Roller coaster ride to Block Island

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Tue 25 Jun 2013 22:42

41:11.54N 71:34.71W

 

Sat, Sun, Mon & Tuesday – 22nd, 23rd, 24th & 25th June

 

On Saturday we had a very simple trip that took us from Worton Creek to the Chesapeake and Delaware canal entrance, timing it to catch the 2 knot current which swept us along the canal for 19 miles to the Delaware River. Here we chose to duck behind the breakwater and anchor out of the 20 knot wind in water that was supposed to be too shallow, but the excellent Active Captain website advised otherwise.  We were joined later by two other boats who had clearly taken their lead from us. The object of stopping here was to wait for the tide to turn so we could take the ride as far as possible down the river towards the sea.

 

This plan all came together well and we raised the anchor and set off at 0130 hours on Sunday morning just as the tide began to ebb. We had a brief VHF conversation with the 600ft cargo ship that came bearing down on us in the darkness and then with a full moon to help light our way and, at one point a 3.5 knot current, we headed south.

 

We covered the 50 miles in good time and only had to fight the flood tide briefly at the river entrance before setting a course around 1000 hours for Block Island which was some 205 miles north and east of us.

 

We had a good sail up with the wind coming from astern of us, ranging from 15 to 25 knots and we can report that we were simply delighted with the second hand boom brake that we had just fitted which worked flawlessly. Lots of dolphins and porpoises showed themselves along the way and Sarah saw several  pilot whales. Sadly for the most part these animals were all very lethargic and showed no interest in us at all and it was not until we were quite close to Long Island and bounding along at 8 knots that a lively bunch came over and swam with us for a while, jumping and diving under our bows.

 

Things got a bit more exciting on the Monday afternoon as we neared Block Island and were passing over some relative shallows, when the 25 knot wind from the south west met the 2.5 knot current from the north east! This produced some steep short waves very reminiscent of the North Sea and we surfed along for a while until the depth increased again.

 

We were expecting the enclosed natural harbour and anchorage at Block Island to be relatively quiet and empty being mid-week in June, but our concerns grew as we approached and a fleet of 20 yachts that were clearly racing, swept into the very narrow harbour entrance ahead of us. The anchorage was heaving and we subsequently have discovered that it is Block Island Race Week. This event is held every two years and this is the 25th anniversary. So there are actually 180 boats racing every day and watching all them leave this morning (Tuesday) was very impressive, particularly as they mostly seemed to leave it until the last minute.

 

So we dropped anchor in amongst the big yachts, most of which are acting as bases for the racing yachts which tie up alongside them overnight and sat back to relax after our first overnight passage of the year. We were entertained by several boats struggling to anchor and one poor couple in particular who had probably 6 attempts before they finally got their anchor to grip and set.

 

On Tuesday we went ashore taking our Brompton bike (hiring a second bike for me) and set off to explore the island and town. It was not perhaps quite as impressive as the guide books would have you believe, but we enjoyed our excursion and we did keep meeting beautiful original steam powered cars, that were here on Block Island as part of a rally around the state of Rhode Island.  We (Sarah) also had a good nose around the island’s graveyard which features the same family names over and over, grouped together.

 

We returned to Serafina in the mid afternoon and spent a few hours then watching the inevitable trials and tribulations of yachts struggling to get anchors to set as they arrived in the 25 knot winds that had returned to make their lives difficult.