January 7, 2010.

First off, Happy Birthday Chris. Yeah, I know it’s the fifth but internet has been sketchy.

On Monday we were blessed by a lack of wind so we jumped in the dink for the 1 mile trip into town to battle with immigration. The trip across the harbor can be a pretty wet ride so since we “had’ to go into town today we considered ourselves very lucky to find ourselves with very little wind.

We walked a couple of blocks to the Immigration office. It turned out to be a spotless, very modern office. The officer at the window heard our tale of woe and gave us both a form to fill out. After turning the completed forms in to at the window she asked us to please be seated and await our interview with Mrs. Burroughs.

In a couple of minutes we were led to an inner office where we met with the head of immigration in Georgetown. Mrs. Burroughs was the picture of professionalism and a delight to deal with as well. She asked questions about our intentions and gathered her required information in a personable manner. We learned as much about her as she did about us and in 20 minutes we were out of there with our extended visas. This woman should be teaching a class at Immigration about dealing with the public, it was a very positive experience.

We had planned to leave for Long Island on Tuesday but the wind was up and the seas were huge. We never even left the boat and spent the day reading and looking forward to Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning we were on the fence about heading out. The wind was about 15 knots but promised to be straight over the stern for most of the day and the seas were still running in the 6 foot range. Thursdays forecast called for 2 foot seas but possibly not enough wind to sail in. So we’re goin’ on Wednesday.

We headed out with our friends Roland & Leta on Kokomo. We had the mainsail up and once clear of the harbor we set our course, killed the engine and rolled out the genoa.

That’s where the fun, or lack of, began. We had a bit more than 15 knots which was good but the sea was very confused with a rolling choppy 6 foot swell. We tied the main out with a preventer and it still wanted to backwind in the rolling sea. Setting the genoa proved impossible as well, as it just filled, flogged and the exploded full once again as the boat wallowed from side to side. I had to furl the genoa rather than take the chance of it being destroyed.

I ended up tying a preventer from the booms end all the way to the bow cleat. I pulled the boom out almost perpendicular to the boat and used another line to pull the booms end down towards the toerail.

Just under mainsail alone we were making between 5.5 and 7 knots as we surfed along. After just and hour or so the seas abated a bit but it was still 17 miles before we could unroll some of the genoa. Once again the new and improved (newly repaired) Boat Pole of Speed™ did wonders for us as we sailed the last 18 miles “wing and wing”.

Even though the first hour of the day was pretty miserable the day turned out to be a very nice day of sailing. We sailed into Thompson Bay in Long Island at about 1600 hours. As we hooked into the protected bay we were able to come onto port tack and sliced nicely into the harbor. As we approached our friends on Far Niente we furled the genoa and picked our spot under mainsail alone.

Once we were satisfied with our location Christy rounded us up. I had the anchor ready to drop and as the boat came to a halt dead on the breeze, I dropped the hook while Christy eased the mainsheet allowing the mainsail to flog. With no power in the sail to drive the boat forward we were blown back as I paid out chain. Once settled on the hook I dropped the sail while Christy started the engine just to make sure we had a good anchor set.


It’s beautiful here but we’ll be here through the weekend until yet another nasty front blows through. We don't have internet on the boat while here but we can dinghy into a resort called Long Island Breeze to do laundry and take care of internet at the same time.