It was just before 2pm and we were finally ready to set off on our final 15 nautical mile leg to Mystic. I was feeling prepared and organized when Joe offhandedly said: “You have one final test for today—visibility.” “Hunh? What?” I asked. He pointed to the thick fog that had just rolled across the horizon. Five minutes earlier you could see all the way across the Great Salt Pond and past the channel into Block Island Sound. Now you could barely see the other end of the pond! It seemed to be burning off, so we warily got underway. Luckily, the fogged rolled out almost as quickly as it…
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A Block Island Respite
“Looks like you got your main sail stuck.” Clif Payne greeted Joe at the dock on Wednesday morning. We had motored into the Great Salt Pond the night before with our main sail tied up in a strange square shape around the mast because it wouldn’t come down properly. After a short, but solid, night’s sleep, Joe had stepped off the boat in search of coffee for me and assistance for Cygnet’s various ailments. “You noticed that, hunh?” Joe replied cheekily to Clif’s statement. “I might need to find someone to send me up in a bosun’s chair to fix it, so my wife doesn’t have to hoist me up.”…
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Our Passage to Block Island Part 2
“I’m debating.” I said. “Debating what?” Joe asked. “Debating whether or not to do what you say, or insist we go into Point Judith.” Joe was still thinking that we would sail all night and ease into Mystic River with the sunrise; I was still unconvinced. It was dark and the stars were scattered above us in their beautiful cosmic pictographs. We were slicing through the water at a comfortable 4.5 knots, a few miles off the coast of Rhode Island, about halfway between Newport and Point Judith. Straight ahead were the buoys that could guide us into that Harbor of Refuge. I was a bit anxious and tired; but…
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Our Passage to Block Island Part 1
This might be a good time to point out a couple of things. One, there is a difference between day sailing for fun and doing a boat delivery. When you go out for a lovely pleasure sail, you check the winds and plan your course based on which way the winds will blow you comfortably. Joe and I were not pleasure sailing! We were on a boat delivery. (Like the couple in the movie Adrift. Not really a parallel I wanted to draw to our trip!) We had a specific timeline and destination and we did not have the luxury of planning our itinerary based on the wind and the…
