East Hampton and down
wind to Block Island … Friday – Saturday July 5th and 6th,
2013
On Friday we decided to take the bikes ashore and cycle to
East Hampton. While tying up the dinghy,
we met a French sailor and got chatting to him.
He told us that he and his wife had been living aboard for the last 15
years. From what we could gather they
started out with big plans (possibly to circumnavigate) but various events in
the life of their daughter kept them returning to New York. Currently they were providing ‘sailing summer
camp’ for their granddaughter. He mentioned that they still went down to the
Caribbean or Panama for the winter, putting many miles under their keel each
year. He said that they had only had
three really bad episodes, one involving a broach at the entrance to Chesapeake
Bay. Having been at that spot not so
long ago, it’s a tale I wish I’d never heard!
After quite a long chat, we set off on our bikes. We stopped to explore the farmer’s market,
getting some much needed veggies for the next few days. We decided not to buy fresh fish. It looked
good, but at $28 a pound for striped bass it was either pass or sell our
daughter into slavery. Another close call Tasha! It was easy to tell when we
were approaching the town as the traffic ground to a complete halt. We locked up our bikes and wandered along one
major street amongst the hordes. As bad
as the sidewalks were, the supermarket was totally out of control. The aisles were narrow and the shopping carts
were everywhere. It seemed to me that
the town police should be called in to direct traffic. We acquired the makings of a picnic at the
grocery store. Setting off back toward
the marina we found a quite patch of lawn near the graveyard. By the time we returned to the town dock the
temperature was overwhelming. We
returned to the boat and collapsed.
Today (Saturday) we had a slow start, breakfast followed by
a swim and shower. We headed out about
10:30 to catch the ebb tide starting at 11:30.
Once clear of the harbor, we put up the sails and sailed on a beam reach
to the marker north of Gardiners Island.
Turning down wind for Block Island, we had current pushing us
along. That was just as well as the wind
wasn’t very strong. At some points, the
wind was so light that motoring seemed the best option. I’m proud to say that we resisted the
temptation. Once we approached Block
Island the wind began to build. By the
time we needed to take the sail down we were moving along quite well. We were a
little disappointed in the performance of our new trolling lure … “good for a
salt water species” the advert said … well not so far!
The sight that met our eyes upon entering the Great Salt
Pond is hard to describe. Not only are
all the rental moorings full, there are boats anchored all over the place. We feel happy to have wedged Cotinga into a
space. Now if the anchor holds and the
raft of four powerboats next to us is not too noisy, all will be well.
If all goes well this will be our last stop before we return
to our home port of East Greenwich
Gloria
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