Branford, CT (The Thimble Islands) N41° 15.120' W72° 45.580'
16 September 2008 | 41 15.120N 72 45.580W
Randy
Departed Mystic after a very nice stay. Would have liked to go see a bit more of the place, but working on installing the new windlass took up the lion's share of the time. I did go downtown a couple of times, which I did not do when I was here last. Don of Straight from the Heart was a huge help on the windlass, even though he continuously says, "I haven't done anything." Of course he has; everything from advice to actually doing the Harry Houdini trick right along with me to get this thing installed. When we were preparing to put the thing in, found out it was missing a key for a key way and that had to be shipped in overnight for delivery this morning. Consequently, I was not able to get going this morning until 1100. The UPS guy was actually a bit early, but there is a bascule bridge that only opens 40 minutes past the hour, and I missed the 940. Got all of the laundry done on this stop. Fueled up this morning and then motored all day, arriving here at 1900. Almost no wind, and a bit cool as it was only in the high 60's and the water temp is 68. Missed the flooding tide because of the late start so wound up working against the ebb for the better part of 5 hours. Pushing into a current as much as 3.5 kts at one point just off the mouth of the Connecticut River. I may have been on the wrong side of a reef as the water came up a bit shallow (15') and am guessing that funneled a lot of water in that area making for greater velocity. Dead calm wind tonight so not much to worry about like dragging an anchor in the wind. Planning to get near Throgs Neck (just east of NYC) tomorrow which will be a good jumping off point to make Hell Gate at the right time tide-wise. Should be near Sandy Hook, NJ Thursday night. Still travelling with Don and Maryann. Nice to have them around. They are faster than I am but we seem to get to the same place at the end of the day. Time to hit the sack.