11 Sep 16

The front started coming through during the night; the wind piped up to 20+ knots and howled through the rigging and woke me up, but we were rock solid in good old Cuttyhunk. When we got up, it was partly cloudy (at least the fog had lifted), but the wind was still blustery (SW 15 - 20). We had an excellent breakfast (sausage, eggs and pancakes) and headed out about 10:00. We put up a triple reefed main and full jib and were off in the general direction of Block Island at 7.2 kn boat speed, but the waves were big and the Admiral was not amused after about an hour. As it was going to be a 6 or 7 hour beat to Block Island and Westport was only a couple of miles off the port tack track, I decided to bail out and head to Westport. Naturally, a squall line hit us and the wind shifted 50 degrees onto the nose about 1 mile short of the harbor entrance. As the previously mentioned wind shift would have given us a nice broad reach to Block Island, one might argue that we should have just stuck it out and we would have been fine going to Block Island. But, you did not see the look in the Admiral’s eye; I rest my case. Obviously, we made it into the harbor just fine and picked up a mooring ball at F.L. Tripp and Sons Marina and Boatyard, just after 12:30. After lunch, we took the launch into the marina and then walked about 3 miles into Westport Point; there are loads of historic houses, but not one bar in Westport Point, so we got the launch to collect us and take us over to the Back Eddy bar & grill, where we enjoyed a nice beer before walking back to Tripps. Back on the boat, John and I repaired a tear in the spinnaker (which apparently occurred while we were dousing the spinnaker during our approach to Blue Hill, ME. Then, what a surprise, it was time for happy hour and dinner aboard. Block Island tomorrow.

41-31.003’N, 71-05.005’W.