New Member

[JUSNIC]

Hi, my wife and I have been looking for several months for a boat. We fell for the 43 Albin early in the search and finally found one that we hope to close on this month. I have to say that reading the boards has been a great help during the search. We plan to leave the boat in it's current Maine location for the winter, then move it south in the spring. We are looking at Brewer in Warwick. I live in southwestern NH and Warwick looks to be a good location for us to get to and has many destinations. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we are new to cruising, marinas etc.

Dan& Chip

[DougSea]

Welcome aboard and good luck with the closing!

[jcollins]

Welcome to AOG! Best of luck on the closing. I hope all goes smoothly.
You've come to the right place for advice and the perfect time of year. Since most of us aren't cruising, the next best thing is to talk about it.

Thanks for joining,

John

[RicM]

Brewers Warwick is fine if you like Brewers and SeaRays (and SeaRay folks, not that there is anything wrong with that). If you want a saltier more laid back scene, you might want to consider Brewers' Wickford Cove (15 min south and a world away) or Wickford Shipyard (if they have a slip available) which is a step back to the 19th century. Cranky Yankees, nut bags, wooden boat repairs by experts, a machine shop that can make an atomic centrifuge for $50, and more entertainment per square ft of dock than I've ever seen.

[Chuck Waygood]

Wow! Ric's description of Wickford's makes me want to move back north! My kind of people.

[mike66]

Welcome! We just closed on a Classic 40, and will be keeping her in Warwick Cove at Bay Marina. Also kind of a throwback marina...no pool, semi-crusty owner who is a mechanical wizard, wooden docks, all at a reasonable price. Naragansett Bay is a nice protected area to boat - there are very few days that you can't go out.
Mike

[RobS]

Brewers Warwick is fine if you like Brewers and SeaRays (and SeaRay folks, not that there is anything wrong with that). If you want a saltier more laid back scene, you might want to consider Brewers' Wickford Cove (15 min south and a world away) or Wickford Shipyard (if they have a slip available) which is a step back to the 19th century. Cranky Yankees, nut bags, wooden boat repairs by experts, a machine shop that can make an atomic centrifuge for $50, and more entertainment per square ft of dock than I've ever seen.

Ric,
what about the Pleasant Street Wharf in Wickford http://www.pswri.com/ where I bought TOY-RIFIC? Seemed like an old salty place too. But it also seemed like it could be a bit too laid back? I was there in late November so tough to judge..

[JUSNIC]

Great comments and suggestions! I definately like the laid back scene. I'm in no rush to decide, but I think I would prefer a mooring over dockspace so I would need a yard with a launch.
Dan

[RobS]

Great comments and suggestions! I definately like the laid back scene. I'm in no rush to decide, but I think I would prefer a mooring over dockspace so I would need a yard with a launch.
Dan

PSW has mooring/launch service.

[RicM]

Oh THOSE people on the north side of the cove. We almost NEVER go over there. Nobody does, it's too crowded. Pleasant Street & Wickford Marina is like another world. People get sucked into that end of the harbor and are never seen again. Our friends Quaker Eddy and Lisa (nice people even though they sail) went over "there" and by god we haven't seen them for 2 years!
Everyone loves their home port best, but we see a lot of people who start up at Warwick/EG then start drifting south after the first year or two. The Chelo's Restaurant at the Brewers in Warwick seems like a nice enough place at first, but the crowds on Fri-Sat make parking a PITA, and they used to have a lot of weddings when Sawzall Dave was there so it was the "Macarena" 3 times a night, ending at midnight from the bad house band that got tedious. That, and the drunks wandering the docks. When the breeze is from the North the jets landing at Green Airport come right over the marina. Starting at 6AM and going until midnight. Then there's Amtrak 6-7 times a day (and night) right along the shore. Oh and the food at Chelo's kinda sucks, especially as you get to the home stretch toward Labor Day. But hey! Some folks LOVE it.

The marinas on Warwick Neck are nice and the little beach community there is very nice. Problem there is the road in and out (and there's only one) gets' VERY congested on summer weekends. Once you are there, it's great, but a run up to the market on Saturday can be frustrating.

[jleonard]

Nobody does, it's too crowded

One of my favorite "yogi isms" is "it's so crowded nobody goes there anymore".