Fan-friggin-tastic delivery

[Figment]

I had to get the boat out of Branford. Enough, already. Weather forecasts be damned.

No, really. Damn the weather forecasts! Worthless! Pissy rain and light air predicted. I sit here with a zinger of a sun and windburn. At least the winds were with us. All 20+ knots of it.

It was a glorious downhill ride. GPS hovered in the high 6s and occasionally tried to fool me with low 7s. The noise of the dinghy under tow was remarkable. At least a half-dozen times I looked over my shoulder thinking "what jackass powerboat is coming up for such a close pass?", only to see the dink pointing its nose to the sky.

Early clouds and drizzle kept most folks at home, I guess. Very few other boats out and about. We crossed behind this beauty wishboned Crocker cutter in a lighter moment.

Sweet eyecandy.

The entrance to Clinton harbor is a bit unnerving. The outer channel is maybe 50' wide, and splits to the two inner channels after a pair of river stakes that CANNOT be more than 20' apart, followed by a hard turn to port to stay off the sand. There is a 100+foot Broward that somehow manages this maneuver, so they must know something I don't. A depthsounder is no replacement for Local Knowlege, but it's better than nothing.

Tied up, cleaned up, a bottle of Ommegang uncorked for good measure, we met a few new dockneighbors and called it a day. The walk up the dock took about as much time as the ride home. Never even made it into 3rd gear. That's going to take some getting-used-to, but I suppose I'll adjust. Eventually. =D

[Tim]

Oh, I'm sure you'll be able to slam through all 5 gears after a couple trips' practice. ;<)

[Figment]

A depthsounder is no replacement for Local Knowlege, but it's better than nothing.

Jinxed myself good with that one.

Saturday, on our way out for a bit of a lunch cruise, we found ourselves well aground in (what appeared to be) the middle of the channel. A couple of good samaritans attempted to tug us off, but the tide was running out too quickly. All they could do was carry our anchor upwind so that we could prevent ourselves from being blown farther up the sandbar while waiting for the tide to turn.

Local Knowlege tendered by four separate parties later in the day: "there are usually a few channelmarkers along here, they must have been damaged in that northeaster..." (two months ago?)

It appears that our initial run into this harbor was pure luck, as we passed right over this bar on the reciprocal course at a higher state of tide.
We took some comfort in the knowledge that anyone uninitiated would have followed the same course informed by the marks present. At least five other boats avoided the shoal only because we were stuck on it. One trawler found himself aground still.
The rising tide (and, in the case of the trawler, SeaTow) got us off in due course. All's well that ends well. Munching sandwiches at 20degrees of heel aground is almost as much fun as munching sandwiches at 20degrees on a broad reach.

[dasein668]

Sounds kind of like heading up the Royal River to Yarmouth. What a circuitous passage, and there are usually numerous small, (and some private, I think) marks which always seem to be out of position. Controlling depth is 8 feet. If you're lucky. And it rapidly shoals to 0 if you get out of the channel.

At least there was no real harm done, right Mike?

[Jason K]

That's a Stonehorse in the photo above. It was manufactured by Edie and Duff - the same company that makes Fatty Knees dinghys.

Coincidentally, I took one out today. It's an interesting boat. It's rigged with a very small jib and a staysail with a wishbone spar. There are no winches - it was a lot of fun to sail.

Tied up, cleaned up, a bottle of Ommegang uncorked for good measure, we met a few new dockneighbors and called it a day.

Oooh...Ommegang. I need to see if I can dig up a few more A4 parts...

[Figment]

I doubt that there's any lasting "damage". I did notice a bit of rudder-flutter while sailing DDW Sunday, so there may be a few lumps of tenacious harbor mud clinging here and there, or that may simply have been propellor turbulence. I'll probably go for a swim this evening if the opportunity presents itself.

Yes, those Edey&Duff folks do it right. Can't go wrong building designs by Hess, Crocker, and White!