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 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 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)