Bogus Journey - the rest of the trip

Blogging blogging blogging... it's all I do.    How about I just share the whole photo album:

The September Trip Album


We did a total of about 280 nautical miles.  Used about 17 GAL of diesel.  Not bad for traveling for 2 weeks!  We paid for slips just 3 nights.  The rest we anchored or got moorings.  Most of the money went to food and tee-shirts!

Where we last left off, we were at Jamestown, RI.   This was the last destination of the trip that we had not previously been to.   From Jamestown, we went to Red Brook Harbor near the Canal.  We were a cheap date in Red Brook.  We anchored (free) and then walked to town for pizza for dinner.

Here's some photos of Redbrook:

Swimmer (bob) in the water

At anchor for the night in Red Brook

Sunrise the next day

Sunrise behind the lighthouse

Redbrook to Provincetown
We left at 6AM and went through the canal and on to P-town.   Provincetown is another place we've been several times.  This time we stayed on a mooring at Provincetown Marine.  Bob returned to SNIP for his day of beauty.   This was also the first time we used a self-service pump-iout!  (TMI?)

Some photos in the canal:

Entrance to the canal ahead under the RR  bridge

Exiting the canal near Sandwich Power Plant

Provincetown - Home:
From Provincetown, we decided to just head home on friday.  We discovered we had a clogged raw-water intake and attempted unsuccessfully to clean it out.   P-town had all the docks pulled for the season and no place to get a water hose to blow it out.   We tried the dinghy pump and also went swimming under the boat to try to dislodge the crap in there.  No luck.  So, the trip home would have to be 100% sailing.  Fortunately, we had a nice wind.  In fact this was the longest time under sail for any leg of the trip.  What a way to end it!

leaving provincetown

Minot Light up ahead

Multitasking

Charlestown (home) ahead

Still going: To Padanaram

... and now we know how to say it


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We set off from Jamestown about 08:30 with Plan A being Panadaram (South Dartmouth), MA and Plan B being Red Brook harbor.  There was very nice wind blowing us out of Newport Harbor into the sound and once we rounded the corner into the sound, we were in pretty high winds.  Eventually we ended up reefing both sails.

Leaving Jamestown

House on an island in Newport Harbor

As predicted on our various iPhone apps, the wind died in the sound and we un-reefed the sails.  Within another hour, it was totally dead out there and we were motoring.  Well - plenty of hot water tonight.

On a mooring in Panadaram

Sunset in Padanarum

The Bogus Journey: CT to RI

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We left the Mystic River and entered the sound and picked up some really great wind.  This was the fastest leg of the trip so far.  The knot meter was showing over 8kts often and rarely under 7.  Pretty good for our little ship!

Reefed sails and still doing over 8kts

Bob relaxing and watching Linda do the work

Tied up at Jamestown

The Trip: Just say "Noank"

After enjoying a breakfast with the CT crowd at the little restaurant at Brewer's marina in Essex, we headed on down the river with an unknown destination for the day. We planned on sailing somewhere around Fisher's island - maybe Fishers itself or Mystic.


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They dropped the bridge for the Amtrak as we approached

A green can in the CT river current

Saybrook light as we approach the sound

We found ourselves in a light breeze and opposing the strong current in these parts for most of the trip. The good news is we charged up the batteries, and made lots of hot water. The bad news is we did this by running the engine quite a bit.

This power boat had a sail up at the same time our sailboat was motoring!

Finally some breeze.

Lord Dumpling
Just north of Fishers are a pair of islands called North and South Dumpling islands. North Dumpling island is inhabited and owned by Dean Kamen - the inventor of the Segway. More about that here

Dean Kamen's Island

As we got near Fishers, we started picking up a nice breeze. This was around 14:30 and the current was now past peak against us so things slowly improved. We decided we would just stay the night in the harbor at Fishers but the sailing started getting so good, we just wanted to keep going. It was getting late though so we started calling around for a mooring for the night. The only place that answered the phone was Haring's Marina in Noank. $30 for a mooring. Sold!

Entering Noank. LOTS of sailboats in here

Classic Southern CT

Linda waiting in line for her CT Lobster Roll

And what a nice surprise Noank is. This is about the most beautiful harbor I've been in so far. And it's very dominated with sailboats. What an awesome home base this would be for a sailor with so many great destinations within a day sail. Maybe we'll do some realestate searches.

View the whole Photo Album

Bogus Journey... Linda sails home to CT

The plan today is to head to the CT shore and up the CT river to Essex CT. Linda is from these parts and the wheels were already turning for family and friend visits.

We booked a mooring at Brewer's Dauntless for $50, but as the forecast started to deteriorate, we tried to get a slip instead. Note: there are tornado warnings in CT for tonight. We figured it would be no fun to ride the dinghy back and forth in that. Brewer's slip price is $4.00/foot. Yikes. Oh well - maybe someone will buy us dinner!

We had a couple time constraints today:

• Slack current in the Race was not until 11:00
• The weather was forecast to turn to crap as the day went on

So we wanted to leave as early as possible from Montauk for Essex, CT but we also didn't want to get to the Race too early and have a nasty current opposing the wind. We ended up leaving at 08:00 and getting fuel.


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Leaving Lake Montauk

Looking back through the channel into Lake Montauk

Weather
Wind was up as soon as we left Montauk. We started out with a reefed main and jib. The waves were not so bad yet. Eventually we unfurled the full jib and were doing a nice 6kts on a broad reach.

Ooops... no chart
We realized that we never bought a chart book for all of Long Island Sound. Our current book only shows as far west as New London CT. So Linda bought a single chart for the sound at Star Island YC's marine store. They didn't have the whole book in stock. They mostly cater to power boaters in there so not all that surprising.

Linda studying the new chart

The Race!
We conquered the notorious Long island Sound Race. We arrived at it a little before slack with an opposing current of about .8kts. The wind was really up but just as we were about to cross it, the wind gusted very high. We took a quick break to re-reef the jib.

Back with our people
The further north (away from Montauk?) we got, the more sail boats we saw in the sound. In fact on our second day at Montauk YC, we were the only sail boat in the whole place.

Some crappy weather up ahead?

The Old Lyme RR bridge

Linda poses with her dear brother

Full photo album of this trip

... Bogus Journey - Back to NY

After Leslie trapped us for an extra day in Block Island, we finally made a run for it to Montauk Long Island while the seas were only 4-6 feet (previous day 7-8 feet).

Linda's new friend at the animal farm in Block Island

Biker Chick - moped rental on Block Island

Good look for me

Sunrise at Block Island Old Harbor.  getting ready to leave

South East point light Block Island

Linda reviewing the options at Montauk

Entering Lake Montauk

Short Stay
We had the shortest stay ever at a marina at Star Island Yacht club.  We got all settled in there and paid the bill.  Then we went for along walk around to the west lake side and back.  On the way back, we stopped into Montauk Yacht Club.   We noticed all the much nicer accommodations at this marina so Linda asked about the rates.  They were the same!   Nothing against Star island YC but this place is much more what we were looking for.  Star Island YC is much more for the sport fishing crowd.  We were the only sailboat in the place.   So anyway we decided to switch marinas and drove around to the other side of the island.  We're now being pampered at Montauk Yacht Club (at offseason rates).  It's awesome here

They have complimentary bikes.  Although there is a reason they are free.  If you want to bike here, rent from one of the real bike shops in town.  They have an hourly shuttle that runs you into town (3 miles away) for free.  We went in for a grocery run.

They also have complimentary Sunfish sailboats!   yeah!    I had a tough time getting started but eventually we both had a great ride.

The Neighbors at Montauk YC.  This unit is for sale: $30 mil

All fixed docks here.  Tide swing is only 2.5 ft