My Maiden Voyage – Sail around Shelter Island

[neosoul]

Well I finally found the time to sail this past Tuesday (7/22/2014). I had put my boat in the water after work on Wednesday (7/16/2014) and motored the boat to my mooring from the boatyard. Since that time until this past Tuesday I had too many things to do to get out on the water. (I also had to tune the mast which was very time consuming.)

The day started with my cousin and I getting out to the boat at 10:45am. We stored our stuff and got the boat ready. Southold Bay is where my boat is moored and it is part of the Peconic Bay which is the body of water located between the two forks of Long Island. On the South Fork are the Hamptons and Montauk Point. I live in the North Fork, not too far from Orient Point. When we cast off our lines the wind was almost non-existent and the bay was very calm. Our ambitious goal on this day was to sail around Shelter Island – about 25 miles. (See map - https://www.google.com/maps/@41.0584432,-72.3195033,13z) The wind – the little that was there - was coming out of southwest and we headed south on a beam reach hoping to round the western portion of Shelter Island first and head east but the current and lack of wind made us realize (after about an hour) we were not going to get too far so we decided to head east. We were having a good-time and the boat was sailing well. My cousin, who had never sailed before took the helm and I explained to him that we sailing on a broad reach and soon we would be running. I cautioned him about accidental gybes. (BTW – My cousin is a great guy, he's veteran from the Afghanistan war and survived a helicopter crash when and RPG hit the Chinook he was on.)
Here's my man Stephen at the helm


Here's a pic of Shelter Island Heights, coming out of Pipes Cove


Coming out of Pipes Cove we were now approaching Greenport Harbor and that was "interesting". Have you ever played the game Frogger? If you have you have an idea of what it was like to get across. We were entering a busy channel that runs the North Ferry from Greenport to Shelter Island and the ferry company runs two boats at once. We had to time our crossing here just right. We also had to contend with the wake of the ferry.  Luckily we made it without incident. We were now on the downward leg of our journey and we were sailing wing on wing. We then changed course and headed south on a beam reach after turning at Hay Beach Point. We were now in Gardiners Bay and the wind by this time had begun to blow 8 to 10 knots with white-caps. A few gusts had me bury the rails but my boat handled it well and even pointed back herself to weather when we went a bit too far. We maintained this heading until Ram Head Island and we then headed southwest. I tried tacking but the wind and current were too much. It was now 5:50pm and so I decided to drop the motor (6hp yachtwin) and we motored home.

We came near Sag Harbor when a mega-yacht closed in and created some excitement for us. The swells we experienced now were in the 4 to 5 foot range and the wind was gusting over 15 knots at times. We now headed north around North Haven and entered Shelter Island Sound. It is here that we encountered the heaviest seas of the trip. The channel between North Haven and Shelter Island is quite narrow and it is here that another Ferry goes between the two. We headed southwest again, directly into the wind and current, not to mention some of the biggest waves we've encountered. There were times when we were pounding the chop that the motor was not even in the water. I was very glad to have a 6hp motor because it was taking quite a bit of time getting out of this area. Again we timed it right or the Ferry captains let us get through. In any event we were making head-way and finally we reached West Neck and headed north towards home, Southold Bay. We finally got on our mooring at 9:15pm.

This was an exciting sea-trial and I feel very good about how the boat handled what we encountered on this day. I also found a few things that need my immediate attention on my boat - namely two cotter pins sticking out of the back stay that I forgot to tape. (I have a very nice scrape to remind me about them). I also need a radio. I was thinking - more than once when the motor stopped "peeing water" for a while,  what would I do if I needed assistance? Foolishly because the weather was so calm when we started I left our PFD ashore. That will never happen again and they will be on the boat at all times.

I am now looking forward to sailing soon with my family and now feel very comfortable bringing them aboard.
Neo

[BruceW]

Very very cool! I enjoyed that read.

I want to mention that I once burned up an impeller with the motor coming out of the water like that. Of course, what can you do. When possible, you quarter the swells; when it's narrow, though, I guess you just make do.

Anyway, looks like you have a great place to sail, and a great boat to sail it in.