I forgot to raise the dinghy last night and when it was time to go this morning the ebbing tide insisted on an early departure. So I quickly raised it out of the water, just hanging there, and we came out of North Cove and into the river before I raised it the rest of the way and secured it snugly. There were no waves or wind. The current in the river helped us, but most of the rest of the journey until the last hour we had a adverse tide. Towards the beginning, there was a bit of wind from the south, so I put up full sails and got our speed increased by half a knot. But later in the day the wind turned to directly behind us at the speed we were going. This meant zero apparent wind. Yanmar did all the work. And it was hot as blazes. We wetted towels and hats and put them on to cool off.
There is a sandbar, the faint white line in the satellite photo, running from Charles Island to the mainland to the west, which creates a shelter behind the island. Milford is at the end of the inlet. It is a well restauranted and “happening” town, but the local Milford Landing Municipal Marina (which the Harlem Cruise visited several times in the past) has joined the trend to exorbitant pricing. And with a forecast of the same “light and variable” wind that we had by day, we anchored in 13 feet of water at low with 60 feet of snubbed chain.
There was one sailboat several hundred yards north of us (still there in the morning visible against the row of beachfront houses on the left) and three small powerboats near the island. The powerboats left at 4:30.
With our early arrival, Chef Lene (assisted by her private vegetable chopper/dishwasher) knocked herself out. I’ve avoided making this a food blog, but an exception must be made for our exceptional three pot dinner.
During the night, at about two A.M., we had a brief string wind storm. A front may have passed, dropping no rain. I got up and looked at the chart plotter in the cockpit: we had not dragged. A beautiful sunrise.
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