Ya gotta start somewhere! Tomorrow (June 4th), Brio fills her fuel tanks, her water tank, her fridges and freezer. Last minute items get packed. Off we go! As recently as last Friday, we discovered a short-circuit in one of the control panels. Fortunately, with the help of mechanics from Burr Brothers Boats in Marion and John Poland of Cummins NE in Scarborough, Maine, the short-circuit was tracked down. Clues were: neither engine would start, both engines, if they started, would die together, etc. Not a promising start! But we think we have the problem licked.
So here's the map from Cape Cod to New York City.
We're located at the star inside the gold circle.
The weather tomorrow is benign, with winds east to southeast at 9 mph. What waves there might be will be maybe a foot or so high. With a little luck, cruising at 20 to 25 knots, we should get to Stonington or even Essex, CT on the Connecticut River.
Stonington is on the CT-RI border. The British bombed the village in the War of 1812. There are still cannon balls lodged in the stone houses at the southern tip of the village. The Connecticut River is west of Stonington and Essex is perhaps ten miles upstream from the River's mouth. Essex was an important port during the Revolutionary War.
If you look at Long Island, you can spot the North Fork and the South Fork. At the tip of the South Fork is Montauk. Between the Forks is Gardiners Island. Just north of Gardiners (not shown on the map) is Plum Island where some say that gene research was conducted that led to the creation of tic-borne Lyme Disease.
South Fork has the town of Greenport. Hal White captained a Coast Guard sail boat (about 50 to 70 feet long?) out of Greenport during the early days of World War II. The fleet was active along the Atlantic Coast, looking for German U-Boats. They would go out in winter, summer, gales and calm. The fleet was known as the Picket Patrol.
Hal White told stories of having to chip ice from the deck and rigging every four-hour watch lest the boat would become so heavy as to sink. His boat has a machine gun mounted on the stern, aft of the mizzen mast. All that did was to confirm to the German sub that the sailboat was not on a pleasure voyage.
We continue west down Long Island Sound, ultimately making it to New York City, the Statue of Liberty and north up the Hudson River. The entire trip will likely be three to four days, depending upon conditions.
More soon!
Cheers,
Brio
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