So we FINALLY got to go for a cruise. After braving first communions, cutlass bearings, mad hunts for special bolts and a variety of other things that managed to shoot May completely to crap for cruising we finally got off of land.
Sure, we took a couple of day sails but that’s not quite the same.
This turned out to be sort of a shakedown/limp around cruise, but we made Block Island for the first time this year. Friday night we left East Greenwich and motored to Dutch Harbor where we anchored for the night. After a restful evening on the hook we left for Block Island.
Block is a great place to visit but sailing there is usually problematic. The wind, on the whole is either in your face, dead astern, or just plain dead. A brisk and bracing reach to or from Block Island is something some Narragansett Bay sailors can go their whole lives without experiencing one would think. Saturday morning was no exception – less than ten knots on the nose – so rather than sail until after dinner on Saturday we did the Rhumb Line with the iron genny.
Unfortunately it was to be hazy hot & humid. On land. On the water this turned to fog well before Point Judith Light – we heard the light but never saw it. In fact after the fog set in we didn’t see any land until we were about 50 yards from the breakwater at the entrance to New Harbor on Block Island. It was strange how once we found the channel in the fog, the fog just lifted as we closed on land. We could see the channel markers clearly on the way in which was a nice relief after two hours of foghorns and radar watch.
The first boat we saw entering the harbor was a sister ship! Given there were only 88 Hallberg-Rassy 53’s ever built this is always a cause for celebration. These gentleman were eventually making their way back to Europe after spending some time in the Caribbean. Taking the long way home up the coast and over by Greenland and Iceland. This was hull #6 I believe, and the owner is the original owner and was very involved in the design process when the boats were first built.
Block Island was very nice – practically empty and twenty degrees cooler than the heatwave bound mainland. Though the water is still quite frigid.
Sunday was hot, with wind almost dead astern. But enough to sail dammit, though we are missing the new bow sprit that has not yet been installed (more on that later) so we were wing & wing most of the way home. I finally convinced my wife to take the helm on the dead run – minutes later the wind turned forward and she had a screaming reach with a short beat for the last hour of the trip. Sunburns on all the adults since the new Bimini was not yet installed either.
