I arrived last night at 20:30 after leaving Atlantic City the previous day at 10:00.
Phew.
Another solo overnight passage done. IT feels great to be “home”; in this case, home is the Port Edgewood Marina, a few miles south of downtown Providence, Rhode Island. I’m here because the marina people are very nice and they offer extremely good monthly rates. I’m paying ¼ of what I was paying for the week in A.C.
This is also a great place to put the finishing touches on the boat for its July passage across the Atlantic. My friends Richard and Melanie are also here, so it’s always more pleasant to work with helping hands and advice available.
The trip from Atlantic City, 215 nm, almost 400 km, went as planned. I left A.C. with light winds that died down my midafternoon. I retrieved the paravane birds, as they take 0.6 kts, off my speed, and motored on into the night.
By about 1:00 a.m., the winds had increased again form the NW, producing wind driven NW waves 2-3’ high. There was also an 8 second Southeasterly swell. The rolling of Dauntless had continued to increase, so finally I threw the birds back in the water (I had kept the poles extended). As usually, the roll was decreased by two thirds.
By mid-morning I was just south of Block Island. It is somewhat of a coincidence, but it seems whenever I have these long trips, no matter have many boats I see, or don’t see, as the case may be, there is always one, that after having gone hours and hours without seeing anything, a boat will appear that is clearly on a collision course.
But I saw him miles away and was getting ready to change course and pass behind him when he hailed me on the VHF. He said he just wanted to make sure someone was paying attention and I thanked him for the heads up.
Finally, 6.5 months, 700 engine hours and 4000 miles later, I’m back; at least for the time being.
Pictures on my Blog and by tomorrow on SmugMug
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