Sprinkles and light rain as we went to bed, after a fine, comforting dinner and only very little reading. For some reason, wind and cool weather makes you tired. We certainly, also, are tired of it.
During
the night, a couple of thunder storms, with heavy rain, passed over. The boat
was closed up tight and we were dry enough, but it was enough to wake us up.
The morning drifted in, with the first ferries leaving the harbor gently shaking
us awake with the wash from their wakes. It's not raining, much anyway; that's
about all you can say for the weather.
I'm sorry that these pages have been so much about the weather. That isn't what the cruise is usually focused on. This year, however, it is one of the major influences.
We're still
discussing today's destination. We're in the area where I've sailed the most,
so there are really no new destinations, although there are always nice
places to visit and new things to see. The weather does, however, make relaxing
outside or exploring by dingy, or onshore, less than an exciting prospect. The
weather may yet surprise us (one way or another), and we still have enough food
and reading material on board to last another month, so it is only the end
of trip force that causes impatience. What, after all, would a few days
of rain be if we weren't going to be home and back to work in a few days?
Well, we've decided on Huntington as today's destination. Huntington is one several connected harbors including Northport, where we originally found Solace 17 years ago. All of the harbors and anchorages in this small group are nice, and we'd enjoy any of them. Huntington Harbor itself may be the most congested and least picturesque of all of them, but it is the most sheltered, and has a good Italian restaurant just across from the town dock. If the weather is going to be lousy, at least we'll be comfortable.
Northport brings back many earlier memories for me. When I was somewhere around 14 or 15, I think it was, we vacationed in Northport, staying in a hotel with a great lawn that extended down to the shore. My father and I sailed there from Manhasset Bay in our 19 foot sailboat, while mother and sisters drove. We towed my first boat, Wet Pants, a Sprite. I recall many afternoons sailing with my sister in the brisk winds, singing and making up new words to O Solo Mio. Generally, even the mention of the word boat makes her seasick. Those were great times.
This area hasn't changed all that much though New York has crept closer, and what used to be remote suburbs are now just the suburbs. Since those times long ago, power plant stacks have emerged, the sand dredging operation has closed down and the old waterfront has become the new waterfront. Seymour's Boat Yard, where Solace was hauled when we bought her, was then one of the last surviving old style boat yards with wooden ramps and skids, and a look more of New England than Long Island. Since, there are many modern improvements to the boat handling at the yard, but some of the old flavor still remains.
The sky is a bit brighter now. Perhaps we'll make our move!
The engine has started with only minor coaxing and the sun is peeking out here and there. We will slip away quietly, hoping that the gods of weather and mechanical mischief miss our departure and we can enjoy a couple of hours sailing.
For a moment, it looks like the plans are canceled. The engine is up to its old tricks again -- air in the fuel line -- and the batteries are having a tough time coping with the repeated startup attempts. The fuel clears, then gets bubbles again. There is clearly a leak somewhere.
We can go into the marina at Port Jefferson, but there isn't a mechanic there. We can, however, charge up the batteries from shore power, and take a closer look at the fuel system. How to do it is the question. Boat US/Sea Tow burned an afternoon. We debate using the dingy as a tow boat, and of course, sailing. There is just enough wind to try the sail approach, but we rig the dingy with the motor and tow lines anyway.
We raise the main and sail away from the mooring. There really is nothing as much fun as doing these things under sail. If only there were always enough wind, and the electronics and refrigeration didn't need the charge up, sailing would really be sailing.
In any case, we are sailing up towards the marina and I give the motor one last chance; it starts. OK, we turn around and sail towards the harbor entrance, still running the engine to put a charge on the batteries. Things look good, then it stops again. I won't tell you how many more times we did this dance, but it was more than once! In the end, we have the engine running about as well as ever, and set out to try for Huntington.
I have two theories about the leak. It may be that one of the fuel filters not seated properly, but more likely, it may be a small leak in the hose between the first fuel filter and the fuel pump. Manipulating the hose causes a change in the sound of the pump (which I now can distinguish the sound of pumping with and without air). It is not clear where the problem is, though. Without spare hose and other parts, it's difficult to really test things out. We'll just have to keep playing with things, I guess.
The sky is much clearer, you might even call it a nice day. It remains on the cool side, but warm enough for shirtsleeves in the 10-15 knots of breeze. We're sailing nicely (even though we're keeping the engine going just to see how it behaves). Through the haze, there is even more blue than cloud there! The weather voice still talks of rain.
As we enter
Huntington Harbor, looking back at Northport, you can barely see the stacks,
lost in the haze. You may, however, be able to see that we have a fairly blue
sky.
Sailing down
the channel, the closeness of the land shows us the green of the trees. By the
way, the weather voice has backtracked on the rain, at least for today, and
is now telling us that there is a heat alert. No joke, we already noticed.
Sorry, we aren't complaining. This is the Western Sound weather we've grown
to know, and which usually causes us to race by these harbors in mid-summer.
Back to focusing on the positive. Knudson's rather rudely informed us that they had no moorings, but Cooney's was friendly, and managed to come up with a place for the evening. There is certainly no room to anchor in this very crowded harbor. If we take a running jump, however, we can almost land on the dock in front of the place we'll eat tonight. Boy, I hope it's air conditioned!
We just got the motor from the dingy. The dingy managed to get towed the whole way with the motor on, something we never do. It's too easy for an inflatable to catch a puff of wind and flip over. We were lucky. As I stepped onto the dingy, I heard a THWANG from the rigging and looked up as a cormorant flew off. I can only guess that he tried to land on our masthead or spreaders and ran afoul of something. I hope he stays away. This harbor has a real problem with these birds, and you can see all kinds of interesting anti-cormorant devices on the boats at anchor. It's not only that they sit up there and can wreck the devices at the masthead, they have a nasty habit of leaving droppings on the deck. These are big birds too.