Gone Sailing

Point Judith is a nice place to sail from. You can head south and west to Long Island Sound or north and east to Narragansett Bay or the Elizabeth Islands. Summer is coming to a close so it is now or never if Sally and I are going to get a trip in this year. We have been out sailing several times including an overnighter in the Harbor of Refuge. I did a solo trip over to Block Island returning the same day, but I really wanted to do a multi day trip, cover a few miles and explore some new places. On one day trip in the Harbor of Refuge we spotted the intriguing shape of a small cat ketch. We came about and sailed over for a closer inspection and were pleased to recognize that it was Jeff and his two sons in his Core Sound 20. In a brief shouted exchange Jeff reported that they had just sailed in from Montauk. That was a 25 nm sail with a 15+ knot wind off their stern quarter. That would have made for an incredible 4 or 5 hour sleigh ride. Wow I've always wanted to go to Montauk. I shouted back.

 That was the nudge I needed. I started looking for a three day block of available time with a decent weather window. Then a menu and check list and finally packing the boat.

Sally is at the tiller sailing past Jerusalem on the way out of Point Judith Pond.

Wind NW 10-15 knots heading west along the Rhode Island coast toward Watch Hill. Watch Hill came into sight around noon about the same time the wind backed around to the West. This necessitated tacking back and forth through Watch Hill Passage.

A few years ago Sally and I drove to Watch Hill and hiked around Napatree Point. We spotted several interesting shore birds including some Piping Plovers. It was exciting and very different approaching the area from sea, but having visited the area before from land was comforting and made it easier to get our bearings.We rounded Red # 6 taking us around Napatree Ledge. I was pretty sure there was plenty of water inside the bouy and I could see a small boat taking the shortcut over the ledge but we decided to play it safe and round the point well outside all of the rocks. As we rounded the point and looked inside towards our intended anchorage we could see surf breaking. That gave us some additional incentive to stay outside and approach cautiously.

We headed towards the large sandbar that clogs the entrance to Little Narragansett Bay as we approached the bar we hove too for a few moments to plan our next move. We could head over towards Stonington and pick up the marked channel. That would take us over to Watch Hill Cove but it was a couple of miles out of our way following a narrow but marked and dredged channel. Our anchorage was in sight less than a mile across the shallows. As we were discussing the situation we observed a small power boat cutting across the flats and we could see he was following some private markers. Then another boat did the same and we decided to follow. We had a fair wind so in no time we were in deep water just outside Watch Hill Cove.
There were quite a few boats around from power boats to a 45 foot ketch. We moved as far towards the point as we could until the water began to shoal then we dropped the hook a couple of hundred feet from the sandy beach.

This is the sound side of Napatree Beach. Skorpa is facing NW into the shallows of Little Naragansett Bay. Watch Hill is in the background. I let out an extra 100 feet of scope and by pulling on an oar we were able to force the stern towards the shore and step out into a few inches of water. Nothing like getting your feet on solid ground after a passage.

Sally enjoys looking through the wrack for interesting stuff.

Sally is on the short path that leads through the dunes from the sound side to the ocean. After a nice walk we clambered back on board and started supper. Curried rice and vegetables cooked in our pressure cooker made a tasty meal. We had a very quiet night. The wind veered north and eased off a little. The tide went out making the water surrounding our anchorage quite shallow and offering us more protection from the waves.
The wind was predicted to shift from NW to SW on Sunday. We decided to try for an early start so we could ride the favorable winds as far as we could toward Montauk.