Tuesday morning, June 4th, broke clear and calm. Just as importantly, the weather forecast was for the high pressure to remain fairly stationary and dominant over southern New England. This is a fabulous window for Brio to make tracks west with calm seas. And make tracks we did. We left Wing's Neck on Cape Cod, just north of the M in Mashpee and went west to Essex, Connecticut on this first day. But, first things first:
Alice dropped us off at South Beach at 7:45 a.m. We took the Whaler to Brio, made preparations, started the fridge and motored to Parker's Boat Yard to top off the fuel and water and pump out the waste tank. Alice arrived just as we were done and we loaded all of the perishables on board, filling the fridge with our meals for the coming days. Then the sad part came as we said our good-byes.
Brio fired up right away, as if her 1100 horses were eager to go. Off we went, tooting the horn to Wings Neckers on our way out. Down Buzzards Bay we went, past the string of Elizabeth Islands (just northwest of Martha's Vineyard, through Rhode Island Sound, north of Block Island and into Fisher's Island Sound at Westerly, Rhode Island.
Between the western end of Fisher's Island and the North Fork of Long Island is an area called The Race. Tides do race through this area, emptying and filling Long Island Sound with each ebb and flood. It is here, where submarines come and go from New London, Connecticut, that there are water depths over 250 feet deep. This is a perfect place for one of our tasks.
We dropped our heavy anchor over board, attached as it was to 250 feet of chain. It never touched bottom, but it did mean that all the mud and silt from the Maine summer cruise of last summer could wash off. And if there were kinks in the chain from its heavy use last summer, they would unwind. But would the windlass be strong enough to pull all that weight back on board?
Fortunately, the windlass was strong. It did labor initially. The combined weight of chain and anchor was likely hundreds of pounds. Up it came, slowly at first, then faster until it was all stored on board. Job complete!
Just west of The Race the New London Ferry carries people and cars and trucks between New London, Connecticut and the North Fork of Long Island. By taking this ferry, you save hours of travel into New York City and back east to get to Long Island. It's a great way to avoid the congestion of NYC and all that Brio will soon see.
Then on to the Connecticut River and Essex. Brio was here a few years ago, so this was familiar terrain. The headwaters of the Connecticut are at the northernmost boundary of New Hampshire at the Fourth Connecticut Lake. From such lofty and inauspicious beginnings, the River is vast and meandering at its mouth.
While Essex is bucolic and calm today, it wasn't always so. The British saw Essex as a military target worthy of destruction. It was a ship-building site with many associated industries. And these ships served as privateers during the War of 1812. In April 1814, the British set fire to Essex.
Fortunately, these strains have been resolved and Essex was our destination for fuel Tuesday evening and for a quiet overnight.
Essex is halfway between New York and Boston. It is also a short commute to Hartford. Trade between New York and Boston was made complicated due to the Connecticut River. Train travel eased this in the 1800s. The Connecticut Turnpike was built in the 1950s and made transportation much easier.
For Brio, though, we had to get under the train bridge that lies between the mouth of the River and Essex. Usually this is open when there is no train traffic. But both for our arrival and our departure, the bridge was closed. Would we fit under the bridge?
Believe it or not, we squeezed under with a couple of feet to spare over our antennas. We held our breath!
The next morning (June 5th), we cast off and headed back out to the Sound. We turned west towards New Haven, Stamford and onto New York for our next blog.
Cheers,
Brio
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