Sept. 8 — Cruise 2; Day 2 — Glen Cove NY to Milford CT, 43 NM

 A bright sunny pleasant day. Wind similar to yesterday, at first but getting lighter and much more pleasant due to the sun. Here is Glen Cove’s protective seawall in the morning at high tide  to the right, and New Rochelle to the left, across the Sound. Darker water out past the seawall shows that there was wind. High tide means favorable currents on our way. 

And here are some of the other boats moored closer to shore behind the seawall.

We cast off after our omelette at nine AM, set the main and small jib, and took the north or starboard tack first,  which brought us to the entrance of Rye Playland. The next tack was supposed to be east, but it turned out much more south east and slow. So furling the headsail we motored directly into the wind  up the  Sound to a point near the entrance to Oyster Bay. We hoped to be far enough south to be able to sail ENE to our destination, on the CT shore, eventually, when the wind came 45 degrees off our port bow. But once it got 25 degrees off, we turned toward the destination, and motor sailed. The wind came a bit further from the south east and soon enough we could sail without the engine. And we slowed from six knots to four, but the gentler ride, the quiet and the joy of sailing made the slower speed worth it. We passed this 1920’s style luxury boat off Norwalk.

Destination? Well we did not really have one but both Fairfield and Milford came to mind as pleasant alternatives.  Milford was my first choice - farther away. My communications officer contacted two places in each port and we changed our minds several times. When it got rough, she wanted Fairfield, the Fayerweather YC, because it was nearer, but when it got more pleasant again we elected Milford, the eventual destination. There, we could have anchored behind Charles Island, where we stayed during the Eight Day cruise in early August, but with NE wind predicted, we thought of anchoring off the land on the NW side of the Gulf- lots of room and the right depth.. Eventually I selected the Milford YC, despite its $4/foot dockage rate, in part because we had never been there before.

They assigned us the outside of the “t” of B dock, shown to the left in the next picture (you can see the. B), with our lines and fenders on the starboard side,  but upon arrival, a big fat catamaran was there, with no room for us and blocking a good part the narrow channel. And it was low tide with our alarm screaming “less than seven feet” at us. The dock man standing there scratching his head. This required us to back out in reverse, before turning and tying onto C dock, with our dinghy seen in the same photo to the right. Backing I’d not difficult except in strong winds or currents, which we did not have. Turn to face aft, grab the wheel and steer like you would a car. The only ploblom is that the bow, 43 feet back swings way out to the other side behind you, potentially side-swiping other boats. No mishaps this time.

The Milford YC club house was recently rebuilt and is is nice, the staff friendly and  trying to be helpful and the food in the restaurant was adequate. It had many patrons, social members, on its large awning covered restaurant overlooking the water. This large pool, closed for the season, and the fact that it’s members live in town or nearby must be big advantages.

For only the second time since I’ve been cruising, the club was not satisfied with our membership cards, but required a letter from the Harlem’s Secretary certifying that we are members in good standing as of that date. Thanks to Ellen, and to modern electronics, this was only a minor hassle.

Underway 8 1/4 hours and made 43 NM, so averaged 5.2 knots. We added 3.2 engine hours so about five hours of sailing without the engine, some fast and some slow. 

Autopilot seems to be showing signs of its age — 24 years. The buttons to adjust right or left by one or by ten degrees are not responding and it has difficulty holding the course I set, tending to drift off. So it requires much more diligent watching than when it worked correctly. A call to Raymarine is in order to try to figure which parts of it need to be replaced this winter.
During the night a bird pooped on us but with the dew it was relatively easy to hose off in the morning. A quiet night.