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Schock Therapy Racing Results

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2001 Racing Results   

2001 Thursday Night Logbook   

2001 Cruising Log




2001 Racing Results
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Pierce Invitational  5/26/2001 With the expected weather looking to be rain I decided to ride with someone else and trash their boat. As it turned out, the Race Committee need help, so I went with them. The execution of the race came off nearly flawless, though as we watched (thru the rain and fog) the boats pass the 9 mile point with 5+ more to go, light wind, and not a whole lot of time left on the time limit. We were a little concerned we would end up with a bunch of DNF's, though we only ended up with one out of 19 boats, and most boats finished within 4 hours. Fun day given the conditions. Goto Windjammers.org to view the results.
Commodores Cup 6/16/01 Did race committee for this one. The day started out with at best 1/4 mile visibility. We motored out to what we thought was a mile or so south of Charles Island and setup the start line there. The mark boat then set the first mark 1.5 miles to windward (thanks to GPS) and we started the first race. The mark boat reported back that many boats were having a tough time finding the mark still in 1/4 mile visibility, but they all eventually found it and got around. On the leeward leg the fog started to burn off (appx noon), where we got every one finished. As it turned out, we were only about a half mile from Charles I. and we had the first mark quite close to the Star race course for which there were at least 30 of those out. We adjusted course a little and added a leeward mark and continued with the series. The day turned into a spectacular one which gave us the ability to watch what was going on for the remaining two races which went off nearly flawlessly. Check out the Images page for some pics of the day.
Port Jefferson Race and Rendezvous 7/14/2001 Mike and Sue joined Mary Lou, Kyle, and I for the race over to PJ and beach party after. Beautiful day, started as moderate breeze from the NW, but about ten minutes into the race (after our start) it lightened to a whisper, rotated to the SW and filled in to about 10-12. The race was run as a staggered start, so we started about 24 minutes after the first boat (fifth from the end out of thirty or so boats). Earlier on when the wind was behind us we tried reaching over some of the boats in front, which kept us moving as the wind lightened, but we fell into a wind hole which others did not. We crawled as the boats to leeward moved away. Once the wind filled, we got going fast, and with the help of the edging to get above other boats earlier, got us onto a layline tack right to the finish. This helped us get many of the boats back which sailing away from us in the beginning. The party was great, we had it catered this time which gave the officers time to enjoy the event instead of working it.
Milford Yacht Club Invitational 8/4/2001 Our first official race of the season, the day brought overcast skies and no wind. The race committee postponed the race for no wind, but shortly after decided to go ahead with a start anyway. They started 6 classes in winds which were at best 1 knot. We were too low of the starting area when our start came and spent most of the following classes sequence creeping to the line. We then attempted to tack to port after crossing the start to go for clear air when the wind went to 0. We then sat there for the following three starting sequences. What little wind that did come back allowed some of the following boats to sail over our wind keeping us at a dead standstill in the middle of the starting line on port. All the boats who weren't to windward of us were right in the lane we were sitting on. Fouled about 6 boats with this, though noone protested considering the conditions. With the last class starting we finally got some air and were able to tack back to starboard and get moving. Much of our class headed up the left side of the course, for which I knew was a mistake. We tacked up the middle of the course, and when the "knew it was coming" shift happened we were on the layline to the mark. Much of the class was still stuck way out to the left, and ended up far behind. The course was supposed to be a windward/leeward three times around, but with only a whisper of a breeze we made it but once around. The downwind leg ended up a beam/close reach. We fumbled with the chute for a bit, but the headsail ended up being the better option. We finished forth out of nine boats, considering we were last to start by a long way, we did ok. Race Committee should never have started us in those conditions, but given that they did, they should never have rolled the starting sequences. The new starting rule, RRS 26, allows the RC to wait a discretionary period between class starts so as to clear the starting area. Races like this are exactly why the rules were written this way.
HBC Invitational, 09/08/2001 Nice day, good breeze, good friends on board and good party after. That's all the good I can say about THIS race! I pull a muscle in my back futzing around on deck making rig adjustments as we are on our way to the starting area. I spent the rest of day behind the wheel barking orders for crew management, trim, and tactics. The winds are again in that medium range where we are over powered with the one and underpowered with the three, so we opt for smaller hoping the winds will stay up, they didnt really, and we sail changed on the third leg. Sail trim, spinnaker work, and tatics were all a fiasco, ended up mid fleet. Good day for a drink.
Milford Yacht Club Last Chance Regatta 9/22/2001 Ended up doing Race Committee for this event, had Rich on my boat and Konrad and Doug on the chase boat. The day started out ok, in a rush to get to the boat as usual. We headed out of the harbor about 90 minutes prior to the start time, and attempted to set the anchor as the pin boat. I then realized I'd forgotten to bring aboard my normal anchor and chain, so I rushed to piece together my spare, but had no chain. My spare is an aluminum Fortress, ever see an anchor float?? In attempts to get the thing to set by backing, it would glide off the bottom and shoot straight for the surface. it took several tries to get it to stay on the bottom and hold. In working this, Rich broke the shift handle, hello mr. vice grip. We then were a little nervous about the anchor hold, so we borrowed another one from a race participant and set that. All this fumbling forced us past the scheduled start time so we postponed. Once settled, we were able to get the race off without incident. Both MYC and HBC also had races scheduled for this day, so the course area was overlapped between fleets, made for interesting viewing, but starts and race timing were planned well enough that there were no problems. As the day went on, the wind lightened, so we decided to shorten, but two different courses used (spin and nonspin), the new finish could only be at one mark for which much of the fleet was already on the leg to that mark. We got the motor going and flew to the mark, just getting positioned in time to finish the first two boats. Worked out perfectly, only had one DNF out of almost 20 boats.
WSC Single/Double 9/29/2001 The 2001 Single/Double race was a heck of a day, winds out of the SE at 15-20 seas 2-4'. I chose to go single, which at the beginning of the day appeared to be a bad choice, attempts to raise the main and jib in gusts over 20 knots while keeping the boat from crashing into the other competitors was a challenge. I did manage to do this, but found myself way overpowered with the full main up, so during the early part of my starting sequence I decided to throw in a reef. I managed to get this in and the boat back for the last minute or so of the starting sequence, plenty of time to take position at the preferred end of the line, timed to get the start on the line and going fast. The course was a beam reach out to N16, then run to Housatonic Bell, upwind to Pond Point, a run back around Welches into the bay to N4 with an extra lap back out to N16 and finish at N4. The double hand non-spinnaker boats sailed the same course, and the double hand spinnaker boats had the same course plus one extra lap of N4,N16,finish at N4. I was able to hold off the Evelyn 32 on the reach to N16, rounding that as the lead boat, then paralled him on the run to Housatonic. I actually even passed him when I flipped my jib to wing, but the rig was taking a beating on the up and down in the waves, so I took the wing off. I rounded the Housatonic bell about three boat lenghts behind the Evelyn, followed some minutes behind by a very well sailed J24 and Ranger 29, as well as a couple more boats. Most of the double hand boats had gained on us for this leg as well. On the upwind leg, I got trimmed quickly, and sailed under and past the Evelyn who was struggling a little. With the little more mass my boat has, I knew I'd have an advantage in the waves going upwind, which turned out to be exactly the case. I was able to keep the boat sailing fast, and as I progressed up the course I found I was legging out on all the boats behind, including the double hand guys. When I rounded the Pond Point mark I had to be at least ten minutes in front of everyone else. On the off wind leg to follow I had the boat surfing down the wave fronts at over ten knots. The last legs, N4 to N16 finishing at N4 were routine, and I took the first gun of the day. The reef made a huge difference, instead of sailing overpowered, the boat was in control, flat and fast. Another observation: the boat sails better with less people on it. The J24 was the next boat in my class to finish which corrected to over five minutes behind, great day!

 




The 2001 Thursday Night Logbook
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Week One  5/10/2001 The first thur night of the 2001 season. Beautiful evening, seas 0-1 ft, winds light and variable up to 10 knots out of the SW. Race Committee was Larry and Joel. A very well attended evening considering the early season, about 10 or 11 boats. The Race Committee used the newly adopted (RRS 26) starting sequence, for which it went off flawlessly, albeit only for a single start. We had a decent start amongst a tangle of boats in a period of no breeze, but as the breeze filled we started to move ok. It filled from the right, which gave the boats to that side an advantage. We were then parallel to a boat we're usually in front of, when a shift to the left occurred giving him a clear advantage. He rounded just ahead of us. We passed him back on the downwind leg, but my choice to head current in hope of better wind on the following upwind leg didn't pan out. He made the other choice and rounded the second windward make quite a ways in front of us. We reeled him in some on the last leeward leg, but didn't have the legs or room to cover. Confusion among the crew was the order of the night, but that's not an excuse, we had a good time anyway. Course was DSDSD shortened to DSD(finish). Crew was Bertrand, Rich, Donny, Chris, Bill, Mark, Mary Lou, Kyle, and Jeff
Week Two  5/17/2001 Great night, conditions started out light, less than 5 knots of breeze out of the SW, but as the evening went on the wind came up to 12-14, seas were 0-1 ft. There were a dozen or so boats out started in the usual two classes. We had a great start with us near the preferred end of the line as the start time approached, the C&C40 was rolling us to windward which we nosed up a little and pushed him over the line early, the dogs didnt do the right thing though, and left us in their stink for much of the first leg. Tacking away wasnt a great option with lesser breeze and some boats on starboard to the right side, so we lived where we were. We slowly legged out on the following boats which gave us room to tack to port on the approach to the first mark for which we rounded behind the Mumm36, C&C40 and NM41. Not a bad position. On the ensueing reaching legs we more or less hung with the NM41, with a little pressure from boats behind us keeping us concentrating on going fast. We finished in the forth position behind the same three boats we rounded the first mark behind. Course was DWSD(finish). Crew was Al,Rob,Bertrand,Mark,Bill,Rich and Jeff. RC was Larry and company
Week Three 5/24/2001 Did Race Committee. Nice night other than the threat of rain and thunder storms! It didnt rain much for the whole evening though, so everyone stayed dry for the most part. It was quite lumpy with a moderate breeze out of the ESE (lots of fetch up Long Island Sound). We set the courses as WS2 (boats under 27') and WS3 (boats 27 and over). Winds stayed up enough to allow all the boats to finish by 8pm. Rich and Tom helped with committee, Thanks guys.
Week Four 5/31/2001 Nice night, a lot of boats out this night. Crew was Al, Mike, Don, Bill, Rich, Mark, Mary Lou, and Jeff. Course was NEPEWS (a real reach-a-roo), conditions were NW 8-14. Started out pretty breezy in the prestart, but almost as soon as we started, it lightened up. We had a ok start, windward side of the line but behind a number of boats, then on the first tack I missed my best opportunity to get right where the air would have been clearer and been closer or on the layline to the first mark. Each time I looked back to see if I could get right another boat was going, eventually had to go, ended up in a crummy position for the first mark rounding. Probably eighth or ninth boat around there, then lost two more on the next leg. What's a little unusual about this night was that only one of the boats in front of me was rated slower, and that one is a well sailed Tarten Ten which is not much slower than us. A grassy bottom didnt help our cause this night either. We passed one of the two boats which got us on the second leg a little later which I noticed had a grassier bottom than mine, not much good for him. Then as we approached the last mark right on the tail of the T10, he made the mistake of going too far beyond the mark (looking to stay to windward of me I guess), and I just spun on the mark, and powered thru his lee (as he was tacking) for the pass. I think he was under then impression I was obligated to follow him beyond the mark and tack nicely behind him (as he's yelling at me "you're not supposed to be there"), NOT! See Ya! Fun night, crew work was good and getting better, Thanks again.
Week Five 6/7/2001 Yet again another awesome Thursday night. Partly Cloudy, winds WSW/SW 8-10, seas less than 1 foot. Course was DWNDWNES. There were at least twenty boats out there this night. We sailed well and finished in good company, but would have been even better if I'd gotten to cleaning the bottom (shame on me). We had a good start, at the line (pin end) at the gun but not with good speed, got there a little early so we stalled for a few seconds. The first leg looked good going to the left, but the wind faded there relative to nearer the island, so we rounded the first mark near the back of the fast pack. Lots of legs and great crew work gave us the opportunity to pass several boats which included another gift from the Tarten Ten. That boat likes to tangle with boats attempting to pass him, which this night allowed us to sail by both of them. We hung on the transom of the C&C38 for the last four or five legs and made our move on the final leg. finished right next to him, RC gave us both a single gun (tie?), but I think he had us by a nose. Race Committee was Knot Busy and crew, nice job folks. Crew was Scott, Bertrand, Al, Bill, Mark, Rich, Mary Lou, Kyle, and Jeff.
Week Six 6/14/2001 Crew was Al, Scott, Bertrand, Donny, Bill, Mark, Rich, Mary Lou, Kyle, Jeff Conditions were ESE wind at less than 10 going light, seas less than one foot. Race Committee was Dennis and crew. Course was WPDS(2) The 2 was added after we got the course, so we thought we were finishing, when Dennis is signalling shortened course from WPDS twice to WPDSWS. We were doing great until that point where I lost concentration and went backwards, we then went further backwards with a too early tack to round the last mark and allowed another boat to catch up and sit on our wind after the rounding. What made the night even more screwed up was without an understanding of which side to round marks due to the RC boat being on the wrong side of the pin there was major cluster flock at the mark roundings. Going by the usual rule of same side as starting mark, port roundings made for 270 degree turns, half the fleet did that and the other did it the other way. We'll need to make sure the Thurs Night Race Instructions clarify this for next season.
Week Seven 6/21/2001 Did race committee (Don, Chris and Jeff),. rain threatened early, but it turned out to be a nice evening. The N/M 42 and N/M 41 were both late for the start due to low water at the dock, so when they did arrive we gave then a third start for which they match raced. The Mid Season Escapade was afterward, great party.
Week Eight 6/28/2001 Off cruising
Week Nine 7/5/2001 Off cruising
Week Ten 7/12/2001 Crew was Rich, Al, Mark, Bill, Mary Lou, Kyle, and Jeff. got to the starting area way late due to waiting for one crew who was being held from making it to the dock by an abusive officer, wouldnt even allow him to answer his phone when we called to find out if he was making it down, that legal?? Ok race, nice night.
Week Eleven 7/19/2001 Woman at the Helm night. The woman's start was scheduled to go first, with the usual two classes to follow. There were 14 boats racing with woman helmsmen, good turn out. The start was very confusing with many of the usually first starting boats not aware they were now the second start. Then the start signals got afu, but the RC carried the sequence to the start gun, then posted the general recall which more than half the boats starting didnt see, so the race sailed was deemed a nonrace (rescheduled for Aug 2nd). We were late to the line for the (non)start, fouling one boat, and being fouled by another, but Mary Lou did great once we got thru the mess of the start area. We passed a few boats and finished mid to later half of the fleet, fun night anyway. Crew was Mike, Bill, Al, Don, Mark, Mary Lou, and Jeff, conditions were 10-12 waves 1ft.
Week Twelve 7/26/2001 Nice night, it was cloudy and rainy all day, but started to clear as we left the dock, and was blue sky by the end of the second leg. Light wind from the NE, smooth water. We had a really lousy start (again), fouling one boat and got to the line early anyway, so we spun and put ourselves at the back of the pack. This put us near the back of the fleet by the first mark, on the ensuing leeward leg we got rolling and passed at least eight boats! We then crept up on the faster pack and finished somewhere about eigth out of some twenty or so boats starting. crew was Don, Scott, Bill, Al, Mary Lou, Kyle, and Jeff, course was NDNDNS shortened to NDNDS (due to darkness), rc was Full Tilt and crew.
Week Thirteen 8/2/2001 Woman at the Helm night (July 19 replacement race). For the race two weeks ago, the whole class sailed off without recognizing that the starting sequence mess up was actually general recalled. That result was there was no race, and we spent that evening sailing around the buoys for no reason! It was fun anyway. The starting sequence this night was set up so the woman piloted boats would start last, hopefully avoiding any additional confusion. We had a fair start, but behind the bulk of the faster boats in this class, so we were playing catch up for the most part. The conditions were a little heavy for the sail area we had up, so we spent more time on our ear instead of going fast. Poor Mary Lou who doesn't have much experience in steering in heavier conditions was struggling a bit. We ended up seventh out of ten boats starting. Conditions were 14-16 gusting over 20 from the south waves 1-2 ft. Crew was Scott, Rich, Bill, Al, Mark, Mary Lou, Jeff. Race committee was Windward Ho (Straight Up) and company.
Week Fourteen 8/9/2001 We had a good start, one of the better ones this season, however we weren't on the line at the gun, and had the possibility of being pushed out. We were lucky we weren't. Being on the right gave us the opportunity to tack for a clear lane and to get to the flatter water nearer the island. The N/M 42 had tacked to this side just before we did, herself having a worse start than us, (they were pushed out and had to circle back to restart, a rare occurrence for the near professional crew aboard). She very soon sailed out from under us, pointing higher and soon stuck us in her bad air. As that happened we tacked away and made our way to the first mark. We got to that mark in pretty good position with only one boat in front of us which should be behind, which we threatened on the down wind leg, but couldn't quite overtake. The rest of the course kept us in that position until the last mark rounding when the Cal 40 got by us and with a well executed tactical approach and rounding. Oh well, win some lose some with that boat, we rate similarly. The after party was actually a surprise 40th for Rich, fun was had by all! Course was DWNES, conditions were SW 14-16, wave at 1-2 ft. Crew was Cathy, Dave, Linda, Bill, Al, Mark, Don, Scott, Mary Lou, Jeff. Race committee was Cheap Trick and crew.
Week Fifteen 8/16/2001 This night was a good night for us, had to be more than 30 boats out. The winds were a little more favorable for us at 10-12 SW with waves about 1ft. We had a good start again, though as soon as we crossed the line the C&C 40 who was just in front of us got their 35# CQR knocked off their bow roller by the Mumm 36. The anchor got to the bottom and stopped them dead...dead in front of us! We scrambled around them but found ourselves in a bad lane, we tacked when we could and got to better air. For the remainder of the first leg we moved well, reaching the weather mark in good position, though behind the Cal 40 again. The run to the next mark we got steam rolling, passed the Cal 40, and caught up to the NY 40 and new C&C 110. The next leg was a reach which we held off a charge by the Cal 40, and stretched out on him on the remaining two legs. The last downwind leg got us by the NY 40. Our offwind speed helps up hang with some good company. Course was DWNDS. Crew was Mat, Sue, Don, Mark, Bill, Rich, Mary Lou, Kyle, Jeff
Week Sixteen 8/23/2001 Women at the Helm II. Rained like a SOB. Three boats sailed this night, all WAH entries (we werent one of them) for which these three were the three placers for the series.
Week Seventeen 8/30/2001 Did race committee for a boat which signed up early season but blew me off. Didnt finish him. End of the season party was after racing which was cool.
Week Eighteen 9/6/2001 Ok night, sailed fair, had a good time.
Week Nineteen 9/13/2001 National tradgety relief night. In somber form, twelve or so boats continued the weekly tradition in an effort to return some form of normalcy to our lives. May God Bless all those who were affected.
Week Twenty 9/20/2001 Another ok night, had a good time yet again.
Week Twentyone 9/27/2001 Harvest moon race and raft up (Dock party). Decent night, sailed ok, had a good time afterwards.
October 3rd, 10th Unofficial races. We did committee, starting the fleet, pulled the hook, and sailed the course. Actually passed several boats both nights. We then stopped at the line, took station and finished all those behind. Interesting way to race.

 




2001 Cruising Log Book
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PJ Night Crossing Fri June 08 thru Sun June 10

Great time! Sailed about half the way over then the wind died so we motored the rest of the way. Got there about dark, Vern and Bill arrived a little ahead of us and found there is no longer any anchoring space in the Sand Cove area, so we went over to the Conscience Bay side and set there. By Saturday we were joined by four more boats. We dingy'ed Kyle to the beach for some exploration, then went to town for a late lunch and ice cream. Kyle had a blast, all the new sights and faces. Saturday night we had too much fun, and Sunday was a great sail home.

July 4th Cruise to Block Island June 28 thru July 7 This was our main cruising event for the season. We left Milford Thursday afternoon, sailing to Duck Island for the first overnight, beautiful sail, started out fairly breezy but on our aft quarter, so it was an easy run. As the evening rolled on the wind got lighter however we had the current with us so even when we were only doing 2 knots over the water we were getting 4+ over the ground. We met up with three other boats at Duck for the first night. Friday morning we set out early to catch the tide at the Race and to reach Block by mid/later afternoon. Again with the tide (but no wind) we were moving fast. The 38+ mi trip took only 6 hours. As we approached Block we could see the tail end of the BI Race Week boats rounding the north light for the round the island race day, and as we approached the harbor entrance the front end of the fleet were rounding the SW corner of the island under spinnaker, quite a sight! We got into the harbor well in front of the race boats, and found many moorings without boats, but not a one available. Anchoring was the alternative, which I new we'd need to do so I made sure we had good tackle (25# danforth, 75' chain, 250' line) before we left. Throughout the afternoon we watched the race boats return, all sizes, must have been close to 250 of them. We ran into one of the racers we know from Milford and arranged to claim his mooring after he left on Sat. We were set very well for Friday night, though about 2am the wind came up to 15-20 knots, so there was some concern on where other boats were moving. On Sat we pulled the hook and motored over to the mooring field and took over John's mooring. This was a great break for us since the wind almost never went below 15 the whole six days we were there. On Sat. we decided to try the town shower facility, which was free to mooring holders. What a disaster that was. The beach where the walkway was to get to the town beach was quite a long dingy ride from the mooring field, then when we got to the road after beaching the dink we found the facility was at least a half mile down the road. Here we are carrying (too many) showering supplies and Kyle and it was hot. The showers themselves are meant more for washing sand out of a bathing suit than a full wash down, another pain, then the walk back to the dink. What we didnt realize on our dink ride to this beach was that it was down wind, the ride back was not. I tried motoring on an angle to the wind (now blowing closer to 25), but every wave would break on the bow and the wind would shower us with salt spray anyway, a less the effective journey. During the afternoon one of our cruiser friends, Bill, who decided to stay anchored was off his boat when another sailboat powering thru the field caught their dingy on his anchor line. They stupidly shut their motor down to try and retrieve their dink and didnt pay attention to the fact that the wind was blowing them into the side of our friends boat. They left major scratches in the gelcoat of a dark blue hulled 42 foot ketch. Nice job folks. The neighbor boats who witnessed this yelled at him and his response was to flip off the neighbors! Nice guy! Bill eventually tracked down the A-hole (with the help of the neighbors) but the guy wouldnt give Bill his insurance info. Then the guy leaves the harbor! Bill had to get the police involved in this one. On Sunday we walked to town, bopped around and had a generally good afternoon. Later in the afternoon as we were just finishing the grilling of dinner the (as predicted) thunder storms moved in, major gusts and heavy rain. During the fray another boat dragged across Bill's anchor line, getting their line tangled with Bill's. The towboat (ripoff) guys then charged Bill $80 to clear his anchor line, basically holding his anchors hostage! Almost as soon as the storm let up one of the cruisers who had yet to arrive pulled into the harbor, wet and worn out, but not much worse than that for the wear. Later Sunday night the wind jumped to 35-45 tossed us about pretty good on our mooring. Two IMS race boats tied together moored next to us lost their bow line, and with no one aboard, separated at the bows and thrashed their aft quarters together for the whole blow, lots of damage, made a mess! Monday and Tuesday were nice, we cruised about the island in a rent-a-car, hit a few restaurants and bars, saw some sights. Tuesday night was the fireworks show, Kyle was thrilled especially by the big booms. It was a little short, but I'm used to NYC type shows, so I shouldnt complain. Wednesday (the 4th) was overcast and drizzley, but the parade and Steak fry went on as usual. We had a great time there. Thursday was our planned leave day, fortunately the weather was good, though not much wind. We left by 8, and decided to head for Shelter Island, Coecles or Deering harbor. We ran into about an hour of 1/4mi or less visibility fog, with Mary Lou holding her breath the whole time. We even came across a large fishing trawler for which we gave plenty of room. We decided to stay at Coecles for Thusday night. Beautiful evening and night, nice light show to the north with severe t-storms up in Connecticut, but they stayed north and we didnt even get a sprinkle. On Friday we decided to stay out one more day, so we aimed for the Connecticut river and Essex. We sailed up Gardiners bay in 12-14 knots of wind on a close reach, sailing really well, when as we approached the Gut (Plum Gut) we noticed the Orient Point ferrys approaching, ALL OF THEM! The high speed ferry left Orient Point and passed thru the Gut fairly well in front of us, but the two normal speed ferrys (one inbound one outbound) passed eachother and us a little before the tidal current line. I'd beared off some and killed some speed when I saw this situation developing to make sure we weren't in the middle of the Gut when they passed. Good thing because the Gut was a washing machine, with current and wind going in opposite directions. Once thru the Gut it was a nice (fast) sail to the Connecticut side, however I took us too far in and put us in the middle of the same sort of current/wind washing machine on the approach to the Connecticut River as we saw at the Gut. Sailing was painfully slow in the current whipped 3-4 ft chop, so we motored the remainer on the way to the river and up to Essex. In Essex we decided to take a slip at the Chandlery, one of the nicest places I've been. We had an early dinner at the Gris and toured a classic boat show on the town docks next to the Chandlery. This was an awesome last night on the boat. In the morning we wanted to get an early start to have favorable current for the trip home, so we were up and ready to go at 7am. The water level on the river was a bit low, and on our attempt to exit the slip we ran into something on the bottom, felt like an old wood bulkhead. I dragged the boat sideways into the empty slip next to us and was lucky to get around whatever was on the bottom. We'd have been there for a long time if we had to wait for higher water. We motored down the river and about half way home until the wind shifted off the nose where we had a nice sail for the remaining 15 miles. Great trip overall.



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  Please note, the author makes no warranty as to the accuracy of the content herein, however every effort has been and continues to be made to keep the content up to date and valid. Please accept our apology for any error or omission which might occur. Comments/suggestions may be forwarded to the author at jeff.stuart@schock34.net    All rights reserved, Copyright Jeff Stuart 1998-2003