Clinton, CT

Plan A was to get up and out early for a 48 mile trip to Port Jefferson. The winds were supposed to be favorable (ha) so we figured we could keep a 5 knot pace and be there in 10 hours. Very ambitious don't ya think? Well, when we first tried to started engine, no go. Then Steve tried to do a couple of things to make it go, but nothing. (But Michele has to have the fridge running to keep the meats frozen. We did have an excellent pot roast dinner tonight though!) But seriously for some reason the power is drawing down the batteries too quickly or the engine just wants more than we're equiped to give it. We finally had to pull out the protable generator that we have and charge the batteries enough to start the engine. And voula'! Our friend Yanmar came to life. So we were off an hour behind schedule.

When we started the winds were 10 -15 knots, but again on the nose - which was okay, but not ideal. In order to keep the wind even a little off the bow we had to head more west than southwest. Which again was ok, we would go way out then tack back. Well not so much. The wind decided to die down to about 3-8 knots. We were chugging along at only 3 knots per hour and heading in a different direction than we wanted.

After a couple hours of this, we realized that Port Jefferson was not going to be in our immediate future. On to Plan B. Find a spot on the Connecticut side of Long Island sound. Water was running low and we could probably use fuel too. We chose Clinton and decided to get a slip for the night. The channel into Clinton is only about 50 ft.wide and the markers leave a lot to the imagination. We went to the left of the dolphins (pole) instead of the right because we were trying to quickly set up the lines for docking at the fuel dock and didn't see the next red marker. After a minute, Michele realized that we weren't moving and asked Steve if we were in reverse or something. We weren't in reverse and yes, we did get grounded. (Don't laugh Pat we meant to do that as we were practicing for the ICW.) After several attempts to back out, we called Sea Tow - (AAA for boats). Luckily we have a membership and the $1,000 towing fee was free.

We fueled up and went to the transient dock - another adventure thanks to Michele. I caught the spring line and cleated it off (or so I thought). Then I went to grab the bow line and cleat it off. However, the spring line came undone and wind carried the stern out. Long story short, Steve had to back out and go around again. The 2nd attempt proved to be as disasterous. So Steve (on the boat by himself at this point) decided to approach the dock port to. No problem except all the lines and bumpers are set up on starboard. With not much room to turn around (very low depths) he managed to get the lines transfered to the port side and bring the boat to the dock. Michele was able to tie off the spring and bow lines this time before the boat drifted away again. Whew! What a day.

Cedar Island Marina was very accomodating to us. They gave us a ride to the grocery store which had an auto parts store and West Marine right next to it. We bought a portable jumper unit to help with the Engine start problem, but we still need to figure out why the batteries are not charging enough to start the Engine. The portable jumper unit needs to be charged up before using it. It is supposed to be 24 hours, but we're hoping 18 will do the trick. The unit also required an extension cord. We had one, but the plug had 3 inputs which made it not fit into the unit. (By this time, Steve is beside himself). Luckily the office had one we could borrow. I made it up there as they were locking up for the night. Today was like a comedy of errors. I'm sure there will be many more like this. Ah, such is life on a boat.

For the night we are docked at a slip with shore power and showers. We can plug everything we want and not have to worry about the power consumption and shower as long as we want and not worry about drawing down the water tank. It's all good.