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July 22, 2008
Port Jefferson
Chis decided to take Friday off to work on getting the final bits and bobs on the boat. I went up mid-day Thursday on the train, and tinkered with the endless list of to-do's that comes with boats. Chis arrived around 8, and we enjoyed a pleasant dinner in the cockpit.
On Friday morning, we walked to the chandlery to pick up a few things. It was blazing hot. We took a cab back. By afternoon, the marina office called to say that a delivery had just arrived for us. It was our 45-pound anchor, 75-feet of steel chain, 150-feet of anchor rope, and some other, significantly lighter things.
We set ourselves to the task of getting our ground tackle set up. We used the spinnaker halyard to get the anchor onto the boat, then lifted the pail of chain, which easily weighed 100 pounds. Once in place, we connected the bits together and fed the line through the windlass (the winch on the bow that is used to raise and lower the anchor). We had chosen the hottest day of summer yet, allegedly in the mid-90s, to heave around heavy equipment and work in small, cramped spaces. Once complete, we enjoyed a well-deserved cold beer.
Saturday morning, we left Stamford and headed for Port Jefferson. Chis has a cousin that lives very close to Port Jefferson, and he invited us to dinner. Away we went. Once out of Stamford harbour, we discovered about 8 knots of wind. We decided to set our genneker. Like a spinnaker, but you don't need a pole to set it. Really, it's an asymetrical spinnaker.
The wind died, so we put the sails away and motored. As we approached the entrance to Port Jefferson, the wind picked up to 15 knots. Isn't this always the way it is.
We decided to take the boat back to the dealer in Huntington to have the engine looked at again, as it was giving us some grief. We had a spectacular sail out of Port Jefferson, but then the wind died. We motored the last bit, and as we rounded up in to Huntington harbour, the wind picked up. Of course.
Next weekend, we plan to sail to the Thimble Islands to meet Toby and Will on Synergism.
Posted by dave at July 22, 2008 02:31 PM