July 29

We took our time getting going this morning.  We are going to go over to Fisher's Island, a few miles south of the Mystic River entrance, and raft up with Jack & Carol on Reach for the weekend.  They don't plan to leave their marina, which is south of us until about 10:00 or 10:30.  So we had a leisurely morning watching boats and trains go by.  This slip is just inside the railroad bridge, so we get to watch it's operation.  Last log, I described the cool sign that tells boaters how many minutes until the next bridge opening.  Well sitting here watching it for a few hours, it became apparent that they only sporadically use the sign.  So much for technology.

At 10:30, I hailed Jack on the VHF and learned that they were about to get underway.  They only have about three miles to go, and we will have an extra four down the river, so we shoved off.  There was a big parade of boats heading out, since it was a beautiful Saturday.  There is a noticeable difference being in the north where boating is a seasonal thing.  Everybody uses their boats almost every weekend.

We dodged the traffic and the lobster trap floats and made the big trip across the sound to Fisher's Island.  Fisher's Island is home to three or four hundred permanent residents, most of whom live on the eastern two-thirds of the island behind a big gate across the only road.  In other words, they are the rich people.  On the western third, there is a nice bay on the northern shore, where we are going, that has a couple of marinas, and a good sized mooring field.  There is also plenty of room to anchor a little further out.  Most of the moorings are owned by various yacht clubs from the area, and you must be a member of the club to use the mooring.  There are five public moorings though, and when we got over there, we found Reach on one of those moorings.  It is perfectly acceptable here to raft two or three boats on a single mooring, so we tied up alongside Reach.  The mooring we were on was the only public one available when Jack & Carol had gotten there, and there was a yacht club mooring very close to it.  The wind was blowing pretty strong from the west, making our stern lie only a foot or two from the club mooring ball, and only fifteen feet or so from the bow of the boat tied to it.  A little close, but ok as long as we all stay pointing the same way.

We spent the afternoon just sitting on the boats, drinking beer, and telling stories.  We thought about dinghying to shore, but didn't.  Late in the afternoon, a powerboat tied to one of the other public moorings appeared to be preparing to leave.  We quickly discussed it and agreed we'd be more comfortable overnight if we moved and didn't have to worry about being so close to the club mooring behind us.  We quickly cast off the lines tying us to Reach and moved over and picked up the now empty mooring.  Reach then dropped the mooring we had been on and rafted up to us.  Now we had plenty of room to swing no matter what the wind did overnight.  Sometime about 17:00, a guy came around in a boat to collect the fee for the mooring.  We didn't know for sure if they charged a flat rate for the mooring, or a per boat rate.  Turned out it was $25 per boat.  No wonder they allow rafting - more money.

For dinner, Jack & Carol barbequed steaks and made nice salads for us all.  We sat around drinking and chatting until almost 23:00 and then turned in.  By then the boat traffic and wind had pretty much ceased, so the sounds from our mast rattling shouldn't be too bad. 

GPS N 41-15.988 W 072-00.279  Nautical miles traveled today 7.  Total miles 5884.

July 30

We had a good night.  Fisher's Island is part of NY, even though it is only three miles off the CT coast.  Bars in NY can stay open until 04:00, while in CT they close at 02:00.  That means people boat over from CT to the only bar on Fisher's Island and party late.  We had talked about this last night, and sure enough about 03:30, several boats left Fisher's Island headed back to CT.  This of course made some wakes, which made our mast rattle, but it was soon calm again.

We were up before 08:00 and enjoyed a nice quiet coffee in the cockpit.  Jack & Carol slept a little later, but then joined us in enjoying the morning.  After breakfast, we all decided to go for a swim.  There were three boats rafted near us that had kids aboard, and they had been jumping off the boats and swimming for an hour or more already.  We put our suits on and jumped in.  It's funny how different perceptions of water temperature are.  People who live in the north, think seventy-something degree water is warm.  People like me who have been in the south most of their lives think anything under eighty is downright frigid.  I must admit though, after the initial shock, a minute or two later it was quite refreshing.  I swam around the boat, looking at the ugly three inch band of seaweed and barnacles growing on our waterline.  Since the boat is loaded down, the anti-fouling bottom paint doesn't come high enough to where the water line is.  So there are a few inches of crap growing, mostly on the bow.  I need to clean it some and next time I have the bottom painted, I think I'll have them raise the bottom paint a few inches.

I stayed in the water ten or fifteen minutes and then got out and rinsed off with fresh water.  Jack donned his mask and fins and started cleaning the bottom of his boat.  When he was done, I asked him to take a peak at my prop to make sure no critters were growing on it.  He said it was clean, although I need a new zinc again.

After the swim, we had lunch and sat around chatting some more.  Fisher's Island has a 12:00 whistle that blows. We decided the purpose of it was to signal that it was beer o'clock.  Sometime around 15:00 we decided to make the big passage back to the mainland.  We have decided to stay in this area for the rest of the week and get the new mainsail shipped here.  So, Jack made a call to Spicer's marina, where their slip is and where he works, to see if we could take a slip there for the week.  There was a slip available, and it is one the same dock that Reach is on, so we just followed them across the sound.  Once in the marina basin, we let Reach get tied up so they could come own the dock and take our lines.  But, Carol ran to the end of the dock to tell us our slip had a boat in it.  So, we hailed the marina on the VHF and asked them what to do.  After a few minutes they directed us to the slip right next to Reach.  We later found out that a boat came in to the slip they assigned us so they could go to the marina restaurant for lunch, and they hadn't left yet.  Just as well, as now we are right next to Jack & Carol.

We got everything secure, plugged in, and got the a/c running.  We sat around chatting again and met some of the other boaters that Jack & Carol know.  At 18:00, a siren blew from town, and we decided that was the signal to switch from beer to rum.  These towns are very accommodating in keeping our drinking on schedule.

Jack & Carol filled us in on what was where in the marina.  The marina is quite large and we are at the southern end of it, so anything is a pretty good hike.  But, by being at the southern end, we have a nice breeze off the water, but no swell since they have a large breakwater.  One of the things the marina has is an onsite bar and restaurant.  As my regular readers know, I feel this is an important amenity.  There is no wi-fi internet access here. There is no cable TV here.  There is barely cell service, and it is so weak that I have trouble connecting the computer.  But, the bar and restaurant has great food, and is the gathering place for the local characters.

After dinner it was back to the boats.  Jack & Carol don't live aboard, but decided to stay tonight.  After all, Jack works here and Carol's work is flexible so she doesn't have to be anywhere real early.  We visited a little more and then turned in.  The night was dead calm, so we slept well.

GPS N 41-19.230 W 071-59.690  Nautical miles traveled today 3.  Total miles 5887.

July 31

Since we are here for a week, and Jack works in the boatyard, we are going to try to accomplish a few tasks while here.  One is the stainless steel repair.  Jack sent a stainless guy over this morning to take a look at it.  He said he thinks he can fix it and will think about it and call me tomorrow.  I went up to the office, which is a good half mile hike, and checked in.  They were very nice and interested in the fact that we were cruisers and had met Jack & Carol in the Bahamas.  They have a well stocked ship's store here too, and I picked up replacement o-rings for the water fill caps on deck.  One of them broke the other day when we filled the tanks.

Another task to attend to is repairing two of the screen panels for our cockpit enclosure.  The screens on the side panels have both ripped, one during the winter and one during the tornado in Charleston.  We dropped them off at the canvas shop but unfortunately they won't be done within the week, but we can easily stop back by here in a few weeks after we visit points east.

Another thing to do is repaint the boat name on the sides.  It is fading and has been rubbed off some from fenders against docks.  Jack knows a guy who he thinks can do that too, although we didn't make contact with him today.

I called the sail maker in Annapolis to give them the address of the marina so they could ship the new sail here.  They had called me last week to say it would be ready to ship on Wednesday and could be here Friday.  When I called, it turned out it was ready and will ship today.  We should have it Wednesday.

The major thing I am going to do myself while we are here is pull a new wire to the instruments at the helm.  We have had an ongoing problem with the autopilot display resetting while we are underway.  I have discussed this with Raymarine, and they think it may be a low voltage problem.  They suggested running a new wire from the circuit breaker directly to the far end of the instrument chain, so that there is always twelve volts there.  So, I started pulling wire.  I started from the instrument end, and of course it wasn't as easy as I had hoped.  But, after several hours of work, I had totally dismantled all the instrument pods and taken out the pedestal guard from the helm, pulled the wire through it and into the boat, and reassembled everything at the helm.  I'll continue pulling the wire from just inside the cockpit to the electrical panel tomorrow.  So far it was more of a task than I anticipated, but it went ok.

After working on other people's boats all day, Jack came to work on his and Carol joined him a little later.  We chatted for awhile, and then they went home and we went to the restaurant for dinner again.  We both had different things than last night and again it was quite good.

GPS N 41-19.230 W 071-59.690  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 5887.