Across to Block Island
24 May 2007 | Block Island, RI
Jim Lea
Yesterday (Wednesday) morning, we were in no rush to leave, as our sail across to Block Island would be just about 24 hours exactly. So there was no rush to leave only to arrive at 6:00 am. When we came in last night, we saw 4 sail boats that looked like cruisers (dinghys and stuff strapped on deck) that were on moorings. But we decided to carry on further into the harbor and in the end found a beautiful anchorage. And this morning as we left, we saw that the moorings were empty, so they must have been cruisers on their way up to New York. So we started across on a course of 065 mag for Block Island in a light following breeze. Because of the light breeze and our desire to cross the shipping lanes in daylight, we set out motor-sailing. It was an hour to the first of the three lanes, and as we approached, we saw two ships steaming in to New York Harbor. The lanes are like divided highways in the ocean, but without markings. There is an ingoing lane, a median, or separation zone, and an outgoing lane. We entered the first one at about 10:00 am, and left the last one at 7:00 pm. And the only ships we saw were the two in the first lane, and one in the last that passed us after we left. So a quiet day in that respect. About noon the wind got up to about 15 knots, so we shut the engine down and sailed the rest of the way to the entrance to Block Island. As we approached Montauk Point, the eastern tip of Long Island, we were swept in to the north by a 2.5 knot incoming tide. But we had expected it, and had allowed for it by heading a bit further south in our approach. However the wind then decided to fade, so on went the engine, and as the sun rose at 5:00 am, we sailed into Great Salt Pond, Block Island's large and completely protected anchorage. In Great Salt Pond, anchoring is limited to a few quite deep areas with moorings for rent in all the "good" areas, so we chose to pick up a mooring. It was quite cool overnight, and in the rising wind in the morning, it was still cool, and getting damp, so I started the generator to run the electric heater... no luck! An alarm about cooling water alarm showed. After much searching, I traced it down to a loose lead in the control circuit, so with that fixed we were once again warm and dry. As usual, I napped in the afternoon and evening while Jeannie took the first watch to midnight, then I took over until we were off Block Island. safely on a mooring, we had breakfast, turned in for a few more hours sleep, then were ready for the day!