August 6 — HYC/CIYC Eight Day Cruise — Day 5, Hamburg Cove to Guilford - 25NM

But first breakfast. This time Julia supplied apples which I diced and sautéed with cinnamon to fill the pancakes. When we got from the Cove into the River it was blowing 18 knots from the south, which opposed the current rushing south to make it quite choppy. Added to this, it being a Saturday, tons of power boats churning up wakes in all directions. But south wind would make for a great beam reach once we got out to the Sound, we anticipated.

As we passed Essex in the Channel a fleet of smaller boats was racing to port and the Committee Boat, via VHF, asked the “spectator boats” to keep clear of the line. I identified ILENE and asked if we would be interfering  — I can never tell at first glance where a race’s marks are. “No, just stay in the channel.”

But once in the Sound the wind got turned off. Gypsy Jake had a pocket of wind and continued to try sailing. We motored a ways toward Guilford. Eventually, however, pursuant to the ancient maxim: “ If you don’t like the weather, just wait— it will change”, the wind did come up and we had an hour and a half of tide assisted seven knots of boat speed under Genoa alone on a gentle port close reach without significant waves.

Guilford Channel is well marked with thin white poles on each side with stripes of red or green paint — ILENE’s depth sounder screamed at us at seven feet, but the water did not get much shallower and it was nine feet at our dock, at half tide. 

I have to put in a good word for the manager and dock hands at the Guilford YC. On the spot and helpful. When Lene asked where she could buy a head of lettuce and a dozen eggs, they apologetically told us that the grocery in town had closed, that Uber to the Mall was ridiculous and that due to potential liability issues they no longer lent out bikes to sailors. An hour later, the smiling dock hand showed up with a brown paper bag containing the sought foodstuffs. Now that’s customer service. It is not a Yacht Club as such, but a privately owned marina with a pool and clean showers. There was a wedding reception going on in the upstairs hall.

We had run out of fresh water in the morning and elected to leave Hamburg Cove with the sink full of dirty dishes. (There is some sort of leak in the fresh water system that has to be sorted out.)  But that made filling the fresh water tanks the first order of business at the Guilford dock. The last order of business was the use of their showers. In between, another delicious dinner aboard Gypsy Jake. Thanks, Julia.

Sorry no photos in this post.