Back for the summer

We left our winter storage boatyard on the Connecticut River at about 10:30 AM on Wednesday, May 7, for the 33 mile trip down river to Long Island Sound. It had been raining for days and we grabbed the first nice day that had come along. The rain put lots of floating debris in the river and we dodged that stuff all the way to Essex. Here's a picture of what Frances calls the "40 ft. Prop Buster." We passed it , luckily, well off our port side.

It was cold on the river with the wind on our nose but once we turned east in the Sound, we had almost no apparent wind and it was time to take off the jackets and sweaters.

We did have some fun trying to open the two bridges on the Connecticut River. We've been under each one maybe 100 times but this year, the water was higher than usual, so we called each on Channel 13 for an opening. (They open on request before May 15.) From a distance, the East Haddam Swing bridge looked close.

The bridge tender said we'd make it, and with antennas down, we cruised through, very slowly with about two feet to spare.

Next it was the Old Saybrook railroad bridge. That did look too low and we again called for an opening. We were asked to wait for a train, which we did. When the train has passed, the bridge tender told us that a boat like ours had just gone under. "No problem, Capt.," he said. So under we went, again. The bridge tender was nice enough to say that we had at least a foot of clearance. Relax pucker factor. The Sound was just ahead.

Frances always take a picture of Old Saybrook light and here's this year's post card to the beginning of our summer:

The trip down the Sound and up the Thames was uneventful. (Frances caught a nap on the way.) It got a lot warmer as we approached Norwich and by the time we got there it was hot and without any wind. The lack of wind enabled us to dock effortlessly (for once).  Once tied up, we buttoned up the boat and headed off to collect Frances' car in Portland.

We were back down to the boat on Saturday and today to start putting things away. Late morning, some of our other dockmates began arriving and we've attached a video of how that went.

Both of these boats had to dock against a 20 mph wind and an outgoing current and in the narrow fairway we have, that isn't easy. We've included the video because we thought they'd like to see it. These two Captains got caught in a difficult docking situation. Haven't we all? God knows, in conditions like today, we'd still be out there tossing lines and going around for another try.