Thursday October 31st, 2019

The forecast was for headwinds getting stronger as the day progressed.  The first part of our travels would be heading down the wide open Alligator River, so we set off at first light to get the first part over with before the strong winds kicked in.  The plan worked reasonably well as we entered the Alligator River - Pungo River canal.  The winds, although still headwinds, were less in the canal and the water was flat, so we were able to motor at around 5 knots.  The canal has 2 dead straight sections, the first 7.5 nm long and the second 11 nm long – not the most interesting trip we’ve ever taken. 

When we exited the canal the fun started.  Winds were up to 25 knots on the nose, with large waves slowing the boat every so often to 3 knots.  Then the waves would calm a little and the boat would get going.  The more distance we made and the closer we got to the far shore, the flatter the seas became since the wind had less fetch to build up the waves.  Eventually we reached the turning point toward Belhaven, bore off and managed to unfurl a well reefed genoa.  Suddenly we were doing 6-7 knots.  What a difference the wind direction makes!

We had called a few marinas in Bellhaven, but those with laundry facilities were either full or hadn’t called back, so we docked at Dowry Creek Marina, 035° 31’.977N 076° 32’.160W, about 4nm before the town of Belhaven.  This turned out to be a great decision, very friendly people, very reasonable prices, free laundry, boaters lounge, free loaner car, etc. etc.

We borrowed the car and went into town for dinner.  Had an excellent meal at Spoon River.  There were several really scary looking kids in town!

All in all an excellent day, with great progress.

Ships log: 7208.2, Trip: 43.7, Trip Total: 548.7

Wednesday October 30th, 2019

We woke up early as usual and decided to set off since we had nothing better to do.  Started out motoring in light winds, then had a wonderful beam reach across Albermarle Sound.  It so much nicer sailing at 6-7 knots than motoring at 4.5-5 knots!  And, although there were a few crab pots to avoid, no weed.

The winds held until we reached the Alligator River Marina, 35° 54’.328N 076° 01’.711W.  We tied up at about 1pm, and looked at Google Maps to find out what was worth exploring.  Well there ain’t much. 

Teresa had planned to do laundry here, but the dockmaster pointed out that the water here had a lot of iron content, and might not be the best for laundry.  So we explored the marina – didn’t take long – had lunch and cleaned up, then did some planning for the next few days trips. 

And then before we knew it, it was 6pm and starting to get dark! 

Dinner was delicious – Pork Tenderloin, potatoes, broccoli and butternut squash.  Unusually, the squash was rather tasteless.  Oh well!

Ships Log: 7164.5, Trip: 26.5, Trip Total: 505.0

Tuesday October 29th, 2019

We continued on at first light, which is now about 7am, towards Elizabeth City.  The Dismal Swamp Canal was just as weed infested as yesterday.  We met some of the other boats we moored with last night at Elizabeth City, and apparently some of the power boats had troubles with their water cooling systems getting clogged and engines overheating.  Our outboards did not have that problem.  Our issue was that our props would frequently get fouled with weed and we needed to put the engines astern to clear it. 

If you’ve ever been in a harbour with large ships coming to and fro, you’ve probably noticed that every so often you’ll hear 3 very load blasts on a ships horn.  It’s annoying for landlubbers, but serves the very useful purpose of signaling “My engines are going astern” to other ships – it’s not at all obvious, but very important to know.  Anyway in almost 40 years of sailing I’ve never had a legitimate reason to use this sound signal – until today.  With several boats in convoy along the canal, I signaled the boats behind me that my engines were going astern with 3 blasts on the horn!

Just before Elizabeth City is a lifting bridge.  We had stopped to refuel, but by the time we got to the bridge, our companions were still waiting for it to open.  Apparently, the bridge opening mechanism was broken.  The frazzled bridge tender was getting shorter and shorter with his replies every time someone radioed him for a status.  It all worked out perfectly though, we tied up, had lunch, washed dishes and then were on our way.  We passed through and tied up on the town dock in Elizabeth City, 36° 17’.937N 076° 13’.095W. 

The towns people were very welcoming and friendly.  One even brought a flower for the 2 ladies on the dock.  Teresa still has hers on our saloon table 2 days later. 

Ships Log: 7138.1  Trip: Log fouled with weed.  Trip Total: 478.5

Monday October 28th, 2019

Much nicer weather today, just right for exploring the Great Dismal Swamp.  We set off at 8:30 and reached Deep Creek Lock at 10:30, ready for the scheduled lock opening at 11am.  The river was beautiful up to the lock and Ron joked with the lock keeper that his swamp was not very dismal.  The reply was that we wouldn’t see the swamp until we were through the lock.  The lock keeper was very entertaining.  Not only did he enlighten us on some of the history of the swamp, he also gave us some useful information for transiting the swamp and dealing with the weeds we were about to encounter.  And he finished up by showing us how to play a conch shell, complete with a demonstration song which was very impressive. Uh oh, I’m writing this as Teresa is cooking vegetables and she’s just told me that the propane has run out.  Excuse me while I change the gas bottles …… OK, where was I?  Oh yeah, the swamp.  We locked through with 5 other boats, and 4 of us continued down the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, which was full of Duck Weed (I think we call it Daphnia in England), and a few fallen branches and logs.  Not quite so pretty – well maybe, but in a different way. 

We rafted next to “MV Simple Life” at the Great Dismal Swamp State Park, 36° 30’.406N 076° 21’.360W, and were invited aboard for a drink along with the crews of the other 5 boats moored and rafted here.  We went for a walk in the park – not very exciting – and returned to Quinita for dinner – grilled chicken legs and veggies.  While we were cooking dinner the gas ran out.  Oh wait I’ve already covered that!

Ships log: 7129.3, Trip: 20.7, Trip Total: 543.5

Sunday October 27th, 2019

Strong headwinds, rain and thundershowers, why bother?

Saturday October 26th, 2019

Norfolk looks like a nice city, so we decided to have a lay day and explore.  The weather was great – sunny and warm all day.  Ron had a lazy start to the day while Teresa defrosted the refrigerator.  We unloaded our bikes and rode the Elizabeth River Trail.  It’s a really nice trail – flat, easy cycling and very varied throughout its 10.5 miles.  Our marina is almost at the eastern end so we rode to the end and were able to ride the whole trail. 

On the way back we loaded up on groceries, but we sadly did not have carrying capacity to replenish our beer and wine supplies. 

Teresa had found an Indian restaurant, ½ mile walk from the boat, and of course we couldn’t miss that opportunity.  On the way to the restaurant, downtown was buzzing, with Halloween revelers in their costumes and an outdoor charity concert for cancer research.  It seems weird, being on the boat during Halloween, and walking around in T shirts. 

Dinner was excellent, although service was pretty slow and not very good.  On the way back we passed a 7-Eleven store and popped in to see if they sold beer or wine.  Surprise, surprise – they did, so we stocked up and walked back to the boat.  Of course we over ordered on food, and brought back at least half for dinner tomorrow night.  A pretty good day!

Friday October 25th, 2019

The sea was like glass with no wind at all as we set off for Norfolk and the Intracoastal Waterway. 

The pelicans were out in full force again and we saw them fishing.  They flew along the surface of the water and when they spotted a tasty morsel, they dived in after it.  One took off and flew around Quinita giving a great view of these powerful birds in flight.  The glass like sea made it easy to spot dolphins and we were also entertained by them. 

We docked in Waterside Marina in Norfolk, VA, 36° 50’.622N 076° 17’.525W, and found ourselves right downtown.  Went for a walk to the library to print some documents we needed.  Libraries are so useful, and excellent value for so little money. 

We returned to Quinita as the Friday night local boats started turning up.  Pretty soon it was dark, and we dined aboard on Spare ribs and potato salad.  The sunset was beautiful.

Ships Log: 7108.6, Trip: 33.3nm, Trip Total: 522.8

Thursday 24th October, 2019

We set off with headwinds and a very lumpy sea in the shallow water outside Deltaville, which promised a not very pleasant trip to Cape Charles.  However, after an hour or so, the winds decreased to 5-7 knots, the water was deeper and the combination of the 2 flattened the seas.  Not enough wind to sail the distance we needed, so we motored with a fair tide at speeds over the ground up to 7 knots.  Thank goodness for fair tides. 

On the way in we saw several pelicans sitting of the water. 

We docked at 4:20, 37° 15’.867N 076° 01’.093W, tidied up the boat and went for a walk ashore. 

On our return, the lady and gent on the boat next to us were fishing off the dock with their radio playing country music.  She told me that she fishes for “fahv” songs and if she hasn’t caught anything she gives up.  I guess we’re in the south now!

Ships Log: 7075.4nm, Trip: 22.0, Trip Total: 489.5

Wednesday 23rd October, 2019

We had N/NW winds today – perfect.  Based on the forecast we had planned a longish day to Reedville – about 40 miles away.  So we set off at first light, not knowing how fast we’d be moving.  

As it happens, we got to the turnoff for Reedville about 12:30pm and decided to take advantage of the winds and head for Deltaville, 37° 33’.592N 076° 18’.796W, another 16 nm further on.  This would give us a couple of easy days to Norfolk and the start of the NC section of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). 

The winds died at the end of the trip, but we still made great progress and docked around 4:30pm.  This morning, we started out with lots of layers to insulate against the N winds and gradually shed them throughout the day.  By the time we docked we were down to T shirts, on a bright sunny and very warm day. 

The sun has now gone down and taken the heat with it!

Ships log: 7053.4, Trip 46.7, Trip Total: 467.5

Tuesday 22nd October, 2019

Forecast: SE 15-20, gusting to 30knots with rain. 

Our Route: SE

Decision: Back to bed!

Monday 21st October, 2019

N and NE winds took us nicely to the Solomon Islands, 38° 19’.825N 076° 27’.560W.  It was a little cold when sailing, but the auto helm is now working much better– perhaps as a result of lubricating the steering cables and fixing the rudder – so we didn’t have to spend all the time on the wheel.  We arrived at Zahniser’s Yaching Center around 2:30pm, picked up a mooring and ripped off all our cold weather gear in a beautiful warm and windless cove. 

This marina offers a grocery store shuttle, which we took advantage of and also loaner bikes, which we took advantage of.  The bike ride was very pretty – we visited the tip of a small peninsular at Janes Point, Sandy Point – the tip of Soloman’s Island and then took a ride north of town.  The 2 peninsulas were both very pretty. 

Back on the boat, we cleaned up a little, then dined aboard on meatloaf, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, with banana surprise à la Teresa for desert. 

Ships Log: 7006.7, Trip: 28.9, Trip Total: 420.8

Sunday 20th October, 2019

Cold, heavy rain and 35 knot gusts in the forecast.  We’re staying put for the day.

Saturday 19th October, 2019

We woke early as we usually do these days, probably because we go to bed to read at 8:30-ish and then fall asleep at 9. (Our daytimes are, of course, driven by daylight hours which are getting shorter and shorter.)  Anyway, we had planned to leave at 10am, but since we were up and about with not much to do, we set off just after 9am. 

Winds were light again – 3-7 knots from the port bow and we motored most of the way and motor-sailed towards the end.  We had planned to anchor in the bay, but 25 knots winds from the NE are in the forecast, which would have made that anchorage not much fun.   So we elected to take a slip at Herring Harbour South, 38’ 43’.582N 076° 32’.549W, arriving at about 3pm.  We filled up with fuel and docked about 3:30pm. 

It’s a huge, luxury resort, but their off season rates are pretty cheap so we’re happy to be here.  We did laundry, head maintenance, etc. and then settled in for the night with full fuel tanks, unlimited water and an electric heater if we need it.  I doubt we will, but it was pretty cold last night. 

The good news is that the rudder and dinghy repairs are holding up, and Ron’s laptop hasn’t crashed yet.  (Did I really say that!)

The even better news is that I just read Boris lost his vote and sent a letter to the EU asking for an extension.  Let’s hope the EU do the right thing and grant it!

Ships Log: 6977.9, Trip: 28.7, Trip Total: 391.9

Friday 18th October, 2019

The winds and waves were much calmer today and we managed to fix the rudder (hopefully).  We then went ashore, Ron hauled the dinghy out and fixed the davit mount (hopefully), and then followed Teresa to the grocery (and beer and wine) store.  We’re planning to anchor in Herring cove tomorrow, so decided to eat ashore this evening at Pearl on Main.  It’s really nice having marina bikes to borrow.  Dinner at Pearl on Main was very nice.  Thanks you Noel and Annette for the recommendation. 

Thursday 17th October, 2019

Winds were howling all day and even in the harbor we recorded 37 knots. Not exactly a day for sailing so we stayed put.  We had a couple of jobs to work on.  Quinita has lifting rudders and when fully up we only draw 18”.  The lifting mechanism includes a fail-safe designed to break and allow the rudders to lift if they hit anything.  Pretty sure we didn’t hit anything, but one of them broke and allowed the rudder to lift yesterday in the big winds.  This makes the steering really heavy- not what you want in a storm.  And one of the davit mounts on our dinghy broke off yesterday too.  But with the wind howling, it wasn’t a day for repairs either. 

So we settled down to do some admin on our laptops.  Then Ron’s laptop crashed 3 times in succession.  So the plan changed to moving critical software (like navigation software) and email to Teresa’s machine in case Ron’s dies permanently. 

We did brave a ride ashore in the dinghy, borrowed a couple of marina bikes and went shopping for groceries and adhesive to fix the rudders tomorrow.  The ride to the shops was easy – a dead straight road with the 30 knot wind blowing right down it.  The ride home was not quite so pleasant.  And the dinghy ride back to Quinita was another wild and wet one. 

Wednesday 16th October, 2019

We had another longish day in mind today – to Rock Hall Harbor, where our friends Noel & Annette (on Amazing Grace) were spending a few days before moving on.  Winds were forecast from the south, with high gusts later in the day.  But we needed gas, so tied up to the gas dock at 7:45, waiting for it to open at 8am.  By 8:30 we had found someone to operate the pumps and set off. 

Winds were light, and from the SE which put us on a reach but not quite strong enough to achieve the 5 knots we wanted to get us into harbor before the big winds hit.  So we ran the engine, just enough to keep our speed above 5 knots.  The plan didn’t quite work however.  Before we reached the harbor, a squall hit, and we had 30 knots on the nose.  The winds came on very suddenly, and we found ourselves furling the genoa and reefing the main in 25 – 30 knot winds.  So we had an hour or so of motor sailing with just the double reefed main in big seas.  Actually the winds didn’t last that long, but the waves did which made for an uncomfortable couple of hours.  Oh well, all’s well that ends well and we picked up a mooring next to Amazing Grace, 39 08.815N 076 15.505W at 3pm. 

Noel and Annette invited us to dinner on their boat.  The dinghy ride there, fortunately not very long, was wild as the winds were starting to pick up- well at least it was downwind.  Their boat – a 44’ Antares catamaran - is beautiful.  With full sized showers, water-maker, washing machine, etc. etc.  We’re not jealous – we can get under much lower bridges than they can!  By the way, dinner was delicious and if you’re reading this Noel and Anette, thanks very much.  And you may have guessed, the dinghy ride back to Quinita, upwind, was even wilder. 

Ships Log: 6949.2, Trip: 35.7, Trip Total: 363.2

Tuesday 15th October, 2019

11 or 12 years ago when we were considering buying a Tomcat, we were put in touch with an owner named Bob Krchnavek, (pronounced Krchnavek).  We were living in Boston at the time and gave him a call on a Saturday morning to see when he might be available for a phone call.  By chance, at that very moment, he was sitting in a café in Cambridge (about a 30 minute walk away), waiting for his wife to complete some business.  He pointed out that he was bored, so we walked right over and talked Tomcat’s for an hour or so. 

We knew his boat was in the Chesapeake and emailed him to see if a meet up was possible.  We agreed to anchor in Chesapeake City, where he could meet us this evening.  Chesapeake City wasn’t quite as far as we would have liked to sail today, but what the heck. 

We had a great close reach up the Delaware Bay followed by a beat in light airs with a fair tide to the start of the Chesapeake and Delaware canal.  Sailboats are obliged to motor through the canal – there are a lot of commercial ships and they don’t appreciate sailboats tacking back and forth in front of them!  So we dropped our sails and motored through with a 2-3 knot tide, reaching 7 knots at times. 

In fact, we were moving so fast is seemed a shame to stop, particularly when we looked at the tides and winds tomorrow.  So we called Bob who, as a sailor, immediately agreed that we should cancel the get together and carry on to the Sassafras River, where his boat his moored.  So we did.  Sorry we did not get to hook up Bob, but you were right – the Sassafras River was very nice.  We made great progress today and had a welcome shower and very nice meal at the Fish Whistle at the Granary. 

We picked up a mooring at 4:58, 39 21’.674N, 075 53’.282W, having logged 45.4 miles.  A great day and we’re now on our way down the Chesapeake. 

Ships Log: 6913.3, Trip: 45.4, Trip Total: 327.5

Monday 14th October, 2019

Tides are important for small boats – when you’re only doing 5 knots it’s much better to have a 2 knot tide with you (making a total speed of 7 knots), than against you (making a total speed of 3 knots).  So we left at first light to take advantage of the tides up the Delaware Bay.  And we had headwinds which resulted in a wind over tide situation and a pretty choppy sea.  The winds were too light to push the boat through the wave and we needed to keep our speed up to avoid the foul tides that we coming later in the day.  So we started out beating with the motor’s assistance in a choppy sea, which is a little frustrating since as soon as the boat got some speed, a wave would hit and slow us back down again.  And we’re getting a little fed up with having the engines on all the time. 

Around 10am the winds pretty much died, so we dropped the sails and were then able to motor the course, rather than tacking.  We reached our destination Cohassey Cove, 39° 20.685N 075° 20.857W, just in time to catch a little foul tide – pretty much what we expected. 

The sun was shining by now and we dropped the hook around 2pm.  Now we get an afternoon off for a change!

Teresa enjoyed a yoga and pilates session on the trampoline while Ron checked tides and route for tomorrow.  And we finished the day with some admin on the computer and some reading.  The latter was more relaxing!

Ships Log: 6867.9, Trip 31.6, Trip Total: 282.1

Sunday 13th October, 2019

Winds were light and from behind again as we headed to Cape May, the southern tip of New Jersey.  So we were motor sailing once again. 

We decided to try to fix the impellor under way.  This requires removal of the galley floorboard which we usually do with 2 people.  Necessity being the mother of invention, we found a way to lift the floorboard single handed, which gives access to the impellor.  The impellor can be removed for cleaning, a blanking plug is inserted before the boats sinks, and the impellor can then be cleaned and replaced.  It works!  Yippee.  So the couple of pints of seawater in the bilge were mopped up and floorboard replaced. 

And then the impellor stopped working again.  So the operation was repeated, and this time the cleanup and floorboard replacement was not done until the log had been working for an hour or so.  This time the fix seems permanent, at least the log lasted all day.

We tied up at Canyon Club Resort Marina, 38° 57.215N 074° 54.059W, just before the Cape May canal which will tomorrow take us to the Delaware Bay.  

We dined on rotisserie chicken, rice and veg, before an early night in readiness for an early start tomorrow.

Ships Log: 6836.3, Trip, 32.3, Trip Total: 250.5

Saturday 12th October 2019

Finally the storm and gale warnings have ceased, and we have Northerly 15-20 knots with gusts up to 25 decreasing later in the forecast.  With those winds behind us, we’re ok to set off, however the forecast also included waves of 6-9’!  We figured we’d go and take a look.  The first tricky part would be rounding the tip of Sandy Hook.  So we left at 7am to take a look.

Everything looked fine and it turned out that the 9 foot waves actually formed a big swell from the east, and was not uncomfortable at all.  Our destination was Shark River, some 25 nm away, although we had also discussed pressing on to Atlantic City, 81 nm away. 

Winds were light, from astern, and with the engine’s help we were doing 6 – 7 knots to Shark River.  Conditions were pleasant enough and so we decided to take advantage of the uncharacteristic northerly wind and press on.  We arrive at about 8pm and docked in the dark at 8:20pm.  Although a pretty boring day, with engines on for 13 hours, were pleased to have broken the back of the trip down the New Jersey coast.  To break up the boredom a little, a few dolphins came to entertain us.

We docked at the Golden Nugget Farley State Marina, 39° 22.667N 074° 25.147W, and went for a walk to find pizza.  The dock had more seagull poop and shells on it than you could shake a stick at.  Uugh!

We found pizza with Mrs. Google’s help and walked 1.7 miles thereto.  A nice change after being cooped up on the boat all day.  Atlantic City is very glitzy with casinos all over the place.  Our pizza place was in a less salubrious part of town.  This was interesting to see, but we didn’t get to see much of the glitzy part.   Oh well, perhaps another day!

Our boat has an impellor mounted in the through hull fitting.  This little paddle wheel revolves and records the boat speed through the water.  Unfortunately, after being inactive for 5 days, some marine creatures had decided the impellor was a nice place to stay.  So we were without boat speed all day. 

Ships Log: 6808.3, Trip, 81.1, Trip Total: 218.2

Monday, 7th October, 2019

The New Jersey coast is likely to be the toughest part of this trip.  It’s 120 nm of sandy beaches with limited harbors.  And the harbors that do exist often have warnings about entering with strong winds and tides, which could restrict safe times to enter.  And the prevailing winds are from the SW, so we could expect to be beating, which is our slowest point of sail. 

So we were initially happy to see Northerly winds in the forecast for the next several days, which would mean we could manage longer distances and reduce the total time to transit the coast.  

However, the forecasts are now calling for NE winds up to 40 knots, with waves up to 14ft!  That’s a little too much “good” news!  We’re staying put here for a few days. 

The new “good” news is that the forecast is calling for the winds and seas to tail off, but still remain N or NW or even W by Sunday and Monday so we still may have the opportunity of making a fast passage along this stretch of coast.  Of course forecast’s change, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on them this week.  Incidentally W winds would be perfect.  It would put us on a reach, a sailboat’s fastest point of sail, and the winds would be coming off the land, so the seas would not have time to build up and would be relatively flat, what us sailors call a weather shore. 

We’re on a mooring inside a well-protected breakwater, with a launch service to take us to shore in the strong winds, our wind generator is providing us will all the electricity we need, and Atlantic Highlands has plenty of amenities – restaurants, pubs, grocery, laundromat and even a casino – so we’re just going to enjoy a few days off and may even get rich!

We took our bikes ashore and went for a ride along the Bay Shore trail before stocking up on groceries. 

Amazing Grace arrived here a day before us, and we met up with Noel yesterday.  Noel and Annette live here and graciously offered to help with transportation or anything else we need.  They are also heading south and waiting for more reasonable winds.  I suspect another meal out with them is in our future.

Sunday, 6th October, 2019

Teresa woke at 5:30am for a pee, Ron checked the tides and forecast again and decided that 5:32 would be a good time to leave before the 30 knot gusts arrived.  So Teresa didn’t get to go back to bed.  (Sorry Teresa!).  We set off in the dark and motor sailed out of the East River.  After about an hour, dawn broke and we had a not unpleasant motor sail to Atlantic Highlands, 40° 25.203N 074° 01.820W.  We filled up with fuel and water and had a delicious Ham ‘n Eggs brunch, happy to be in harbour while the winds steadily increased all afternoon. 

Ships Log: 6808.3, Trip, 16.3, Trip Total: 132.1.

Saturday, 5th October, 2019

On the way through the East River towards Manhattan is a stretch knows as Hell Gate.  It was originally named hellegat which is Dutch for “bright passage”.  However, currents run so strongly here that its now called Hell Gate.  So we left at first light, (about 6:30am) to ensure that we’d get through with a fair tide.  And with following winds, everything worked out well.  At the end of Hell Gate, Amazing Grace caught us up and proceeded to Atlantic Highlands to wait for the forecast Northerly winds, as we had discussed the previous night.  We continued a mile up the Hudson river and picked up a mooring at Pier25 Marina, 40° 43.629N, 074° 00.839W, right on West Street in downtown NY city. 

After a walk along West Avenue to Battery Park we returned to Quinita and prepared some appetizers for our guests, Marcel and Angela, who were shortly to arrive via the launch service.  We met Marcel in Amsterdam back in 1990 or thereabouts and hadn’t seen him for maybe 15 years.  And this was the first time we had met his lovely wife Angela.  Marcel works for Spotify and obtained some passes for us to visit his high rise office.  Spotify have the top 15 or so floors of the building and Marcel took us to the 72^nd floor.  On a beautiful sunny day the views were spectacular. 

They then took us to Le District, where we had dinner.  Le District is a very, very upmarket version of the eating places often found in shopping malls, serving gourmet French food, wine, beer, etc.  Very nice!

Back on the boat, we checked the forecast for tomorrow’s trip to Atlantic Highlands, (due south of us).  The forecast was for S 10-15 gusting to 30 in the afternoon.  So an early start would be required. 

Ships Log: 6,792.0, Trip, 15.7, Trip Total: 115.8

Thursday, 3rd October, 2019

Yippee, we had E/NE winds today so we decided to go for a longer trip to Manhasset Bay, 40° 49.747N 073° 42.714W, 37nm away.  We left at 7:30 and arrived at 2:30pm, having had mostly 15-20 knot winds behind us all day.  Funny, when you’re beating and the winds are up to 20, you wish for them to decrease to 15, but when you’re running and they’re at 15 you wish for them to increase to 20!  The seas were pretty big again, but they’re much nicer to handle when you’re not bashing into them. 

The only downside of the trip was that it was cold (50°F) and rainy and with the tailwind, we weren’t protected from the weather as we usually are.  We arrived cold and a little damp, but pretty soon had some hot soup and crackers for lunch followed by hot chocolate. 

We’re now 1 day ahead of our provisional plan.  However, we’ll use that day up with a day off tomorrow, because (a) there’s a small craft advisory with 30knt winds in the forecast and (b) we need to arrive at our next destination (Manhattan) on Saturday so that we can meet up with our long lost friend from Amsterdam, Marcel. 

There was another catamaran, Amazing Grace next to our mooring in Westerly owned by Noel and Annette.  They headed south towards Norfolk, VA the day before we left Westerly, and we caught up with them here.  We had an enjoyable dinner with them ashore at Le P’tite Framboise and another aboard Quinita on Friday evening. 

Ships Log: 6,776.3, Trip: 32.4, Trip Total: 100.1

Wednesday 2nd October, 2019

A pleasant day’s sail today, at least compared with yesterday.  The forecast was for westerly winds, and so we opted to head for Mt. Sinai Harbor on the New York side of long Island Sound.  Although further than we had planned, with westerly winds we had a hope of fetching our destination on one tack – a big advantage over tacking back and forth.  Of course, it didn’t quite work out like that.  We had one long leg that took us to the NY coast, and then we had to start tacking.  At least we were only being bounced around a little by the infamous Long Island Sound chop.  Towards the end of the trip, the winds dropped and we ended up motor sailing.  Then, 2 ½ miles from our destination, the wind suddenly died, as much as to say, “you don’t need me anymore”.  Well another hour’s worth would have been nice. 

We picked up a mooring in this very crowded harbor, 40 57.74N 073 02.40W, and cleaned up the boat, just before a shower which provided a very nice rainbow. 

We took the launch ashore for a walk on the beach.  At 6pm in October there were still several people on the beach – mostly swimmers about to pack up.  Not too surprising since we noticed on our boat instruments that the water temperature was 80°F and it was a very warm and humid day. 

We returned to the boat and Teresa served Fettuccini Alfredo with roasted chicken breast.  Very impressive - oh wait, it was warmed up leftovers from a meal out before we left Westerly.  Still very scrumptious though!

Ships Log: 6,743.9, Trip: 35.0, Trip Total: 67.7

Tuesday 1st October, 2019

We’ve cut the chord at last and are on our travels again – towards Wilmington, NC. 

We were beaten up a little today.  We were hard on the wind all day with seas getting bigger and bigger and winds starting at 15 knots and getting stronger and stronger.  We should have reefed earlier and ended up putting in 2 reefs in 30 knot winds.  As a result of us reefing, the winds then calmed down, and we ended up in slop with big waves and not enough wind to power through, so the last 3 miles were not very pleasant motoring. 

But we made it to Westbrook and Safe Harbor Pilots Point Marina, 41 16.27N 72 28.23W.  Very nice and so it should be at that price!  Anyway it makes a change being on a dock with unlimited electricity and water and easy access to shore facilities. 

We took a little bike ride into town to buy milk and explore.  It sure is nice not having to lug the bikes ashore in the dinghy. 

7pm, dark already but we have a pretty sliver of a moon to look at.

Ships Log: 6,708.9, Trip Total: 32.7