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3AM - Bless him, Mark is up and getting ready to head out.  I ran a quick note with some $$ up to the office drop box at Crocker’s, and then Mark and I cast off, letting Bri sleep for a bit.  I have discovered that, along with the no sea sickness gene I received from my Mom, I have also gotten the gift of being able to sleep well while in motion - any motion.  So that said, and coffee steeping, Mark and I called the bridge asking them to open in about 5, and after a friendly exchange with the bridge operator, and his well wishes for a safe journey, we headed out of New London, and off down the Sound.  I stayed awake with Mark (who has done a remarkable amount of the driving on this trip so far) for a couple of hours, at which point he sent me below to go back to sleep.  Shortly thereafter Brian got up, and joined Mark.

For me this next part of the trip is well, asleep.  But suffice to say, when I woke up, Brian was at the helm, and we were passing through by Guilford CT (I thought of you E as we were passing through this area, and waved hi to your folks).  I relieved Brian at the helm for a while, and Bri made us all some quesadillas.  After a few slow and uneventful hours, Mark came up and relieved me, and I went back downstairs for more napping.  I have decided that napping as a rule is an underrated activity, because I’ll tell you, getting in a nap makes all the difference in the world! (you were right Mom!)  I slept until about 8ish, at which point I got up to relieve Brian, but the boys were hungry, so instead I whipped up some delicious dinner (courtesy of Sandi) in the form of pasta Bolognese!  I’ll tell you, hot food in a bowl is a great thing, a really great thing.  We ate, and continued our way down the Sound, coming up to Little Bay just outside of the Throgs Neck Bridge, where we put in at anchor for the night.  After review of the weather information, and some discussion about
tidal patterns, we decided that it would be best to get up in the AM at about 7 and head through Hell Gate during the morning slack tide.

We tucked in for the night, and set our alarms for 8 hours later… a much needed full night’s sleep.

So after slogging along on the outside of Long Island, with wind direction not improving, and with the waves coming at us, slowing our speed dramatically, at some points to as little as .4kts, we reviewed the latest weather and wind reports, and made the decision to turn around and head the 36 miles back to Montauk, where there is a sheltered harbor where we could wait out the upcoming gale force winds.  We arrived at about midnight, and set anchor. After some discussion about our next day’s approach, we all tucked in for the night and awakened in the morning to howling winds.
The decision was made that we would head across the sound into the harbor of New London (for those of you who know me (Lynne), a little bit of old home week in the old stomping grounds!) A couple of phone calls later, to my folks, and to our long time family friends who live in Noank - we had a rough plan in place.  At Jon W’s recommendation, we put in a call to Crocker Boatyard for a berth for the evening, and using the internet connection we’d secured in Montauk, put together a list of items to purchase at boater’s nirvana - Defender.  Amongst the items on the list, a new port navigation light, as ours had been ripped off by one of the waves on our way down through Buzzards Bay, a new bosun’s chair, and a few other odds and ends that we had decided we should have on our trip.  We set out at about noon to cross the Sound and come through the Race with the appropriate tidal shift, and did a combination of sailing and a little motor sailing to get us to our goal on target.  We came through the Race at about 3:15, plenty of time to make it to Crocker’s and to meet up with Jon for a trip to Defender to pick up our items and perhaps a few other things.

Coming into New London harbor, at 4:02 - right on schedule, we got a little visit… from our friends in the USCG, who boarded us to conduct an inspection. Whee. Well, for the most part, all was in order… save the flares, which were all between 6-13 months out of date.
To say the inspection was thorough is an understatement, but it caused a pretty major delay to our schedule.  I called Jon on his cell to ask him the favor of running to Defender for us to pick up our supplies (in front of the Coasties) and then called Jon back to ask him if he could go BACK to Defender to pick us up flares, as ours weren’t in compliance. Whoof.  Thank goodness for Jon, who graciously turned around and went all the way back to Defender, and picked us up a new set of flares… and I reported to the Coast Guard gentlemen, that our brand new flares from Defender would be awaiting us at the dock at Crocker’s as soon as we arrived (hint hint, we’d like to get back underway! since it was now 5:39) Finally the Coast Guard provided us with our boarding slip (and gave us a pass since our flares were being brought to us), and let us get back underway.  By this point, we were anxious to get ashore, meet up with Jon, and get settled in for the evening.  However, our adventure was not over by a long shot. We called the bridge and were given admittance into Shaws Cove, only to discover that Crocker’s had closed for the evening, and we were in total lock down! Jon was able to get into the boatyard due to the assistance of one of the other boat owners who happened to be entering the boatyard, and showed up triumphant with all of our supplies from Defender, including a new set of flares.  After showing Jon the boat, the decision was made that I’d go back with Jon to their house to visit, shower and do some laundry/dry out some of our wet stuff, and the boys would remain behind to repair the port light, and a few other items on the fix-it list. All well and good, right? The woman who’d let Jon in told him “oh yeah, to get back out just hit the button over there and the fence will open”.  Button? what button?

We conducted a THOROUGH search of the pre-indicated area… no button…which left Jon and I throwing the laundry over the fence, and then scaling the fence to get out!  what a hoot! Jon and I went back to their house, where we had a yummy Cove’s chowder dinner and some cheese, crackers and BEER! and had a lovely evening catching up (in between my trips to the washer and dryer ).  There is something so wonderful about catching up with long time friends, and it was so nice to have a little break in a home away from home.  After dinner, and laundry and a shower (yay!!) Jon and I prepared to head back over to the boat, with a huge bag of clean warm clothes and bedding, and a really nice goodie bag from Jon!! (and Judy - who I was sorry not to get to see!) Along the way, a little stop for a treat for the boys, 12″ steak bomb grinders from Mystic Pizza!  After picking up the grinders, we took a quick detour, down Orchard Lane (where I lived when I was a little girl) and saw Rob’s house, and the house I grew up in, and then on our way back to the boat with the truck full of goodies.  We got back to the boatyard and called the boys to come up with the cart.  Jon and I heaved the bag of laundry over the fence, and passed through the goodie bags.  A handshake through the fence for the guys, and a big hug from me to Jon, and I went back over the fence into the boatyard.
While the boys chowed down on their subs, we formulated a plan to leave in the wee hours of the morning - 3AM so that we would hopefully arrive at Hell Gate in NY in time to pass through… and then tucked into bed for a few hours of sleep before we headed out.

So after chilling out in Sandwich while the guys worked on the engine, we tucked in for the night docksides.  We’d gone back and forth about whether we would get up around 3AM to catch the next tide through the Canal, or whether we’d sit it out until noonish today to cut through.  At 3 I heard Mark get up (and the steady downpour of the rainstorm outside), and rolled over to catch a little more shut eye. zzzzzzzzzz… at 4 AM, I heard Mark get up again, and the crackle of the VHF coming on-line…and… no rain!

I groggily rolled/climbed out of the nest of blankets, climbed into my foulies and boots, and stumbled out into the salon, hoping that Bri would be able to catch a little more sleep to kick this cold.  Aa cheerful Mark was setting about firing up the engine for departure.  As anyone who knows me well knows, I don’t believe that the words “good” and “morning” should ever be used in the same sentence, but I wiped the sleep from my eyes and bundled up a couple more layers before stepping outside to help Mark cast off.  We slipped easily out into the Canal, and began the process of motoring along.  Very peaceful and calm.

We fired up the stove and made some coffee (I mean rocket fuel!  I need to get the hang of this new french press!) and Mark and I continued on under the Sagamore and the Bourne bridges… making decent time with the motor.  We came out into the mouth of Buzzards Bay just as the sun was starting to peek through the clouds, and when Brian emerged from down below, I went back downstairs to make more coffee (less rocket fuel like this time)  and left the boys in charge while I hunkered down for a little nap…

I awoke about an hour and a half later to discover that the guys were motor sailing along, and in fact about to turn off the engine and just sail.  However, as well as making the decision to capitalize on the 24kn breeze, Mark was checking into our upcoming weather… and the discussion began about whether we should think about hunkering down to weather out the SW gale that was approaching.  While this discussion was underway, I made our first hot meal here on the boat… scrambled eggs with ham and cheese wrapped in a tortilla for easy eating!  Very exciting!Knowing that Buzzards Bay can get ugly when the wind is from the SW, and with predictions that the wind would be increasing to gusts of up to 40kn per hour, we took a look at our charts, had a brief discussion, and decided that our best course of action was to make the call into NEFF and to my Dad about getting a berth in the sheltered harbor of New Bedford.  A couple of calls later, and about an hour and a half of sailing under our belts, we entered into New Bedford harbor, and were given an ample berth at the State Pier where the Schooner Ernestina is usually docked.  We were greeted by Paul from NEFF and Rick from the State Pier, who got us settled in at the dock a hot shower, and a warm welcome. Tonight we sleep here and see what tomorrow brings us as far as our weather and wind goes, and decide from there when we’ll head off again to continue our way South.

Now, after some more naps, and calls to sort out a few odds and ends, we’re working on our dinner decision…

So we set off yesterday afternoon, amidst a flurry of loading up, and lots of good wishes from family and friends, who stood on the docks and waved farewell to us. About 45 minutes into the trip (under motor) we encountered a hiccup. It seems that in the thrashing that we took on Tuesday, something worked itself loose in the coolant system for the engine, and uh oh, we had to shut the engine down while we tried to sort the issue out. On the good news front… an excuse to sail! so up went all three of our sails, and we were off finally underway in the way that a sailboat should be!! A beautiful and quiet sight!
We made good time in a nice beam reach almost all the way down to the Cape Cod bay. Mark took the first shift at the helm, relieved by Lynne, while Brian worked on sorting out the engine issue. As we came into the bay, we ultimately made the decision that the engine repair was going to require more than a quick fix, we needed to replace two bolts in the coolant system and that we really should minimize running our engine (which is required to go through the CC Canal). That said, we decided to hunker down for the evening off of Sconnset Beach (I’ll double check the name in the AM), and dropped our shiny new Bruce anchor. We all kicked back and tucked in for the night for some shut eye, snug as snug can be with all of our blankets!
We woke up in the AM to sleet (yuck) and sludge on the deck. After a little more fiddling with the engine, we decided that we had to put in and get some parts. A phone call to my good friend (and our savior) Bill H. who was willing to drive down from his place in Kingston and shuttle us around to the hardware store and all the way to Hyannis to the marine supply store. The stop and quick meal at IHOP doesn’t even begin to repay Bill for all of his help. (I owe you one!)
Upon our (very damp) return to the boat, and speedy fairwells and hearty thanks to Bill at docksides since it was pouring buckets, Mark went to work on repairing the coolant system, while Brian worked on the computer system and the VHF and I worked on continuing to find homes for all of the stuff we’d brought aboard in the last 36 hours.
Success! Mark has fixed the engine system! and it’s now running smoothly and without leaks! Brian’s gotten rid of the kink in the VHF, and I’ve managed to seal up the leaky window (thanks to Jay’s Silly Putty solution) and managed to stow away much more of our posessions.
Now it’s off to bed for the night, as we’ll likely be leaving around noon tomorrow with the tide, however Mark is going to get up and check to see how the weather and wind is looking for the potential window at 2 AM tonight…. to try to make some time out of this cold weather.
More in the next few days, when we have access again to update.

Leaving the house, departing in a few hours.

We’ll miss you all very much!!!!

Well, we haven’t yet departed.   We lost some time to the last storm… a day of work lost, and some extra effort to repair [minor] damage.

It looks like we want to leave by 2pm on Saturday, to hit 11pm tide change for Cape Cod Canal.

Our weather window isn’t as good as we’d like, but we’re also feeling like we better leave soon.  Sunday/Monday is looking to be pretty rough, and we may be going through long island sound for protection.  We may have to wait up for good weather to make the passage south from New York.

So we got a call from the marina yesterday afternoon reporting that they had had to go out and resecure our boat, and that we’d lost a few items, our fenders, our anchor had gone overboard… They were able to retrieve our anchor (since it was on the windlass and attached to 200′ of chain, don’t know if it just ended up on the dock or what had gone awry there), and they tied the boat down more securely.
The good news is, although we sustained some damage (which I have yet to see but Brian reported isn’t too bad) to the bow, most of our damage seems to have been cosmetic. We do in fact still have our fenders, which were on the Starboard side only, and miraculously, it appears that the Portabote seats also remained on board! Despite having tied them down when we left on Monday, I wasn’t confident that my quick tie down job would have been sufficient to have kept them on the boat. Also in the good news category, the solar panels and wind generator are all still upright, intact and seem to have survived this toss about just fine.
Brian says that the inside is totally tossed about, but that’s to be expected. So clean up is on my agenda today, which it kind of was anyway. I think we’ll be in a push to try to make it out of here for tomorrow, but I think that Friday at noon is absolutely doable! Just have to keep an eye on the weather window.
Off to the boat for me now that Brian’s reported there’s nothing he needs me to bring or pick up on my way. More updates later after a full on visual and assessment.

We’re setting sail around noontime on Thursday, with good confidence at this point.

We’ll be attempting to hit the 9:30pm tide change Thursday night for the Cape Cod Canal, and will be cruising along the outside of Long Island into Friday and Saturday while trying to make fastest time to Delaware Bay or better, depending on how we’re holding up.

We’ve got what appears to be a great weather window, too [after the current storm subsides]!  Docile weather for the length of the forecasts, through the weekend at least.

Edit:  Tuesday 2pm.     Current weather seems to be upsetting our plans.  We may be home for Thanksgiving afterall.  The boat is getting pounded right now, so much that we’re unable to go out on the dock to get to her.   Will have to assess damage tomorrow and see where it leaves us.

Gotta love New England.   A place where you can ice-skate outdoors and sail in the same day!   [well, only if you like sailing at below freezing temperatures :)]

We’re in the home stretch, hoping to depart real soon.

Well, we had hoped to leave today (Tues Nov 18), but we’re not quite ready.   Seems we have 1-2 days of work/repairs and 1-2 days of packing/preparation..  I’d hope to be off by Friday, maybe sooner.

Lynne had some amazing luck yesterday, something we’re very excited about.   We’ve really disliked the condition of the portlight/windows on the boat, but have been reluctant to put too much money/time into fixing them.   A number of windows are translucent at best and you cannot see anything through them.  UV light has damaged the plastic windows over the nearly 30 years of the boat’s life.  A couple of them leak pretty bad, too.  New windows can be something like 150$ each.

Yesterday, Lynne stopped by West Marine in Danvers and saw 2 windows on the shelves.  The price was not marked.  The nice fellow at the store decided that the 2 windows ought to be worth about 30$ each.   Lynne managed to hold back the excitement and keep her composure until paying for the items and leaving the store.   I got a VERY excited phone call a moment after she left the store!

Mostly things take longer and cost more than expected.  It’s great to have a happy surprise every once in a while when things are the other way around.