Day 1
Departure Point / Start Time Newport (N41 28.54’, W71 20.20’) 10AM
Arrival Point / End Time Pt. Judith (N41 21.88’, W71 31.01’) 1:15 PM
Distance Traveled / Engine 12 NM .5 h
We left Ft. Adams on the 1st of October after a long and demoralizing wait for the inflatable. A bit too eager to go, I decided to leave despite the small craft advisory. There’s nothing like some bad weather to shake off the cobwebs, stress test the new rig components and remind us that we should fear and respect the mother sea. Sailed out under 2nd reef on the main and near fully furled up heavy genoa. We were doing 5.5kts as we passed by Castle Hill where we wed just 3 months ago. Seemed like so long ago. Summer went by very fast. Sure enough, as we reached Beaver tail, it got rough in a hurry. Everything held up very well, even the wind generator was cranking hard. Occasional swell would break over the bow but the partially finished dodger was already doing a great job. We were only wet due to rain. We were doing 7+ kts and it looked like the plan to sail all the way to Shelter Island would work. Unfortunately a mistake on my part made the life a bit miserable. I let too much painter (dinghy line) out and one of the breaking waves combined with North Easterlies that were now in the 30s, lifted the dinghy out of the water and flipped it upside down. With boat speed of almost 8 kts the dinghy dove down like a submarine. Oars, fuel tank, hand pump and other junk went flying off and floated away. At that moment I thought we would loose it. I turned the boat into the wind and now violent waves, and told Crystal to hold the helm as we tried to use the engine to keep the boat in to the wind and slow her down while I tried to salvage the dinghy. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it back up again so I put the painter on a winch and winched it as close to the lewer side of the boat as I could. One of the painters already started chafing while the other one was fine. Pt. Judith light was no clearly visible off the starboard and I decided to head for the harbor of refuge. I was praying that line would hold. Seemed that excessive speed didn’t fair very well with the dinghy so I rolled up the jib, and motored trying the keep the boat speed under 4 kts. As the waves were battering the port side the dinghy would violently splash and dive deep under water and then out. Just ahead of the point the waves and wind reached their highs crashing over the port side with wind readings reaching over 35kts. Rain was coming down even harder and it seemed that just as I spotted the breakwater at eastern end of the harbor of refuge, waves would crash over, the boat would roll violently and I would loose the sight of the aiming point. What a start to the journey. We were not even 10 miles off home and we hit 35kts and 12ft seas and in serious danger of loosing the dinghy. After about a half hour of coping with broadside seas and wind we got to a point where a straight downwind course would take us to the breakwater. We bore-off to a running point of sail and were now surfing down the crest of the swell. The speed increased and I new that we had one shot at entering the harbor. I spotted the green day beacon and a red buoy just as the squall came in with heavy downpour that reduced visibility to less than the boat length. The radar was on and I tried to filter out the swell and rain in order to make sense out the display but fear of surfing right on to the breakwater made me abandon the radar dials and focus on the chart and our heading on the pedestal compass. That was scary, just as I thought we would need to turn around and head off and around the south side of the breakwater the squall passed and the day beacon was now visible. The red buoy would disappear in the swell and become visible in the crests. The closer we came the clearer the entrance became. Unfortunately the lightning that was approaching was now very near us and the light and sound were only a second or two apart. One of the strikes hit with no delay between lightning and thunder. For a brief moment I thought to turn around and head for seas and away from the lightning but the thought of seas and wind astern made lightning seem like the lesser evil. So we motored around the day beacon and hid behind the shelter of the breakwater. Unfortunately the waves were too big, breaking over the rocks and made the anchorage very bumpy. I was relieved to see that the dinghy made it ok and was dying to find out if one of the tanks that I tied to the bow survived. We had no problem anchoring and dropping the reefed main. I let the painter a bit and flipped the dinghy to find the bow tank still attached and in usable condition. I felt like things were turning for the better. The lightning was gone and the sun was starting to come out. The afternoon ended up being sunny and dry. And through all of this, Crystal was holding up better then I ever imagined. She was not sick frightened or panicking, but was by my side the entire time. Held up like a cool, calm first mate any captain would want by his side. I now firmly believe we will not have problems with ocean weather and seas conditions. I was 100% wrong about my wife. She’s is the greatest first mate any captain would ever want.
Arrival Point / End Time Pt. Judith (N41 21.88’, W71 31.01’) 1:15 PM
Distance Traveled / Engine 12 NM .5 h
We left Ft. Adams on the 1st of October after a long and demoralizing wait for the inflatable. A bit too eager to go, I decided to leave despite the small craft advisory. There’s nothing like some bad weather to shake off the cobwebs, stress test the new rig components and remind us that we should fear and respect the mother sea. Sailed out under 2nd reef on the main and near fully furled up heavy genoa. We were doing 5.5kts as we passed by Castle Hill where we wed just 3 months ago. Seemed like so long ago. Summer went by very fast. Sure enough, as we reached Beaver tail, it got rough in a hurry. Everything held up very well, even the wind generator was cranking hard. Occasional swell would break over the bow but the partially finished dodger was already doing a great job. We were only wet due to rain. We were doing 7+ kts and it looked like the plan to sail all the way to Shelter Island would work. Unfortunately a mistake on my part made the life a bit miserable. I let too much painter (dinghy line) out and one of the breaking waves combined with North Easterlies that were now in the 30s, lifted the dinghy out of the water and flipped it upside down. With boat speed of almost 8 kts the dinghy dove down like a submarine. Oars, fuel tank, hand pump and other junk went flying off and floated away. At that moment I thought we would loose it. I turned the boat into the wind and now violent waves, and told Crystal to hold the helm as we tried to use the engine to keep the boat in to the wind and slow her down while I tried to salvage the dinghy. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it back up again so I put the painter on a winch and winched it as close to the lewer side of the boat as I could. One of the painters already started chafing while the other one was fine. Pt. Judith light was no clearly visible off the starboard and I decided to head for the harbor of refuge. I was praying that line would hold. Seemed that excessive speed didn’t fair very well with the dinghy so I rolled up the jib, and motored trying the keep the boat speed under 4 kts. As the waves were battering the port side the dinghy would violently splash and dive deep under water and then out. Just ahead of the point the waves and wind reached their highs crashing over the port side with wind readings reaching over 35kts. Rain was coming down even harder and it seemed that just as I spotted the breakwater at eastern end of the harbor of refuge, waves would crash over, the boat would roll violently and I would loose the sight of the aiming point. What a start to the journey. We were not even 10 miles off home and we hit 35kts and 12ft seas and in serious danger of loosing the dinghy. After about a half hour of coping with broadside seas and wind we got to a point where a straight downwind course would take us to the breakwater. We bore-off to a running point of sail and were now surfing down the crest of the swell. The speed increased and I new that we had one shot at entering the harbor. I spotted the green day beacon and a red buoy just as the squall came in with heavy downpour that reduced visibility to less than the boat length. The radar was on and I tried to filter out the swell and rain in order to make sense out the display but fear of surfing right on to the breakwater made me abandon the radar dials and focus on the chart and our heading on the pedestal compass. That was scary, just as I thought we would need to turn around and head off and around the south side of the breakwater the squall passed and the day beacon was now visible. The red buoy would disappear in the swell and become visible in the crests. The closer we came the clearer the entrance became. Unfortunately the lightning that was approaching was now very near us and the light and sound were only a second or two apart. One of the strikes hit with no delay between lightning and thunder. For a brief moment I thought to turn around and head for seas and away from the lightning but the thought of seas and wind astern made lightning seem like the lesser evil. So we motored around the day beacon and hid behind the shelter of the breakwater. Unfortunately the waves were too big, breaking over the rocks and made the anchorage very bumpy. I was relieved to see that the dinghy made it ok and was dying to find out if one of the tanks that I tied to the bow survived. We had no problem anchoring and dropping the reefed main. I let the painter a bit and flipped the dinghy to find the bow tank still attached and in usable condition. I felt like things were turning for the better. The lightning was gone and the sun was starting to come out. The afternoon ended up being sunny and dry. And through all of this, Crystal was holding up better then I ever imagined. She was not sick frightened or panicking, but was by my side the entire time. Held up like a cool, calm first mate any captain would want by his side. I now firmly believe we will not have problems with ocean weather and seas conditions. I was 100% wrong about my wife. She’s is the greatest first mate any captain would ever want.
posted by sundowner-cruise at 10:03 PM
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