Leg 1:Bristol RI to Port Washington New York

November 7th 2018

Gosh Finally I am on my way... After days of preparing, packing, unpacking, repacking, bringing stuff back to shore, last minute trips to the store, last minute safety gear pickups and waiting out bad weather windows I am finally on my way! A week late is better than not leaving at all, as I make my way to the first anchorage of this journey the anxiety melts away. The hardest part is always starting!

Day one: November 8th 2018

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I woke up at 4 AM this morning and set out from Bristol Rhode Island. From there I went up east passage of Newport as the sun rose while passing under the Newport Bridge I arrived at point Judith around 940 and grabbed a mooring in order to wait for the tide change to eat some lunch and to change the fuel filter on my engines so that in the case I encounter heavy seas the fuel filter does not clock clog again. At approximately 1 p.m. I continued on to Stonington harbor where I picked up a free morning for the night. I came in to Stonington Harbor at around 6 p.m. so it was fully dark by the time I got into the harbor and onto a mooring . While I was cooking dinner I accidentally dumped half a bottle of Cayanne pepper in my food.

Day two: November 9th 2018

I got up at 6:30 AM and set out for old Saybrook Connecticut ended up dropping anchor in the North Cove hoping to pick up a free morning however all the moorings had already been pulled for the season so instead I switched over to 80 feet of chain and my heavy weather anchor to wait out the storm that we got. The boat did perfectly and didn’t move an inch. I saw a sustained winds of 28 miles per hour and we got roughly an inch and a half of rain. I managed to get the interior of the boat cleaned up a lot more. I'm still trying to figure out places to store everything that's not going to end up with it getting ruined or buried in a way that maximizes the very limited amount of space on the inside of the boat.

Day 3 November 10th 2018

I moved the boat over to old Saybrook marina where I refueled and then got a slip for the night. The dock slip was excellent due to the direction the wind was blowing I was very well protected and the wind was pushing the boat away from the dock so it was a relatively calm and stable night. I had a chance to do some laundry, do some food shopping. Pick up some local parts at an Ace Hardware. Got a work out in the marina gym went swimming in the heated outdoor pool and relaxed in the Jacuzzi. Also got to take a hot shower. I also managed to get the rinse down pump working correctly as well as finish wiring a few more circuits.

Day 4: November 11th 2018

With the forecast looking favorable for the day I departed old Saybrook Connecticut and as I was leaving the protection of the harbor realized that Long Island sound was going to have large 5 to 6 foot waves and strong winds all day this was definitely one of the hardest days of sailing I have ever had to do. Waves were consistently breaking over the sides and occasionally breaking in the cockpit with the splash boards in the cockpit drains very quickly however it made for an extremely cold and wet day at one point I was considering turning around however after consulting maps it turned out that I was already halfway there so I just continued onwards. Thankfully I arrived at the place I was going just as the sun was going down I picked up a mooring and an area known as the sandpit in Port Jefferson New York. It was relieving to know the boat could stand up to heavy weather, it also reinforced the point of checking the tides to make sure that they do not oppose the wind for long Open Water voyages.

Day 5,6 November 12th, 13th 2018

I departed Port Jefferson New York early in the morning to make my way further down Long Island sound towards New York City for my Destiination of Port Washington I made it to this area around 11 AM I grabbed the mooring that I thought was a public mooring. However I learned later that it was not a public mooring it was someone’s private mooring. I stayed on this for two days riding out bad weather. I spent the majority of the night and the following day getting projects and work done around the boat. These included getting all of the plumbing working correctly, finishing a bunch of wiring, storting and stowing food in it in places that made more sense. Going through gear and installing gear, organizing the kitchen area, building a spice rack for under the sink, plumbing the sink, plumbing the rinse down pump, and doing dishes

Day 7 November 14, 2018

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After waking up on Wednesday I phoned the local water taxi in order to get a ride into Shore at which point I was told to move off of the mooring that I was currently on, over to a different Mooring. This ended up working out alright as the mooring was much better protected than the other one that I had been on. After moving the boat I got a ride into Shore where I went into town to do some food shopping, resupply with water, and go to West Marine. I postponed going down the East River to New York Harbor until Saturday morning due to an incoming snow and rain shower which were going to produce high winds as well as dangerous sea conditions there's also would give me a better time in order to time the tide correctly so that I would get pushed through the East River instead of fighting the current.

Day 8 November 15th 2018

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Since I opted to stay in Port Washington I used today as a day to take the train into New York City and explore the city. I had never been to New York City before so I took the time to walk around quite a bit going to Times Square walking through all of Central Park , going to the Natural History Museum and the Hayden Planetarium and meeting up with my buddy CJ. After taking the train back towards Port Washington the snow began to start pretty heavily once back in Port Washington I made one more trip to the food store to buy even more water and got a ride back out to the boat. Tonight was the first night I had to use my heater as it was close to 32 degrees inside of the boat the heater did a decent job of warming up the main cabin to a warm ish 50°. However I went to bed quite early because my sleeping bag was really the only comfortable area inside of the boat. Sustained winds of 30 miles an hour made the night incredibly Rollie and Rocky I did not get much sleep. However I really enjoyed seeing the city and we'll definitely be stopping here again at some point to see more.