Day Five: 5.31.2018 - Niantic to Clinton

Thursday dawns bright and sunny and we find ourselves climbing down a ten foot ladder to disembark from Eclipse, which is still in the boat yard in slings.  We had slept aboard her in the yard, up in the air, an interesting experience as she swung us gently to sleep.. Around 9am the crew  is ready to return Eclipse to her natural habitat. 




It's a day of easy sailing, mostly downwind with two to three foot waves. Eclipse doesn't sail directly downwind until I jury-rig one of our boat hooks as a jib pole to fly the tack of the sail out further. Toward late afternoon it looks like stratus rain up ahead, but by the time we get to Clinton Harbor, it has moved over land. Home for the night is just off the channel in about three feet of water at low tide. Kristen cooks up some rabbit for lunch and for dinner, duck legs in paprika, garlic and basil, with a pot of mac 'n cheese, extra cheesy.












Amtrak zooms by as we raise the mast and sail in Niantic bay









Millstone I nuclear power plant hangs at the entrance to Niantic Bay






Tug Boat in Niantic Bay






The tug meets up with a work barge to exchange crew and give a push






Sauteed Rabbit with garlic and cheese.






Sailboat passes by as seen from inside Eclipse.






Pan fried duck legs for dinner

Day Four: 5.30.2018 - Eclipse Gets Repaired!

Wednesday breaks thick with fog, so thick that we find ourselves in a pool of gray despite land being a close distance away. Mowing machines at work on the golf course break the peacefulness and pierce through the fog. By the time breakfast is done, cranberry nut bread using the grill as an oven, land has emerged and a bright sun beams down on us. Anchor up! My grade-school friend Roger Long lives in Niantic, so we'll visit him this evening. 

It's a beam reach all the way to Niantic but off New London the fog settles over us once more. Big high-speed ferries come in here, so we're obliged to give one long and two short blasts on our fog horn. It's doubtful they can hear us over their diesels, but they've got us on radar.

Three Bells Marina has agreed to lift Eclipse out so we can effect our repair. But first we take down both sails and lower the mast, and try to pass a rope under her hull and pull the centerboard up that way. Once under the bridges, the channel zigs and zags through the harbor as we wend our way to the marina.

The staff here is very, sometimes going out of their way to help two sailors a long way from home. They decide that since we're the last lift to be done that day, and we'll be the first in the morning, we can stay on the slings of the lift all night. Once the machine is parked, we explore the faults. Our first thought was that something was jammed in the centerboard well, but that was disproved yesterday. Perhaps the cable broke or became disconnected somehow.  We puzzle and puzz until our puzzlers are sore.  What we end up finding out after Eclipse is hauled out of the water that the point of failure is the centerboard itself, which split apart just above where the cable attaches, and the cable, with it's stop bolted to the end, has been forced up this crack about a foot. It's jammed tight, so Roger meets us and taxies us to a hardware store. A length of cable, various bolts, marine epoxy, etc.

Let's get to work. We'll need to cut the jammed cable, so I pull it down with vice grips, and to my surprise I'm able to force it back down the crack and into it's proper place! No need for a new cable with new clamps and all that. We force epoxy into the crack and close it with four bolts.  Kristen covers it all up with three layers of fiberglass cloth and more epoxy. It's warm out, we're in direct sun, and the epoxy sets up way too fast, but success is ours. Next up, showers!

Roger returns to treat us to dinner at Sunset Ribs, overlooking the channel we motored up a few hours ago. We meet Collett, his wife, and Wyatt, their son, and retire to their house afterwards for longer conversations and reminisces. Finally we settle down for the night rocking in the cradle of the lift.

The Ferry from Montauk Point emerges from the fog!  We are on edge because of poor visibility.

Three Belles Marina - Eclipse is being directed to the lift.

Eclipse on the lift as she is hauled out

Eclipse in her new home for the night as we begin work on the faulty centerboard.

Fortunately Kristen packed way more tools than was prescribed!

New bolts to hold the split centerboard and to prevent the cable from riding up into the crack again!  Kristen later fiberglassed the crack over and Gary sanded and painted

Day Three: 5.29.2018: Port Judith, RI to Fisher's Island

Tuesday May 29

Another gray morning. In our little cove winds are very calm, but once we motor out to the ocean, we have a brisk wind from the southwest. Our planned route? West-south west. Almost directly into the wind. But the wind is very steady and waves are long swells, making for pleasant sailing. On our first forays in Eclipse, about a year ago, she behaved with strong weather-helm, which means that when the wind blows hard, she'll turn her nose toward the wind. A little bit of weather-helm is good, but we were constantly fighting to keep her straight. Since then we've added a pair of skegs, a first reef point on the mainsail (she came with the second reef already), and a reef in the jibsail. We've also learned to use all those reefing points. So now Eclipse will sail herself, without any attention to the tiller. Very pleasant indeed.

Tacking west, we often come close to the Rhode Island shore, and marvel at the huge homes just behind the beach. Many of which by the time you finished vacuuming, it's time to start over. Pleasure boats are scarce on this workday, so instead we share the waters with a fleet of trawlers.

Near Watch Hill, the wind can only be found near shore. Beyond and there is no wind, plus a strong current. We have to use the motor.

Our destination is East Harbor on Fishers Island. It should give us protection from SW winds of today, and E winds for tomorrow. As we motor in, we raise the rudder and centerboard in case we encounter shallow water. But for some reason the centerboard only comes up part way. Baffled, we try to dislodge whatever might be there by motoring backwards and forward, but to no avail. So we anchor, and probe around with an underwater camera. Nothing seems amiss. Plan C, and I don my swim suit, jump in, and grope around in the centerboard well for anything. There is nothing but very cold water. Reviewing the video later, we find that the cable for uphauling the centerboard has come undone.

Just to add to the excitement, while we are troubleshooting the centerboard, the bladder tank for our sink faucet bursts and a waterfall of water pours out from its home inside the cabinet and dumps water all over the carpet in the salon. The shelf breaks off as well in the mayhem of the moment. More things to fix.

Our anchorage is quiet, and surrounded by multimillion dollar homes and a golf course. But we have a better view than they do, and we don't pay their taxes.

Osprey Nest!

Fishing Boats ply the waters off of Port Judith

Loons swimming about in a calm ocean as Eclipse passes

Large Mansions dot the Rhode Island coastline near Watch Hill, RI

Watch Hill Rhode Island hosts this replica of an 1868 hotel that once stood on this site.

Day Two: 5.28.2018: Prudence Island to Port Judith Rhode Island

Memorial day. It should be a busy day for boaters, but being cold and gray again, there are few boats out until the stratus clouds lift and blue skies break through. In our relatively calm anchorage, we raise the mast, then up go the jib and mainsail. Tailwinds push us south through Narragansett harbor, past General Dynamics, and under the high bridge to Jamestown island.

High Bridge connecting Jamestown to the Rhode Island Mainland

Airforce One....sans tail, sans rudder sitting on the tarmac at General Dynamics

This plane was making numerous practice runs over the General Dynamics plant north of Narragansett, Rhode Island.

Lighthouse in Narragansett Bay

As we round Point Judith, the winds, which had been steady from the north, swing around to the south and we tack in to Port Judith. With the change in weather, lots of boats are out. Fishing, cruising, and roaring by at full speed. 

Point Judith LIghthouse

Fisherman try their luck with their nets

With the change in weather, lots of boats are out. Fishing, cruising, and roaring by at full speed. Inside the breakwater, down come the sails and we motor in to the marina for gas and water.

Port Judith Marina

Our two intrepid sailors gathering fuel and water at the marina in Port Judith

A short way north from the marina our charts indicate an anchorage....

We drop anchor, and row Partial Eclipse (our dinghy) to the small island nearby. Above the beach of cobble and rounded gravel, are beach roses in full bloom and smelling wonderful. But look out for poison ivy, which here grows as a small bush and is prolific. Needless to say, we kept to the beach. But while here, we notice that Eclipse is getting knocked about by some major wakes from passing power boats. 

Eclipse as seen from one of the islands in Point Judith Pond

We don't want to stay here for the night. On the west side of the bay is a nice protected cove. Perhaps too shallow for many sailboats, but perfect for us. Fishermen like it too, as there are several. Kristen makes a cheese stuffed chicken, to which I add a salad.

FIshing Boats in Port Judith Harbor

The moon rises, about one day from full, and reflects off the water.

Blogging!

Let the Adventure Begin! Day One: 5.27.2018: Trailering to Providence, RI and launching!

May 27 and we are finally underway. Let the adventure begin! 

Winds on the Atlantic between Portsmouth and the Cape Cod Canal have been unfavorable. First they were straight in our face, then in our face and too strong (over 20mph), then moist winds from the East bringing fog. So we stayed home. Today about noon, Gary's father drove us with Eclipse in tow, and Partial Eclipse on the roof of the car, all the way to Providence RI. He then brought the empty trailer back home.

We launched at Collier park under a cold drizzle and a stiff wind, and spent half an hour tied up while we stowed gear and rigged for motoring. And finally, we're underway. Memorial Day weekend and we've got the harbor to ourselves. No wonder! Cold and drizzle keeps most boaters in their warm houses.

Gary at the helm as the Providence Skyline fades away

Numerous international cargo vessels dot the harbour in Providence.  Note the wind turbines.

The providence Skyline as seen off the stern of Eclipse

The cargo ship, "Ciel de Gaspesie"  (Sky of Gaspe), docked in Providence.  Gaspe is a port city in Northeastern Quebec Province.

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Many picturesque lighthouses dot the shoreline and the waters as we head out from the Providence River and emerge into Narragansett Bay.

Once we settled into a routine, I ducked below to cook up a curried shrimp with vegies. As the afternoon progressed toward evening, the waves built to three feet with occasional white-caps. It was still cold with a heavy drizzle, so around 6pm we found an anchorage on the west side of Prudence Island, a space we shared with four other sailboats taking refuge from the inclement weather as well. As soon as we were secured topside we went below to fire-up the Webasto furnace. Having a forced hot air heater on board Eclipse makes all the difference on a chilly, wet day!

Fickle Winds do Blow

Our original plan was to depart Durham on or about May 10. Approaching that date, we realized we had much preparations to do. That date was chosen based on the tide charts through the Cape Cod Canal, so the next date would be two weeks later. May 24 comes, and the weather, especially the wind direction and wave height has caused us to rethink. Our departure has been pushed back to launching Saturday 5/26 at noon (high tide in Durham) and heading down the coast Sunday. But with two more days of fog after that, we'll have to trailer to Providence RI and skip the open Atlantic. All these delays have let us prepare very well, and to make sure everyone and everything we're leaving behind is in good shape. But we're going to have to keep pushing each day to get back on track. 

We will travel as weather permits. But here's our latest proposed itinerary as far as Albany NY. At that point we'll have a handle on how far we can travel in a day and how desperately we want a day ashore.

Providence, RI: Sunday 5/27

Niantic CT: Tuesday 5/29

Hudson River: Saturday 6/4

Troy NY: Monday 6/13

Schenectady NY: Wednesday 6/15

Packing and Preparing and Powering

Eclipse is being packed and prepared for her extended voyages down the coast of the Atlantic Ocean to New York City and inland to the Great Lakes and Canada.  Space is limited on a vessel of this size so everything we carry has to be something we will use.  If it is a tool we are carrying, then that tool should be useful for MORE than one purpose.  Here we have one of our storage areas under the aft dinette seat.  A LOT can be stored in a relatively small area!

Aft Dinette Seat being what it is... a seat.

Food Storage under Seat!

 The bathroom (otherwise known in maritime lingo as "The Head"), has become a multi-purpose area as well.  It now serves as a sitting and dressing area with a large wall mirror.  It also is a repository for any and all hygenic and first aid needs.  Additionally, it holds a select collection of reading materials in the ship's library.  Additional books, reading material and maps (as needed) are stored in less accessible storage areas beneath the rear berth and may be appropriated and exchanged as needed.

The Multi-Porpoise Bathroom Area

The electrical configuration is done and I have successfully utilized all but one of my circuit breakers for the purposes of electrifying various portions of the ship.  The panel has switches that act also as circuit breakers and each switch controls a separate function or series of related functions onboard Eclipse. The panel also has an analog style voltmeter and, below it, a pair of USB ports and a 12 volt socket outlet.  Additionally, I added a second, rechargeable, handheld, marine radio that is waterproof, and floats!  This is a backup that will be useful for signalling the drawbridges and locks to open while remaining seated comfortably in the cockpit and without having to constantly drop down into the galley to grab the mic on the main radio.  It's also handy if the primary radio fails or if we get into trouble and we lose electrical power onboard for whatever reason.  I might have gone a little overboard when it comes to safety but it beats the alternatives if I end up overboard.  Above the electrical panel rests a 12 volt to 110 volt converter to power whatever we may have that requires such voltages.  Below the radio can be seen one of the squirrel fans that is part of the custom designed built-in refrigeration unit that I created in an attempt to help keep what food we may have that requires refrigeration, cold!  A carbon monoxide and fire detector are located to the right of the electrical panel and, below that, there is a spare solar charger that can be swapped out with the one currently in place and active in the power grid....just in case the primary fails and we need a new one in a rush!

Electrical Control Panel with switches, lights and knobs!

Eclipse has her radio mounted up above the galley.  To the right of the radio is an antique barometer that was my grandfather's, a custom clock that was entirely assembled from parts and finally, an indoor/outdoor thermometer with remote sensor.  This was another fun project!

Radio, Barometer, Clock and Thermometers, Oh My!

New Motor!  We sold the older 9.9 HP 2 stroke and purchased a new 4 stroke Electronic Fuel Injection model that is MUCH thriftier on gas consumption and a heck of a lot quieter.  It should prove to be more reliable than the older motor and we will be needing a reliable motor for all of the miles we will be doing!

New Tohatsu 9.9 4 stroke with Electronic Fuel Imjection