Day 3 Chesapeake to Nova Scotia - Block Island

These Blog entries are edited versions of the messages we sent back as we completed the passage. They were sent by radio using a laptop that controls a modem and the HF/SSB radio, using the SailMail system. We sent the messages daily to Charlotte and she then forwarded them on to a list of family members.

2000hrs (AST, GMT-4) 24 Jul 2018

Dear All,

Dawn on 24 July

So, the passage from Chesapeake Bay direct to Shelburne in Nova Scotia has taken a detour for all the reasons we explained in the last update.  We are now in the large anchorage in the centre of Block Island, just east of Long Island.  We had great sailing conditions today with blue skies, a steady wind (of indeterminate strength due to our lack of wind instruments but we think about 15kt!) and BV romped along.  So much so, that our midday to midday run was 169 nautical miles, not a bad run in a heavy cruising boat.

Approaching Block Island, going through the narrow entrance channel (bottom)

We dropped anchor in the Great Salt Pond (aka New Harbour) at 1710hrs after 2 days and 8 hours at sea.

Great views over the anchorage from the masthead

As soon as we could Nicky winched me up the mast to see how bad the story was concerning the anemometer.  I got some great views over the anchorage…

… but, of course I also had a job to do up there seeing what was wrong with the anemometer.   Amazingly, it was still there at a cocked angle.  Amazingly, because I pulled on it gently with 2 fingers and it came off!

New (Right) alongside old with the broken collar

The securing collar had broken and it had become unplugged sitting upside down.  When I plugged it back in we had wind indications again.  That was good news because I had expected to have to replace the masthead socket and run new cabling down the inside of the mast - sometimes easy and sometimes a pig of a job.  Instead, Nicky hoisted me back up to the top of the mast so that I could fit the spare anemometer we have on board.  Problem solved!  Even better, because we hadn't lost the other one overboard, with the application of lots of epoxy we now have a spare anemometer again.

We'll stay here tonight and then, in the morning, head up to the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal.  That has to be run with a favourable tide direction and so we expect to have to wait overnight for the right timing to go through the canal.  Once through, we can then head on towards Nova Scotia.  We'll keep you posted on our progress.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky 

Passage statistics:
Position at midday 24 Jul: N40 52 W71 53
Position at 1710 24 Jul: N41 11 W71 35
Midday to midday distance: 169 nautical miles
Midnight to 1710hrs distance: 114 nautical miles
Total miles covered:  368 nautical miles
Approximate distance to go: 349 nautical miles to Shelburne

End of Day 3  Chesapeake to Nova Scotia,  Block Island