Duck Island Roads

Friday, 20 June

One rests while another gosling grazes under mother’s watchful eye.

An omen, perhaps?  Goslings grazing on the west bank of Milford Harbor.  Only time would tell.

After an early walk up the hill for a cup of “real” coffee, there was time to scrub the bottom of the dink (amazing how cruddy it gets in just a month) and adjust the stuffing box (ah, now that’s a fun job).  And then underway from Milford Landing about 1115 and out the Harbor at a crisp 6-plus-knots.  For awhile.

Once out of the harbor, Steadfast turned left to 095-degrees magnetic and pretty much spent the day heading pretty much dead east.  There were a couple of delightfully quiet hours of straight sailing—no rumble of the diesel—and then, as the wind backed to the west, motor-sailing and eventually it was just all up to Little Red to push her along at an average of 5.5 through the water.  But because of a foul current for much of the day, that equated to just 4.8 knots over the bottom.

Though not far off the Connecticut shore, Falkner Island seems to stand alone against the elements.

Rounding Stone Island Reef, the speed picked up a bit for the last mile or so into Duck Island Roads, just off Westbrook, CT, where the anchor was down for the night at 1718.  And yes, though the weather was fair and the day not difficult by any means, the “omen” was borne out – Gosling’s was poured for a “Dark & Stormy” night.

With the sun setting, half a dozen more boats slipped into the anchorage for the night.

The plan is to weigh anchor by mid-morning for a run east to Mystic.  The forecast would indicate that Little Red should rest tonight.  She’ll have a long day tomorrow.

Steadfast out.