Block Island and Fog

Thursday August 09, 2012
41 11.503 N
71 34.677 W

Exciting day today and no scratches!

We were up by 6:15AM and underway by 6:45AM. It was a beautiful misty morning and the water was like glass as we retraced our path down the creek. We had about 50 nautical miles ahead of us and we immediately picked up speed with the tidal current as we turned east. We hope we had started early enough to get at least 5 hours of "push" from the tide.

The forecast had called for "areas of fog". An hour or two after entering the Sound we started to notice a dark cloud flat on the ocean, and soon enough we were in it. It was as thick as the proverbial pea soup, and visibility was probably down to a 100 yards. We retreated to the Pilot House and fired up the radar.

We had experimented with the radar a couple of times just to see if it worked, and I had flicked thru the Users Manual so at least we knew how to turn it on, but not much more. Now it was for real as the fog really closed in. Also, the boat is equipped with a "hailer" that will automatically act as a fog horn. I got it going, and we were soon emitting a 5 second blast every 2 minutes. The tide was now giving us a knot and a half push, so we were moving over the ground at a consistent 10 knots.

Anyone there?

We had been planning to follow along the north coast of Long Island to Plum Cut, turn South thru Plum Cut (between Long Island and Plum Island) and then revert to an Easterly course into Block Island Sound. Plum Cut has a bit of a reputation for unpleasant tidal currents that cause rips and standing waves. The opening only seemed about 1/4 mile wide with rocky shore. All of the "notes to sailors" contained all sorts of dire warnings. We decided to give it a miss, and continued "the long way" and make the turn East at "The Race"

On a "normal day" we don't seem to see many boats. Now in the fog we saw boats everywhere. The radar was set at about 5 miles range. As we "saw" boats approaching from our bow we let the situation unfold till about a mile, when we made a course change to avoid passing too close. The "rules of the road" suggested both boats would "ease" starboard so we would pass "port to port". This worked fine except for one occasions when the oncoming boat kept on turning towards us as we adjusted our course. They were coming at some spreed, we had already turned 40 degrees and I did not want to turn any more and present a bigger target. We slowed down and started blasting our air horn (5 short blasts "imminent collision") as the radar showed them virtually on top of us. In a flash they came out of the fog, moving at 20/25 knots, 50/100 yards away, making a hard turn to their port (the wrong bloody way again) and then quickly disappearing into the fog. It was a 28'/32' sport fishing boat, with radar.

After a quick change of underwear I was back at the helm. We were still making good time, despite all the course changes and figured we would reach Block Island by 2PM. The charts show Block Island has a large "inland" anchorage reached by a man made channel. We were a bit thoughtful about making the channel in the fog as it was obvious by now there was a lot of boat traffic. But lo and behold, the fog lifted about a mile from the buoy, and it was an easy run in.

The anchorage

The site that greeted us as we reached the anchorage was amazing. It was full of boats - literally hundreds and hundreds. Mostly sail boats in the 35 - 50' range, but a smattering ow power boats also. We were amazed. The guide indicated that one of the towns offered 50 mooring balls, and we had hoped to grab one. Fat chance. It took us 30 minutes of wandering around to find a space to anchor in, and 3 attempts to do so.
(Its hard to photo and anchorage. You end up with a lot of sky and water)



Friday August 10, 2012
"Good and bad" but no scratches on the boat (that I can see!)

Block Island Dinghy Dock

The day started so well. Deidre made French Toast with strawberries. We then put the dinghy into the water and headed to the shore. The "old town" is about 2 miles from the dinghy dock, which is more than we wanted to walk,  so we took a cab. "Old town" was busy with tourists, arriving on the several ferries. Lots of tee shirt shops and places to eat.

Sometimes we feel a bit "uni-modal" so we decided to rent a little "smart car" for a few hours and tour around. It was fun, and we explored the island, though the car was dirty and needed love. We were also able to track down a "friend" we had made in South Carolina who was bar tending here. All good fun.

We were back on board by about 2PM. The boat has been feeling increasingly damp, so we decided to run a generator and turn on the AC and get the humidity down. We were expecting a front and some rain, so we thought the timing was good. I had a New York Times, plus a bit of work to do. We left the dinghy in the water so we could run back to the shore for dinner.

The front and the rain arrived on time. Unfortunately it brought some strong winds with it. Boats started dragging. Ho hum, we had our Delta 88 firmly planted with about 200' of chain, so no probs for us. WRONG. We started dragging badly, people started yelling in our direction. There were lots of boats in the anchorage so collisions were happening. We got the engines running, avoided collisions, and got the anchor up - no mean feat. The chain went into the locker, mud and all. The wind was blowing, the rain was pelting down, we headed into the right of way to wait it out.

Deidre and I were saturated. The boat was saturated. And I was deflated. Obviously I need anchoring lessons. We did laps up and down the fairway until the wind eased. then went back into the anchoring field and picked the spot. I could hear peoples reactions "Oh no, not them again!"

We have decided to leave in the AM. There are more storms predicted for tomorrow, and I just do not want to be anchored in such a confines space.