On Saturday, October 16th, SkipStone cruised down Narragansett Bay escorted by Sea Horse, Solace, Salt and Light, Brass Ring and Sea Note II. Amidst blaring horns and a water jet, our fleet of well wishers made certain that we safely made it past Conimicutt Light. Thank you to all that made this such a special send off.
We were heading towards Old Saybrook Connecticut but diverted to Block Island because of high seas from the south. (SkipStone does better heading towards the waves than taking them from the side) We spent a rocky night in Block and left the next day in more heavy seas. Going through The Race was the shortest route but due to weather, we ducked under the Connecticut shore for cover, weaveing through Fishers Island Sound and making it to Old Saybrook by mid afternoon. After tieing up at Harbor One Marina, we were visited by our old neighbors, Kathy McKeogh & Dave Nathanson, then chilled with a relaxing dinner at the Old Saybrook Inn.
Leaving Old Saybrook, we headed towards Mamroneck until the steadily deteriorating weather and short steep head sea of Long Island Sound severely limited our westward progress. When we were surrounded by rain clouds and weary of pounding into the waves, we took a hard left turn and diverted to Port Jefferson on the north shore of Long Island, New York. Turning sideways to the waves rolled our appliances off the counters and charts off the bridge. Everything not secured wound up on the floor as we made our 30 minute run to shelter.
Entering Port Jeff was a new experience in boat handling for us. An outgoing tide combined with a strong tail wind, positioned standing waves between the entrance jetties to the harbor. One wave picked up the stern and started the boat surfing towards the breakwater. At this point the wave was steering the boat and not in a good direction. Steering into the slide (like driving on ice) and applying full power regained control as we entered the harbor like a rodeo bull released from its gate. Fortunately no one was coming the other way.
Looking at another day of bad weather made the decision to stay in Port Jeff an easy one, so we took a mooring for two nights, cleaned up the boat, and spent the next day ashore. Port Jeff is an old seaport where many large vessels have been built. We toured the town on foot, learned about its heritage and waited for a weather window to transit New York Harbor.
Your Port Jeff experience is a trawlers worst nightmare. Fortunately Skipstone had enough “juice” to pull it out and you had a successful entry as well as an early taste for future reference. I understand the ocean inlets down the coast can be pure hell to enter under similar wind and tide conditions…..many stories of broaching, some famously documented in the boating mags.