June 27 - 28th 2009 Port Jefferson NY to Newport RI

June 27-28th, 2009 -- Port Jefferson NY to Newport RI

When I went to sleep in Port Jefferson after the exciting day passing through New York harbor I was hoping to make it all the way to Newport the next day. However, as often happens on a cruise, the weather controls the day and I awoke socked in with heavy fog-- I couldn't even see the beach or the breakwater that I had anchored near the night before.

I checked the weather forecast and they claimed the fog would burn off early in the morning so I relaxed on the upper deck and caught up on this blog and chatted with Marianne on the cell phone-- much easier to single-hand when I know my love is a quick phone call away!

By 8 am it looked like the fog was lifting so I raised anchor and left the harbor-- only to find that the fog closed in again and I was surprised how easy it was to became disoriented. My GPS seemed to be misbehaving and at one point I saw my depth sounder ticking down and I realized I was headed towards the beach! A quick 180 turn to deeper water and I decided to slowly pick my way back into the harbor and drop anchor again for a couple of hours.

Looking ahead in heavy fog

Finally at 9 am I headed out of the harbor and plotted a course to Block Island about 70 nautical miles away. Although the fog had lifted slightly the visibility was still only about 200 yards but I felt safe to proceed at slightly slower than normal speed. After about 2 hours the fog suddenly closed in again and my visibility dropped to less than 50 yards!  I dropped my speed down to about 5 knots-- barely above idle for the engine. But even at that low speed I still travel 170 yards per minute so I would have about 20 seconds from the time an object came out of the fog to steer clear-- half that time if it was another boat coming at me also at 5 knots! Not much time if one glances down at the instruments or turns to take a sip of coffee! But I have a good radar unit on board and was able to watch other boats moving slowly in the fog up to 5 miles away. I also have a Fogmate (www.fogmate.com) that automatically blasts my boat horn about every two minutes (this is an easy to connect $100 product that every boater should have!)

Traveling in the fog is tense-- you hear a fog horn in the distance but you're not sure from where it comes because the fog distorts the direction. You see blips moving on the radar but you're worried a sailboat without a radar reflector might be right in front of you. You watch the AIS screen for larger ships but many boats don't broadcast an AIS location. You watch the GPS chart plotter to make sure you are on track in safe waters. You watch your depth sounder to make sure your depth matches the chartplotter. You stare ahead at the white cloud of fog with your hand on the throttle to throw the engine into reverse and say a prayer. At one point I saw a blip on the radar coming directly towards me about a mile away. I turned 60 degrees starboard to pass safely and watched at the blip also changed course still aiming for me about now about 600 yards away! I called a warning on the VHF channel 16 and turned starboard another 45 degrees and incredibly, watch the blip still coming towards me.  I blasted my horn 5 times in the international danger signal and finally saw the blip turn away from me. The radar showed it passing about 75 yards from me-- I heard a loud engine but never saw the boat through the fog!

The entrance buoy appears in the fog

The fog stayed with me all day so I was close to sunset as I approached Block Island. I kept watching for the red entrance buoy to the Great Salt Pond. The GPS chart plotter showed that the buoy was less than 100 yards away and I could hear it but couldn't see it. I crept closer and finally saw the buoy appear out of the fog. As I entered the channel the fog lifted completely and it was a perfect sunny evening!

I dropped anchor in New Harbor at Block Island-- one of our favorite trips from our home port of Newport. We love Newport-- the constant parade of huge yachts, the America's Cup 12 metre yachts racing each other, the cruise ship tenders dropping passengers off to tour the mansions-- there isn't another harbor like it!

Aldos Bakery boat delivering to the anchorage

But in only about three hours from home we can be in Block Island and enter a different world with quiet walks through fields lined with wild blueberries, simple restaurants and ice cream parlors. The Great Salt Pond is a very protected harbor with plenty of room to drop anchor and a launch service run by Oldport to take you into town. And, of course, there is the boat from Aldos Bakery that circles the harbor each morning and evening bringing fresh bakery items. Nothing like having fresh blueberry pie delivered to your boat!

The next morning I woke early for the short trip to Newport. I crossed our wake about 10 am off Point Judith-- 18 months and 5,000 miles!

As I came around Goat Island and headed for our mooring I could see Marianne waiting for me with several of our children and grandchildren. Home at last!