Had a very peaceful night on anchor. Not a bounce, roll, or clang from the mast. Almost felt like I was home in my own bed. Wait a minute...this is home :)
We were pouring over the charts last night trying to find a place to make our next stop. We chose 3 options, depending how the winds and weather would be. We ended up at Sakonett Harbour and picked up a town mooring. I'm still blown away by the houses that we've been seeing. It is staggering to see the wealth here, or at least the presentation of wealth. I wonder how many of these owners are buried in debt. We had a good sail today, no need for the motor. We were able to go wing on wing for a while and used the preventer for the first time. The winds and seas were a little squirrelly so I appreciated the preventer.
With a good sail tomorrow we should pass the 500 nm mark. I've been playing with the chart plotter and have discovered where to find the information on our track so I will try to remember to log the distance traveled from now on. I believe I turned the track on around Carter's Beach, so from there to here we've come 482 nm.
Day 25 - Sept. 9
We've just dropped anchor in Point Judith Pond after 4 hours of the wildest ride to date. We were running with E winds 4-9 kts which would have been fine if it wasn't for the 9' waves. On the plus side, they weren't breaking and we just rolled over them. The down side, we were taking them side on for the most part, which made for a roller coaster ride with a twist. At one point I looked over my shoulder and had to look UP to see the top of the wave, just before we rolled up and over. FUN!!! Needless to say, since this journey is about enjoying and not stressing, we went to Plan B and pulled in to Point Judith. We were hoping to make Fisher Island but as they say, "the best laid plans...".
Even with the shortened trip, we did break the 500 nm mark, reaching 502 nm which was a run today of 20 nm.
In case anyone is wondering, I am a helm hog. Since leaving La Have, I've had the helm the entire time with the exception of pee breaks and two rest breaks on the Gulf of Maine. This gets me away from having to deal with the sails, which I can handle, but readily admit I don't know much about.
Day 26 - Sept.10
After the time we had yesterday, I don't think anyone wanted to face another day like that, and listening to the weather, and being 2 nm inland from the Block Island Sound, it was uncertain what would transpire. Richard called the ferryman to get a prognoses of what was happening out in the sound and was advised that the sea was much better than the day before. With that information we decided to go for New London. We had light winds from the N and a smooth, roley sea so with just the jib we had a very relaxing sail until noon. At that time the wind dropped to nothing, and we motored, against a current the rest of the way. I'm not used to dealing with currents, and it has definitely become a factor when trying to time the trips.
We finally get into the harbour, see a submarine going out, and think we've had a pretty good day. Word of caution! Never think you've had a great day until the day is over!!
As we're coming in to look for anchorage, I go between an island and a marker showing a rock. I'm carefully watching my chart for depth, while Greg is on the phone to Richard to get confirmation of where we were told to anchor when.... crunch..... I've hit a rock. Luckily I was going slow enough that neither one of us was knocked off our feet, and I quickly backed up. Doesn't appear to be any damage but won't know for sure until Greg can dive under and check it out. I looked at the chart again, and there is no way I should have hit a rock...until I zoom way in on the chart and see the notation, Hog Back. I have to assume it means rock from the island to the rock warning sign, but the chart still shows me that I have 7'. I am not impressed, but one more lesson learned.
Sailed 31nm in 6 1/2 hrs for a total of 533 nm to date.
Day 27 - Sept. 11
9/11 All flags at half- mast today
Today is laundry and shower day for us, then off to find some groceries. Richard and Heather have rented a car and are headed for the Newport Boat Show. Tomorrow we'll go with them to Defender to look for any boat stuff we think we need. May be able to luck into some boat show deals. The plan is to spend the next two days here in New London and then continue south. We're only about a day away from Peace and Quiet's old homeport, so may drop in there.
Spent part of today walking around New London. It's not an impressive town, reminded us a lot of Gottingen Street in Halifax, with maybe a few years ahead on the rejuvenation projects. It looks like the town relies heavily on the employment of General Dynamics. Their office buildings are huge, even supplying, it appears, bus transportation for its employees to get from building to building. Once in town the streets are primarily lined with eateries, tending to the lunch and after work crowds I assume. We enjoyed lunch at the Muddy Waters Cafe. The tomato soup was so good and my humus and veggie sandwich is one I'll definitely try to replicate on the boat. Delicious!! I won't even tell you about the desserts, but we did have to bring extras back with us ;)
We went into a small museum looking for a map. The lady was extremely friendly and helpful. She admitted she didn't see many people, hence the crossword puzzles and crafts on the table. Turns out the small building was the schoolhouse that Nathan Hale taught in before he became the "first spy". The TV series Turn is based on him. However, Nathan was killed on his very first mission. Who knew?
Day 28 - Sept. 12
Another " hold on to your hats folks, were in for a ride" nights! The boats were bouncing like crazy, and the winds sounded like they wanted to take the mast off. It always
sounds worse when you're laying in bed, at least that's what I keep telling myself. I know both Richard and Greg were up checking the anchor lines through the night.
We spent the day with Richard and Heather driving around ( Defender for the guys and Michael's Crafts for the girls). Then lunch at Olive Garden ( sooo good), followed by groceries, return of the rental car and then back to the boat. A very full day and the weather was beautiful. Looks like tomorrow we'll hit the road (water) again. I'm not going to miss the wake from the 3 ferries that rocked us every 1/2 hour.
Day 29 - Sept. 13
(Dad would have been 93 today. Miss you Dad!)
We left New London at 9:00 am looking to go as far as New Haven, and amazingly, we did. I believe this may be one of the first times we made a long run and didn't have to pull in somewhere early. Although we did just make it. An hour sooner would have seen us on anchor before the rain started, and we may have missed some of the pitchy seas, but all in all, a good day. We came 44 nm in 7 hours with just the jib.
As we sit here enjoying a rum and coke (much deserved on my part) we are contemplating something hot for supper. I'm thinking a spicy stir fry...yum. Best pass my request on to the chef. ;)
Day 30 - Sept. 14
( Orval - I'm 1/3 of my way to a beer!!!)
Woke up to another morning of rocking and howling winds, although the anemometer only showed 14 kts. However, by 9:00 am it didn't look too bad and we started our day under full sail and 6-7 kts. The wind dropped before noon and we ended up motor sailing the rest of the way. Found an anchorage amid the Norwalk Islands. It's very shallow around us, but we are sitting very comfortably at the moment. Once the cigarette boats stop flying by us, I'm sure it will become very quiet. What a beautiful site out our back door. The New York skyline wrapped up in a red sky. We're too far away to make out anything except the Empire Sate Building, but even so, it is impressive. Hopefully I'll be able to attach a picture. Ran out of potato chips 2 days ago, so I made a batch of peanut butter cookies this afternoon. I'm not going to loose weight this way :(
Today's trip - 28 nm in 5 1/2 hours.
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