Westbrook, CT

The “Coffee Pot” light marks the end of Oyster Pond Reef off Orient Point.

It’s no fun to be in Plum Gut and see the New London Ferry bearing down.

Monday, 25 August

As with “The Race,” much is written in letter and lore about passing through Plum Gut. There’s good reason. The pass between Plum Island and Long Island’s Orient Point is narrow, lined with rocks and the chart warns of tide rips that can exceed those of The Race. Oh, and not to forget, that narrow channel fills frequently with the New London-Orient ferry.

The design of the granite Plum Island Light is almost the same as North Light on Block Island.

After the big build up, the run through Plum Gut turned out to be anti-climactic. Less there be any doubt, anticlimactic is good in this case. Under bright sun, with a light westerly, the toughest part of the day was steering through the wakes of passing powerboats while still keeping Steadfast on her heading.

The original purpose of Cedar Island Light was to guide whalers between Sag Harbor and Gardiner’s Bay.

She left Sag Harbor shortly after nine, turned right to round Shelter Island and motored past Barcelona Point and Cedar Island. From there, it’s a straight shot across Gardiner’s Bay to The Gut, guarded by Plum Island Light to the east, Oyster Pond Reef Light to the west. Steadfast was there right at slack tide so the biggest concern was staying out of the way of the ferry.  The ferry has the right-of-way and has a schedule to keep.  It doesn’t alter course for sailboats.

Beautiful close to another great day.

Once through The Gut, the wheel came left to 290 magnetic to cross Long Island Sound to the west end of Long Sand Shoal. The anchor finally splashed down about 1430 between the twin breakwaters of Duck Island Roads.  That’s just off the beach at Westbrook, CT. Little Red did great work again today—all day—pushing Steadfast along at roughly 5 knots average for the 25.8 nautical miles.

Note: one is not considered marooned when it’s one’s own choice to go to the island.

The most exciting part of the day may have been when Kate rowed over to explore Duck Island, only to find it posted as a bird sanctuary. Exploration is limited to the beach only.

So not much in the way of excitement this day. It is hoped the same proves true for the night.

Steadfast out.