September 15 — Cruise 2, Day 9 — Stonington, CT to Mattituck, LI, 35 NM

Another beautiful long passage under sail today. Sails up and engine off from the Stonington breakwater at 8:15 to the entrance to Mattituck Inlet after 33 of our 35 NM, at 2:15, with another half hour of motoring the two miles up the inlet to the anchoring basin off Strong’s Marina.

Outside, with reefed main and small jib we saw speeds of more than eight tide assisted knots earlier and only four toward the end when the wind died down a lot. Our course averaged about 260 degrees and the wind, from NNW and NW, varied from close hauled to near the beam. When at very high speed we were over powered so we furled the small jib and under reefed main alone, did better than six knots. Later we let half the small jib work and still later, the rest of it again. Autopilot handled things pretty well with a few notable lapses, but only when on the highest “rudder gain” which uses the most electricity to try harder to steer straight. 

Some interesting communiques from the Coast Guard, that did not affect us because we had already passed New London. One, was a warning of a hazard to navigation off the entrance: a ten foot by ten foot piece of concrete floating out there. Later a warning to remain 100 yards from the “special vessel” that was transiting. Yes, one of our submarines, going out or coming home to its New London base. 

In the Anchoring Basin there is room for maybe a dozen anchored boats. Today there were two others when we arrived and only two more came in later. It must irritate Strong’s intensely for us to pay zero, as compared to their rate of over $6 per foot for the night. We used the small dinghy dock of the County Park where my picture was taken.

That dock is an even shorter walk to Love Lane, the town’s quaint one block business district, than via the Marina’s exit to the road. The only restriction: a three hour maximum stay at the dock. But that was much longer than we needed. Coffee, a donut, that missing postage stamp, some treasures from the hardware store and a chance to stretch our legs after two days aboard.

At dinner time the flame went out! No propane!  Raw meat did not appeal to us. But we have an adapter (acquired in Grenada back in 2012) so we can supply propane from those small green camping canisters. And we have a pair of the canisters. The problem was my fault; I had noticed a faint whiff of propane from the lazaratte where the tanks are stored, but did nothing about it. Apparently I had not tightened the big tank to the hose tightly enough, allowing a very small leak all summer. But attaching the adapter and the canister are better performed in daylight than by flashlight. And the adapter was not in the baggie that had its instruction manual!  What to do? Raw meat? No, the adapter was found near where it should have been.  Another quiet cool night.