We headed out of New Harbor at eight in the morning under cloudy skies. The wind was about 12 knots out of the northeast and increased as we cleared the harbor. Sails went up as soon as we passed the breakwater.
With the wind on our rear starboard quarter, and waves running three to five feet, we had a lively sail. When we hit nine knots I thought we were really moving, then we got out of the protection of the island, the wind and waves increased. Our high for the trip was 13.4 knots surfing a wave, we caught several others that put us in the 12s. The boat remained very controlled, dry and fun to sail, with exception of the autopilot, which was over steering too much, despite some adjustments to the sensitivity. Manual steering was actually fairly easy, so the autopilot got a rest.
Our next treat on the trip was seeing a good size whale off to starboard. It was moving rapidly in the opposite direction, so we just got to see it surface three times before it disappeared. A few minutes later we saw what the whale may have been avoiding. A submarine surfaced about a half mile off to starboard, also moving in the opposite direction. We got to listen to the radio chatter as the escort boats cleared a path for the sub across Fisher’s Island Sound into the Groton Naval Station.
We got fuel in Greenport’s Stirling Harbor. Despite all of the information in the guides about moorings in Stirling Harbor, the big sign at the ntrance to the harbor that says no transient moorings or anchoring indicated otherwise. We checked with the village marina and others, no luck, so we got a mooring across the waterway in Shelter Island’s Deering Harbor. When I was young, I raced plywood constructed “Blue Jays” here, now the yacht club had 54 Haven 12 1/2s moored in the harbor .... things have changed in 45+ years. The ferry across to Greenport was just a short walk, Greenport has changed as well, many restaurants and fancy shops, Preston’s Marine is still there, but they did more business selling clothes and nautical decorations than the many marine supplies they carried in the past. On our walk back from the ferry, we found an Inn with a nice courtyard to enjoy desert and a nightcap before returning to the boat.