Yacht clubs

 10/1- We left Onset around 10:30 or so in order to catch the current coming out of the canal. We timed it pretty good and after having a 2 knot current against us for a half hour we had a nice fair current the rest of the way down the bay. Buzzards Bay is notorious for it's steep waves and contrary winds but this time we had a very nice ride down wind the whole way. We pulled into Cutty Hunk around 3:00pm and took one of the town moorings. There were only 3 or 4 boats in here. It's quite different from the summer when this place is full. We have been on the island several times so we just stayed and relaxed on the boat. We had a visit from a guy on his CD 28 moored next to us. He was here with his family for his father's 80th birthday. It is his father's boat but the family came over on the ferry.

    We did have a spot of trouble this morning. I had put a reef in the main earlier just in case and when we went to raise the sail we ripped out one of the reef points. It was going hard so I put it on the winch and because I had tied the reef lines too tight it just ripped the sail. You would think I would know better by now. Anyway as it turns out we were doing 5 knots with just a half raised main so we took it down and just ran out the jib. I should have done this right from the start. The jib is easier to furl and you don't have to worry about gibbing it. With just the jib up we were doing 5.5-6 knots and we were comfortable. It was a nice ride on a beautiful day.

10-2 It was another gorgeous day. The wind was 15 knots and still out of the NE. It's hard to believe that we have a NE wind for so long and we were able to get down the coast so quickly. With my ripped sail I just put a second reef in and that hid the tear. It was nice sailing, a broad reach to a beam reach. We covered the 25 miles in just over 5 hours. We anchored for the night in Point Judith Harbor of Refuge. 

    This is like anchoring in the middle of the ocean. The harbor is just a large pool made by making a breakwater all around it. There is little protection from the wind but it does keep out the waves and most of the swell. Unfortunately there is also a fishing fleet that uses the inner harbor and we all know what that means- wakes. Although we have only seen a couple of lobster buoys in the past couple of days there are still people fishing. There were a bunch of seiners both coming and going this evening. I have no idea what they are fishing for (Joe?). Then of course there are the runabouts who seem to always be going somewhere in a hurry.

   While this promises to be a rolly and noisy night we plan to get up early to catch the tide and head to Westerly RI.

10/4- We motored the whole way into Westerly because the wind was light and on the nose. Plus we only had 17 miles to go. The channel into Napatree is very narrow with not much depth on either side. There is one spot we were warned about just after the turn at Sandy Point where it was supposed to be only 5 feet. As it was close to high tide we went right over it with no trouble. The trip up the river is always interesting as there are tons of boats coming and going in a very narrow river. We have always been nervous about pulling into slips so John got us the easiest slip he could find. Also because our boat backs up very poorly we decided to go bow in instead of like everyone else. This slip had a little T dock which meant we would be able to get off on it. Well as we were in the slip approaching the dock I went to step off onto the dock and I missed. Yep, splash! People came running to help. Fortunately my life jacket popped open so I was more worried about securing the boat. I finally managed to get them to get the boat tied up and then went looking for a way out of the water. I ended up using our swim ladder.

Having never tied to a slip with pilings we had no idea what to do. Jim and Linda came over and talked us through securing the boat. They didn't seem terribly impressed with our seamanship. My sister and her family took turns driving us around to do various errands.

The worst thing though is trying to find a recharge kit for the life jacket. They really ought to make these things universal.

So it looks like we could be here for a while as there is another storm coming up the coast causing big waves and wind. We are in quandary about wether to move or not. The question becomes do we go and move a couple of days closer to the city only to have to wait out a day or two of rain and contrary winds at some anchorage or do we sit here in relative comfort and wait for everything to settle down. While waiting seems like a good idea winter is coming and we need to get south. What is it about yacht clubs that seems to suck us in. Anyway you'll have to wait until next time to find out what we do.