Believe it or not, this was the first chance we’ve had to sail Windara on Long Island Sound. Last year, the rudder repairs and macerator install kept us from getting to sail all summer. This year, we’ve either been out racing or there’s been no wind to speak of. So when our Sunday race was cancelled due to mechanical issues with the boat we crew on, we jumped at the chance to take Windara out for a sail. We didn’t have high hopes – there was barely a breath of breeze, but we only planned to go to Port Washington, just the other side of Long Island Sound from Huguenot.
There was about 8kts of breeze when we first raised sail, and Windara cooked along at 6kts. The race that we’d supposed to be competing in had just started, and even with our well-loved cruising sails and all the hundreds of extra pounds of weight associated with daily life aboard, we were about on pace with, and in some cases faster than, most of the fleet.
And then the wind died. We’d sailed off to the south, towards Long Island’s north shore, while the fleet sailed north towards the CT shore. They still had wind, we didn’t (and this is why, when racing, you always cover your competition when you have a lead). But since we weren’t racing and had nowhere to be at any given time, we were content to just bob along. Eventually the breeze filled back in… and it kept coming until we had around 15kts. We decided to head to Oyster Bay and back (and ended up going to Stamford and back). The cruisers looked like they were standing still, and the only boats that were keeping pace or slightly faster were the dedicated racers. In about 4 hours, we made it from the weather station at Execution out to Stamford and into Port Washington. And we were able to sail past Execution on a single tack – on Silent Sky, Execution was always a tackfest, and I kind of hated it.
We picked up one of the transient moorings in Manhasset Bay for a few days, and once we were settled, we took the launch in to Butler’s Flat for dinner. They make great New England style fried seafood and it’s become a favorite for a casual dinner. The next couple days were relatively uneventful… other than being moored right next to where they were demoing an Icon A5 (which was really kind of cool, other than constantly being drowned out by engine noise on work calls). Chris had to go to the city for work, so I got a little practice running Squall, which I’m always nervous about even though I’ve gotten pretty good at it. And of course we made a stop in at Louie’s and Sweet Treats on the Wharf, one of our favorite little ice cream shops. As much as we love Huguenot, it was nice to get out on a mooring for a while and spend a few days “away”.
