On to Block Island

We got to sleep in this morning...didn't get up until 5:30 am. As we prepared to depart, Neil couldn't find his sunglasses. He figured he had left them in the shower. We did a touch and go and the fuel dock for Neil to hop off and he retrieved his sunglasses from the bathroom.  Another touch and go to pick up Neil and we were on our way.

Sunrise at Mt. Sinai

We had about 40 miles to go to Plum Gut where we would exit the Sound with favorable current and then another 30 to Block Island. Motorsailing at first, we made good time, but eventually the wind speed dropped and the adverse current built. I watched our Plum Gut ETA stay fairly constant at 3 hours for about 45 minutes during this transition.  We had gone from over 7 knots to about 4.5 knots of boat speed. 

The current started to shift back in our favor as we neared the Gut and it was quite strong in the Gut. The wind also returned, strong from the south.

Mototsailing into Plum Gut

We motorsailed through the Gut to point high enough to clear the southern tip of Plum Island. A stones throw from the beach, the water depth was 120 feet.

Once past Plum Island,  we put the centerboard down, turned off the motor and cracked off a bit on a course for Block Island. We close reached most of the afternoon between 7.5 and 8.4 knots, getting a boost from the favorable current.

Sailing to Block Island

7 nm from the entrance to Block Island we began motorsailing again, figuring we should get in by 5 pm and try to get a private mooring from the harbormaster. We had called earlier,  but they wouldn't give us a mooring until we arrived. 

Coming into the Great Salt Pond at 4:45 pm, I called the Harbor Master and he had a private mooring for us. We didn't expect this on a Saturday evening and were pleasantly surprised. 

After dinner aboard, we launched the dinghy to go to The Oar and get mudslides. One third of the way there,  the motor stalled and I couldn't get it to run at low speed...an old problem that I thought I had fixed. Someone came by in their dinghy and gave us a tow back to Owl Moon. We called the launch, because we didn't want Neil and Carol to miss Saturday night at the Oar.

We may have a dinghy engine that won't run, but at least we got our mudslides at The Oar.

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Decorated oars hang from the rafters in The Oar.