Friday night we went back to the boat. Kind Robin was slightly alarmed at leaving us with the boat jumping around on the dock in the 30 knot winds. Strangely, although from the dock the boat looked like a bucking bronco, it was fairly comfortable below. In the evening we went for a walk along the board walk at Old Lyme, it was very pretty by the marsh, but cold with the wind.
As always, thank you Robin and Rick for your hospitality!
Saturday, Oct 2, 2010
We left Old Lyme and had a nice sail in the afternoon. We ended up in “the gulf” at Milford. When we anchored it was calm and sheltered and the sunset was beautiful. In the middle of the night the wind shifted and we rolled around all night. Very uncomfortable and not a bit restful.
Sunday, Oct 3, 2010
A cloudy and cold day with NE winds 15-20 knots, gusting to 25 with 4 - 6 foot seas. Around noon the sun came out. We decided to go into Norwalk and tie up at the town dock. We usually don’t like to pay for dockage, but after last nights lack of sleep we decided to splurge. Also, I needed to go to a store and find some cold medicine.
Monday, Oct 4, 2010
Brrrr. Very chilly this morning. We don’t have an outside thermometer. Inside the cabin, after using the stove to make coffee it was only 58 degrees. We left the dock in the morning in a cold rain and thought about going into Zeigler’s Cove (just south of Rowayton), it was rough in that cove, so we anchored in the next cove to the north, Scott’s Cove. It was very calm and nice for a change. We were anchored by 10:30 in the morning so we spent a relaxing day reading books. I baked bread in the afternoon.
Tuesday, Oct 5, 2010
Yet another cloudy, rainy, and cold day with plenty of wind. We headed over to Port Washington to spend the night. On the way into the harbor we passed a very old fashioned looking square rigger motoring up the bay.
We anchored at the edge of the mooring field. Just before dinner time a couple of boats came in and picked up moorings fairly close to us. We were just getting ready to raise the anchor and move in case the wind changed so we wouldn’t swing into them when a launch came out to let us know that the yellow mooring ball next to us was free for two nights, so we happily moved over.
Wednesday, Oct 5, 2010
Finally, a mostly sunny day. We started out the day with a nice breakfast of eggs, home fries, and toast. As we pulled out of the harbor we could see the New York skyline in the distance. We had a great ride through New York. We went through Hells Gate with a 15 knot head wind and were still doing 8 knots. Sailing by the Statue of Liberty is spectacular. We anchored for the nights at Atlantic Highlands (Sandy Hook).
Thursday, Oct 6, 2010
We got up at 5:00 a.m. to head down the New Jersey coast. The high speed ferries are alarmingly fast and require keeping a sharp lookout, especially in the dark. Although I don’t particularly like sailing at night seeing the stars and the New York skyline lit up in the distance was impressive. The morning sailing was a bit rough with 20 - 25 knots of wind and 4 - 6 foot seas. In the afternoon the seas knocked down and the wind subsided to 15 - 20 knots. As we were coming into Barnegat inlet a butterfly flew in the lee of the boat for about 5 minutes and the first pelicans that we have seen this year flew by. Now that we are anchored, looking back on the day it was a nice day’s sailing.
Friday, Oct 7, 2010
We had a wonderful sail in the morning. We motorsailed for about an hour to charge the batteries, then as we came alongside a Sabre 30 we shut off the engine and sailed. We were able to sail slightly faster than they did for the rest of the morning which was fun. Mid morning I was at the helm, paying attention to my course, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A small bird landed on the tiller a couple of inches from my hand. It startled me, so I screamed like a girl, which startled it, so it flew around the boat and landed again. About an hour later another little bird flew in the boat, then back out. We were listening to the radio and heard a couple of other boats talking and one said they had a bird do the same thing, then a hawk came along and ate the bird. I hope this wasn’t our bird.
Around noon time when we were by Atlantic City the wind shifted onto the nose so we had to make a decision whether or not to go on to Cape May and get in around dark or go into Atlantic City. We decided to motor sail to Cape May. We got in around 7:00, just after sunset.
Saturday, Oct 8
In the morning we discovered that wherever the leak is coming from, it is worse than we had thought. All of the clothes in my locker were wet. Our list of boat work is as always growing instead of shrinking. After pulling out all of the clothes it seems like the leak(s) are probably coming from some combination of one of the chainplates, the rubrail, and/or the dinghy tie down. When Doug showed up with his car and his generous offer of using their laundry, he may not have realized how generous of an offer this was! We had a fun day visiting with Doug, Jackie, Tom, Jerri, Kelly, Olivia, and Chloe.
Sunday, Oct 9
Our boat is at the end of a t-dock where the fishermen hang out. A man caught a little sand shark - about a foot long and let me pet it before he let it go.
We spent the morning rebedding all of the things that were probably leaking and bailing the water out of the sail locker (the dorade was also leaking...). All of these chores involved also pulling everything out of every locker and piling it randomly around the boat, then putting it all away again. The joys of boating! We then ran errands - West Marine, propane, Walmart, etc., then had Philly cheesesteaks for lunch, then went back over to Doug and Jackie's for another visit. It is a treat being able to catch up with family.
Hi Susan,
ReplyDeleteI've been following your progress from ME to CT. Sometimes the travel sounds scary to me. However, you seem to take it all in stride. Beautiful photography. Have fun. Jean