TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Another beautiful morning on Tuesday.  After a cup of coffee, I motored around the bend to Brown’s Boat Yard to top off on fuel.  The proprietor (Mr. Brown, I presume?) was on hand to take my lines at the fuel dock.  Brown’s is an old time establishment with that shabby, utilitarian charm that seems so at home in New England.  Mr. Brown was gracious, friendly, helpful, and full of tidbits of local knowledge.  I razzed him a bit for not hiring my friend 20 years ago, when he was a 14 year old looking for a summer job.  I think my bill for topping off the diesel tank and my jerry can came just shy of $20.

I left Brown’s around 0900 and was sailing in 10 minutes.  For about 30 minutes I had a nice breeze off the port beam, but then it disappeared, and it was time to start the motor again.  Going against the current to Plum Gut, with partial throttle and a hint of wind, yielded me 4 knots of groundspeed.  My goal was to hit Plum Gut at slack current between 1400 and 1430, and I was there at 1415.

Approaching Plum Gut, we saw two tugs each towing enormous barges with probably 300 yards of cable. I gave them a wide berth. Couldn’t imagine what it would be like if one of those cables snapped. Not much other boat traffic along the way—some fishing boats, maybe 4 sailboats, and one huge power yacht.

Once I passed through Plum Gut and turned southwest past Orient Point, a nice breeze from the southeast developed. The engine gets shut down, and we had a beautiful sail for about 1.5 hours on a port beam reach.  There’s more boat traffic now, but mostly fishing boats and power boats and ferries.

My mooring neighbor back at 79^th Street had recommended Greenport, so that is where I was headed.  I chose the Townsend Manor Inn Marina because they have a swimming pool, and the temperatures all week have been sweltering in the mid 90’s.  The marina was quaint, with stern-to slips between pilings.  I was a little nervous about maneuvering into the slip since I was used to a mooring and I had never backed into slip between pilings before. The marina was pretty tight, but I was proud of my maneuvering—I got the prop walk just right and backed right into the slip.

The Townsend Manor Inn and Marina was charming.  There is a shady lawn with Adirondack chairs overlooking the marina.  The pool felt fantastic after being in the sun all day.  The main part of town is maybe a 5 minute walk away, and the town has a very nice, down-home sort of vibe without being overrun by tourists.

The oil in the bilge is turning out to be manageable, albeit a little messy.  Nothing that Pampers and 409 can’t handle.