After that exciting night the next few legs have been rather uneventful. That’s good news for us, but bad news for you, since you are now reading a duller post.
From Provincetown we sailed across Cape Cod Bay, took the man-made Cape Cod Canal and then navigated the shallow, narrow, convoluted, nerve-wracking, no-mistakes-forgiven channel to Pocasset.
There we got the jib repaired, bought rope for a new jib sheet, and replaced the double block that caused the debacle with two single ones.
The sailmaker who repaired the sail had a piece of wisdom for us, upon hearing how the jib got damaged: “You have to be aware that on a sailboat everything is broken. You just don’t know yet.” So true.
Then we hopped to beautiful Block Island, RI where we enjoyed a warm stopover day only to wake up with frost on the roof a couple of days later in Milford, CT. Our passage through Long Island Sound also included a solitary stay anchored in Joshua Cove, CT, to wait out a big blow, and docking in funky City Island, NY, our last stop before the scary East River and its Hell Gate by Manhattan.
The East River is not really a river but a tidal strait, and has a reputation as a tricky passage because it is narrow, has a lot of commercial and recreational traffic, and currents can reach five turbulent knots when the river takes a sharp bend at the aptly named Hell Gate.
We approached the entrance motoring cautiously and nervously, and cowardly decided to follow the only other sailboat around, which was also running on their engine but was smaller and less powerful than ours. We even slowed down in order to remain behind them, which provided us an entirely unjustified sense of safety. Hell Gate came and its rips did look scary, but the boat didn’t even notice. At least our boat didn’t notice. The boat ahead of us started to drift broadside with the current, getting dangerously close to the concrete walls on the Manhattan side. When we got closer, our unknowingly appointed fearless leaders hailed us asking for assistance! They had gotten a line entangled in their propeller. So, in a way, it was a good idea to go behind them, because they cleaned up the way for us. As I maneuvered to get alongside them, a smaller and more nimble powerboat came and gave them a tow, so we continued our way to a marina in the New Jersey side of the Hudson River.
Now, of course, soon after I started a draft for this post and used the word “uneventful”, we had an eventful leg. Stay tuned.
Can’t wait until the next episode. I will definitely stay-tuned.