A Tale of Two Chemists: You've got to be flexible

You've got to be flexible … Friday 28th Sept 2012

A couple of days ago we met a lovely couple called Scott and Lynn who are living aboard their boat Shine and have travelled extensively up and down the east coast. They had lots of good suggestions to share with us, one of which is to have three possible destinations in mind so that you have options to chose from as the day progresses. With this in mind we thought about Fishers Island, Stonington and Watch Hill as three possible anchorage choices, all of them about 20 miles west of Point Judith, close to the border of Rhode Island and Connecticut. As events unfolded we ended up switching to our fourth option and we are now moored at Block island! This morning the alarm went off at 6am and we were up and ready to leave before 7am. It was a very grey morning with the wind blowing out of the east and a small craft advisory in place for Buzzards Bay and Block Island Sound. From the outset we had our foul weather gear on and that turned out to be a good call. We drank our coffee and ate breakfast of jam and toast as we motored out of Greenwich bay and then raised our sails and headed south under the Jamestown bridge and out to the Bay entrance. As we passed Beavertail the combination of wind and building seas prompted us to reef the main and partly furl the genoa. The execution of this went fine - but we weren't able to specifically tie down the clew of the reefed main and the sail shape looked pretty miserable. (It doesn't seem easy to put good downward tension on the leach using the single line reefing system we have in place - if you can strap down the clew that's fine, but very difficult to do whilst underway. We need to give this more thought). Nonetheless, we were very happy to have reefed because conditions outside of the Bay were pretty lively and we took some "blue" water over the bow and a couple of good spray drenches in the cockpit. As we rounded Point Judith, nature and two large cups of coffee took their course and Gloria had to go in to use the head. It's no quick job getting all the waterproofs off and back on, and by the time Gloria reappeared up top she was feeling (and looking) decidedly sickly. The more downwind direction of our westerly course did not seem to have made the motion any easier and we reasoned that it would be shorter, quicker and more comfortable to head directly to Block Island on a beam reach. I was also a bit concerned that if we continued as planned we would be trying to enter Fishers Island Sound at a time when the current would be flowing at it's strongest and the combination of wind and waves from the east over tide from the west could make it even nastier in that spot. The remaining journey to Block Island went well and we continued to make more than 7 knots even with the reefed sails. By the time we arrived (about 12.30 pm) it was really blowing with winds of 17-25 knots and we were happy to be in the Great Salt Pond and pick up a mooring. For dinner we ate chicken cooked with a cumin, paprika and turmeric rub, along with roasted sweet potatoes and onions, and fresh mango to ward off the scurvy. As rain fell and the night closed in we brightened up the evening by chatting to Tash on the phone. When we told her about our day she rightly pointed out "You've got to be flexible"

Mike