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August 17, 2008
Stamford, CT
This, the final leg of our journey.
We hovered in Oyster Bay for a few hours, reading, pondering, getting weepy. We had hoped for wind to complete our journey under sail, but none materialized. We arrived in Stamford around 2, had some lunch and set to the task of cleaning poor Prana. Other than the random rinse of rain, she had not had a bath in 10 days. And she needed it.
Once done (you could eat off the decks), we read. We both finished our books.
Life is beautiful.
Posted by dave at 08:22 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2008
Oyster Bay, NY
I woke in the morning, made coffee, and checked the weather forecast. My routine. Chis slept. More thunderstorms "capable of producing penny sized hail and damaging winds up to 60 miles per hour". We thought best to stay put. We called the launch for a ride ashore. We wandered through town looking for a grocery store, but none were within walking distance. We returned to the boat, checked the radar and saw nothing threatening. We decided, at the very least, we would fill our fuel tanks at the local marina.
This done, I checked the radar again. Nothing.
We decided to head for Oyster Bay, due south of our Prana's home in Stamford. There wasn't a breath of wind, and a paltry pea soup haze lingering over the whole area. We made our way west, the direction from which the bad weather was coming.
Deep in the distance, night was descending on mid-afternoon. The skies thickened quickly, and the VHF radio began sputtering with hazardous weather warnings. At this point, we were committed. It made no sense to turn back. So we put on our foul weather gear and carried on.
The center of the storm was to the south of us, so we were pretty sure we weren't going to see any serious weather. Then the rains came. Heavy, but not torrential. The lightning show was fantastic, all in the distance. We could hear the thunder, but every strike was several seconds apart. Once again, it appeared that we had avoided the worst of the weather.
We picked up a mooring at Oyster Bay Marine Center, and set to the task of reading. Chis is reading Elizabeth George's latest mystery "Careless in Red". I am finishing David Sedaris' "When You Are Engulfed in Flames".
On our way ashore for dinner at the Mill River Inn, the biggest storm yet hit. We walked from the marina to the restaurant, and just as we arrived, the lightning and thunder were incredible. It just started to rain when we walked through the door of the restaurant, then watched the storm through the window.
It poured rain on our walk back to the marina. But I will say that the launch driver was infinitely better dressed for the weather than we were in our khakis and foul weather jackets.
Posted by dave at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2008
Port Jefferson, NY
Plan A was to head back to the Thimble Islands and anchor over night, and get up early and have a hearty breakfast on the porch in Stony Creek. Then I checked the weather forecast, and a second low pressure system was descending on us. The Thimbles are lovely, but not the place you want to be in a blow. So we changed our minds and headed for Port Jefferson. We've been in a few times. It's not exactly our favourite place, but we can get a mooring, and help if the storms are nasty.
We had an incredible sail from Stonington to Port Jefferson. Plenty of wind, and with the tidal currents in The Race, we literally flew across to the Long Island coast.
The storms didn't bring much in Port Jefferson. The next day was something altogether different...
Posted by dave at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2008
Stonington, CT
Stonington is a quiet and charming town on the Connecticut shore in Fishers Island Sound. The architecture is stunning. We sailed here from Block Island, a very short 3 hour sail. We picked up a mooring at Dodson's Boatyard. Chis got his hair cut at the local barber shop and I wandered around and snapped photos.
Posted by dave at 07:54 PM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2008
Block Island, RI
The weather forecast for the next few days called for a slow-moving low pressure system. We could count on wind and lots of rain. We decided to go to Block Island and wait out the weather. It turned out to be a brilliant decision, and we stayed for three nights.
We arrived, and called the harbourmaster on the VHF radio. The cruising guide suggested that there were plenty of granny-smith apple coloured mooring to pick up. Well, the rules had changed since the guide was published. There were no moorings available, and we would have to wait until 5pm to see if there was a private mooring available for the night. All mooring in Great Salt Pond are first-come-first-served. Basically, an ugly free-for-all of boats pushing and shoving to get the available moorings.
We dropped anchor around 3pm. In 20-feet of water. The rule of thumb is to let out about 5-7 times in anchor line as the depth of the water. This meant somewhere between 100 and 140 feet. We have 75 feet of chain, and 150 feet of rope attached to the chain. We had not yet attempted to anchor with more than just the chain, so this was learning. Chis had let out all 75 feet of chain, and then crossed his fingers as he started to let out the rope. Well, the diameter of the rope is too small for the windlass (the winch that emits the anchor line). And so it just started spinning out uncontrollably. He quickly grabbed it and put it on the bow cleat. With this solution, the rope was up against the rail and with not too much force, the anchor line was sure to rip the rail right off. We decided to haul in, by hand, all of the rope until we had only chain out. Not enough chain, but safer than uncontrollable rope.
I would drive forward to gain some slack, then run to the bow to help him heave the rope back up. After multiple attempts and some serious expletives, we were back to chain and all of the rope was in the anchor locker.
As we were putting things away, I looked over my shoulder and saw a little power boat. I asked Chis if he had seen it when we anchored, that they must have anchored while we were torturing ourselves with ours. About 10 minutes later, it was bumping against a sailboat. I called the harbourmaster, who came by and rescued the drifting boat. He came by after and thanked us. I asked him about the 5pm mooring call, and he winked and suggested we be off the anchor and near the green can number 14 right at 5pm. With less than ideal anchor line out, a mooring would allow us to sleep tonight.
At 5pm, we were at the green channel marker. Sure enough, the harbourmaster showed us directly to a mooring for the night. We learned that we were not allowed to stay more than one night on the mooring, so it was either back to anchor or troll the town's granny-smith apple coloured moorings for an empty one in the morning.
At about 10 the next morning, we dropped off the private mooring, and trolled the town's mooring field. Out of the corner of his eye, Chis spotted a sailboat dropping off a mooring. I immediately spun the boat around and headed for it. Sure enough, by the time we got there, no one else had seen it, and we grabbed it.
Our good deed served us well.
Block Island is a spectacular, but busy spot. On the west side of the island is Great Salt Pond, where we were on a mooring. On the east side of the island is Old Harbour, where the fast ferries come in. The old harbour is much more densely populated, and because its harbour is small and not well protected, few cruisers go there. Mostly the tourists from the ferries. Great Salt Pond tends to cater more to the cruising crowd, which means there are fewer amenities.
We went for a long walk on the beach and commented on how it seemed Block Island was stuck in the 70's. No cell phones, no video games, no iPods. Just people playing volleyball, building sandcastles, swimming, and playing games. Not in a contrived way. Genuinely unpretentious. It was a nice break from places like Mystic, which while charming, has lost its sense of history. This is definitely a place we will come back to. We enjoyed it so much we stayed for three nights.
Within seconds of dropping our granny-smith apply mooring, it was snapped up by another boat trolling the mooring field.
Posted by dave at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
August 09, 2008
Westport, Mass
Chisholm's firm sponsored an event to support the Westport River Watershed Alliance. He felt obliged to attend the event with a few of his colleagues and to meet some of the clients. It being an environmentally focused charity, I was game. The challenge was finding our way there in time to make the 5pm opening. Having looked at the charts and read the cruising guide, we decided to sail up the Sekonnet River to Portsmouth, Rhode Island and tie up at a marina called Pirate's Cove. From there, we would hire a car to drive us to the event in Westport, about 30 minutes away.
The taxi company mixed everything up and arrived 20 minutes late to pick us up. When we arrived, the event was located on a private farm overlooking the Westport River, way in off the road in a clearing. I became deeply concerned that the taxi company would leave us stranded at the event. I negotiated with our driver to ensure that exactly HE would fetch us, because only HE knew precisely where he left us.
We left Mystic shortly after sun-up, tip-toeing around the marina like church mice. For the entire 9 hour journey, there was barely a breath of wind. But we made it, went to the event, met some clients, bid on some silent auction items, had a bite to eat and a glass of wine, and headed back to the boat. It was a lovely event, and I understand that we may have been successful in bidding on a couple of items.
Posted by dave at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)
August 08, 2008
Mystic, CT
With dinner reservations at 6pm, and many miles to go to Mystic, we arose early. We had noticed that our instruments were not properly calibrated, so we stop the boat to swing the compass in three complete circles at a very slow speed. We discovered that it recorded 3 degrees of deviation (ferrous metals will affect the magnets in the compass). We adjusted the compass and carried on. After this time-consuming endeavour, we noticed a considerable improvement in the performance.
The winds were very light on the beam, so we decided to try out our genneker. This is a sail that is a bastardization of a genoa (the foresail), and a spinnaker. It is a wonderful design for cruising because it does not require a pole to set the sail. It even comes with a long sock to douse the sail, making it very easy to put up and take down.
The marina we reserved a slip at was way up the Mystic River very close to the town. We did this in anticipation of a visit from Ted, Krista, their friends, and 4 children. A mooring or on anchor would have been less than ideal. Our trip up the river allowed for some wonderful photos. This one was taken shortly after sunrise on our way down the river the following morning.
Posted by dave at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)
August 07, 2008
Thimble Islands, CT
This was it. We decided that we would take 9 days and sail. We had only one, then two, conditions to all the sailing variables – weather, weather, and weather. On Day 2, we needed to be in Mystic, Connecticut to celebrate Krista’s birthday. On Day 3, we needed to be in Westport, Massachusetts for a fundraiser for the Westport River Watershed Alliance. This is a lot of easting in a short period of time - when one sails 5-6 miles in an hour.
We left Stamford at 11am and set our eastward course to the Thimble Islands off Branford, Connecticut. As we are quickly discovering, the winds are generally light in the morning, then pick up in the afternoon. We motor-sailed with the mainsail up in very light southeast winds. By about 2pm, the winds picked up considerably and we were hustling along nicely on a beam reach in building seas.
The weather forecast called for thunderstorms, and we kept a watchful eye over our shoulder. Sure enough, storms began to develop over Long Islands and Connecticut, but seemed to avoid out particular path. The VHF radio came to life with one “urgent marine weather” advisory after another.
We dropped our shiny new anchor between High Island and Pot Island just before the storms hit. Chis fell sound asleep while I readied dinner on the barbeque. He slept through a wicked storm – truly a dramatic light show, heavy rain, hail and loud thunder all around us.
He woke in time for dinner, then fell sound asleep again.
The Thimble Islands are a precious secret that our friend Will shared with us. We will definitely return.
Posted by dave at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2008
Poor Jim
Jim arrived from Toronto mid-day Friday. It was a long weekend in Canada, and Luc was on a business trip in Vancouver. Jim would have been alone in Toronto, without Luc. What better way to enjoy a long weekend than join us for a sail on Long Island Sound? Poor Jim.
We wandered down to Union Square, grabbed a late lunch at Coffee Shop, and strolled through the farmers’ market. We planned to sail to Port Jefferson on Long Island for Saturday night, but the weather was looking a bit dubious. We hummed, hawed, had another drink, then decided to head for the train to Stamford.
I called Chis, who said he could likely, maybe make a 6:30 train. Jim and I made our way to Grand Central, then called Chis again. Okay, maybe I can make 6:45. Jim and I crashed into Cipriani (aren’t they bankrupt or something) and ordered beer. Chis arrived shortly after and off we went on the train.
We woke in the morning to darkening skies. After several thunderstorms, a weather analysis with ‘Sirena’ neighbour Steve, and it looked like we could get out around 11. We started the engine, made final preparations for our de-dockage, and the line of storms that looked like it was tracking northeast, decided to track directly in our path. Nothing makes my heart pound deeper than lightening on a sailboat – I mean, on the water, the tallest thing for miles?
We waited out the weather.
By 3, it seemed to be clearing. The National Weather Service called off the severe thunderstorm warning. We left Stamford for Port Jefferson.
We weren’t able to sail much on the four-hour journey. Around 5pm, we finally picked up some nice wind and sailed. We picked up a mooring in Port Jefferson, and went ashore for dinner at Pace’s Steakhouse. The evening was clear and warm, so we decided to sit outside under the trees next to the pond.
On Sunday, after brunch in Port Jefferson, we headed back to Stamford. By noon, we had increasing southerly winds. Soon, the wind was on the nose, forcing us to tack upwind, increasing the distance of our journey. We reefed the genoa and we were well heeled. Despite the exhilarating sail, I snapped this photo of Jim - sound asleep.
Poor Jim.
Posted by dave at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)