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)