame. Her whole family and many of her teammates came to celebrate. Sarah was recognized at halftime during the BC Football game on Saturday (plus BC won the game!) and the official induction ceremony was on Sunday. As an added bonus, Billy got to spend the weekend back at his Alma mater! So proud.
Next we flew down to Charleston SC for our nephew Sam’s wedding. The whole family attended, so it was another fun-filled weekend exploring Charleston and celebrating with Sam & Emily. Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Tenney, it was an absolutely fabulous wedding!
After all that family fun, we are back in Hampton getting ready for what we had hoped would be a November 1st departure. However, winds and weather have held us in port a big longer. While the delay has been frustrating, we’ve made the most of it in Hampton enjoying great restaurants and lots of fun activities with the Dawgs including a couple of great days at the museums.
We are ready to go. We have our amazing crew, Scott V and Karl H, on board and we plan to depart tomorrow (11/6) with a direct shot to Antigua. It should take us about 11 days. There are over 100 boats heading south with the Salty Dawgs so we have lots of company! We will have limited comm while off shore but will provide a full report once we arrive in Antigua!
