Crew Log for September 29th, 2022
Trip Summary:
Cuttyhunk Island to Fishers Island
Trip Distance of 53.1 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 998.9 NM
Departed at 0800 hours and arrived at 1730 hours
As promised, the winds shifted around out of the north overnight, which would give us a better wind angle to head down the Long Island Sound. It started blowing hard around midnight. It was hard to sleep comfortably after that given the noise of the mooring lines rubbing on the chocks and hitting the anchor.
The mooring balls at Cuttyhunk don’t have pendants. Instead, they have a 3 foot “handle” with a loop on the top to run your mooring lines through. The nice thing about the setup is, we (well, actually Judy), doesn’t have to deal with dirty, slimy mooring pendants. However, the angle of the attachment is such that our mooring lines snag and rub on the anchor. Our anchor is pinned on when not in use, so it’s not coming off, but the sound of the lines snagging on the anchor is frightening enough to wake even the soundest of sleepers.
We weren’t the only ones to have the problem. One boat actually hooked the anchor to their spinnaker sheet and lifted it up away from the mooring lines. Another of the boats lowered the anchor to water level, below the mooring lines. Unfortunately, they forgot to raise it in the morning before they released the mooring lines, which made for a bit of excitement as they careened through the mooring field with their anchor swinging off the front of the boat.
Safe to say we had a noisy night and sleep was difficult after midnight. Despite the design flaw with the moorings, we really enjoyed Cuttyhunk.
We were seeing winds of 15-20 knots, with consistent gusts between 20-25 knots, so we wisely decided to double reef the main before we left the mooring. Once we made our way out through the narrow channel, we had to turn to windward to clear Cuttyhunk before we could start heading west. It was really difficult getting upwind against the swell and at times we were only doing 2.5 knots.
Our original plan was to overnight on Block Island, a really popular summer destination, but this time of year, it is mostly a brief overnight stop for boats heading south. From Block Island you are well positioned to head further west up either the Long Island Sound side, or the Connecticut side of the Sound. Moorings at Block Island would be plentiful this time of year and it is reasonably well protected from any wind direction.
We were consistently making between 5.5 – 6 knots on a double reefed main and reefed jib, in comfortable seas. Our longer range plan was to head up the Connecticut side of the Sound to try and connect with my cousin who is a nurse Stratford, who I haven’t seen in years. After Block Island, we planned to head to Fishers Island, before heading to Old Saybrook, a Port of Refuge, to wait out whatever Hurricane Ian decided to throw at us, and then head down to Stratford. Windy was forecasting some really nasty wind (gusts over 35 knots) starting on Sunday, so we really wanted to get to Old Saybrook by Saturday. Given our progress and the comfortable sea state, we decided to skip Block Island and sail a little further down the coast, directly to Fishers Island.
It is worth pointing out at this point that I obsess over a lot of data before making these route changes. We have electronic charts in several different formats running on multiple devices, we subscribe to a wind prediction model, our TowBoats US subscription also provides us with current and long range forecasts and I read reviews and comments online of the places we plan to visit. I pour over all of that information, on hopes that we are making good decisions.
None of this data, however, is a substitute for common sense that comes from having some local knowledge or experience with local conditions. I was warned however by our sailing mentor, that the anchorages on Fishers Island weren’t ideal with our wind direction, diplomatically suggesting with stick with our original plan to go to Block Island or Port Judith, as an alternative. It was serendipitous that one of the better options shared a name with my Co-Captain. Despite that, I take full responsibility for ignoring good common sense and pressed on to Fishers Island, confident that we would be fine, given that the forecast was for lighter wind overnight.
Fishers Island is actually in New York State despite being 3 miles off the coast of Connecticut, across the Fishers Island Sound. There is a regular ferry service to the Island and despite being just 9 miles long and 1 mile wide, there is an airport, a clue to the disposable income of the Island’s seasonal residents. Rockefeller, duPont, Firestone, and Roosevelt are just a few of the families who call the Island’s ostentatious properties “home”, for a few weeks every summer.
Mystic, Connecticut and the Mystic Seaport Museum is on the other side of the Sound and was one of the places we really wanted to visit. However the cheapest spot we could find was US$4.50 per foot or US$150 per night. Given we’d need a minimum of 2 nights to experience the area, the docking fees seemed excessive to the “less rich” and “less famous” crew on sv Elizabeth M.
As we made our way through the Watch Hill Passage the tide against current created a wash board effect. Fortunately, we had years of experience with tide against current going back into Barrachois Harbour and so we managed our way through it without incident. There was however a little issue with flies. What started as a minor annoyance became a full on battle. They were about the size of a small housefly, but the little buggers would bite. I suspect under a microscope they’d look like a set of teeth with wings.
We anchored in East Harbor, surrounded by the Fishers Island Club, an eighteen-hole course ranked ninth in Golf Digests list of America’s 100 greatest golf courses. The initiation fees are in excess of US$45,000 and annual dues in the area of US$25,000 per year. Needless to say, we not only didn’t get to Mystic, we didn’t get to play a round at Fishers Island Club, despite being anchored off the back nine.
As we were warned, the anchorage was rolly. The winds weren’t particularly bad, but the swell was uncomfortable. I spent a restless night checking our position every hour or so. In the morning, we were exactly where we were supposed to be, so the anchor did its job, despite my poor judgement in choice of anchorages.
I have to admit though, I was blown away by Fishers Island. Despite the egregious display of wealth, the rolly anchorage, those damn flies and wash board currents, the evening sunset was absolutely spectacular. We have experienced a lot of amazing sunsets on Brule Point, but I am not sure any were as dramatic as the one off Fishers Island.
Despite a restless night, the good news was, we had a short hop to Old Saybrook and would arrive the day before the weather was supposed to turn ugly.
But, more about that, next time.
Additional Pictures:
Great sunset picture!