| I used to sail out of Apponaug and have made the BI trip many times. I
would suggest you anchor either in Dutch Island Harbor or at Point Judith.
Dutch Island is more comfortable. Point Jude is shallow and there is
usually some kind of resonance effect from waves coming through the
breakwater which can give you an uncomfortable beam sea while at anchor. In
addition the fishing boat traffic is fairly heavy. On the other hand, Point
Jude to Block is a piece of cake for a morning sail (or motor).
New Harbor is large enough that you shouldn't have too much trouble
anchoring although you may have to get way away. The only exceptions are
race weeks and fishing tourneys, but there is usually still plenty of room.
My wife and I almost always anchor at Old Harbor. It is very small and
you can't put out too much scope, but it is extremely well protected and
much more picturesque. About the only thing you can do at New Harbor is
take the bus to Old Harbor.
The sail back can be a downhill sleigh ride; however, several times
we have beaten ourselves to death getting there only to have northerlies
with only one day to get back. I have also seen a boat with a Block Island
flag which had an outline of the island and one word in a circle in the
middle. The word was "FOG". Remember, Murphy was born on Block Island.
-cjc
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| We just went to Block Island this last weekend, and this note looked as
good a place to put a trip report as any other place.
We set sail in the Spanish Eyes on Friday, September 27 at 2
P.M. from our home port of Westbrook, Ct. We arrived at
Fishers Island West Harbor at about 5 P.M. Fishers Island
offers fairly nice anchorages, and I would strongly recommend it
to any sailor coming from Connecticut or Long Island. This
harbor was fairly well protected. Some of the boats that
arrived after us grabbed some of the moorings that were
available, which I'd recommend you do if you are doing a fall
trip as those boats did not have to relinquish the mooring to
their rightful owners. [There were plenty of open moorings
still left that night.]
We set sail on Saturday at about 9:00 A.M. Once you cleared the
end of Fishers Island, it was a lot rougher. This was a new
experience for us as in the last three years since we got the
boat we had limited our sailing to the Long Island Sound and the
Connecticut River. We had the wind directly on our stern, so we
were able to sail wing on wing. This was difficult since the 8
foot rollers kept the sails changing directions.
We arrived at Block Island New Harbor at 3:00 P.M. We were able
to get one of the public moorings (in the summer they are filled
by 3 P.M. on Friday). The charge per night for the mooring was
reduced from the $25/night summer rate to only $10/night.
One thing we noticed was the number of boats that were coming
into the harbor sailing. We had dropped our sails outside of
the entrace to the channel, which was really challenging given
the rough seas. Since we had never gone into this harbor we did
not dare to go in under sail. However, after having been into
the harbor, I'd strongly suggest going through the channel under
sail and dropping the sails once you are inside the protected
harbor.
The advantage of Block Island in the fall is the availability of
public moorings, the not very crowded harbor. The disadvantage
is that most businesses in New Harbor are already closed for the
season. Old Harbor and the business district is 1.5 miles away
which is an easy walk, or a few minutes cab ride ($5 for a party
of 4 or less passengers).
Sunday, we rented mopeds and "toured" the Island. Three hours
is plenty of time to do this, with enough time to stop and take
the views (and pictures of those views).
Monday, we left Block Island at 7:30 A.M. Wind was very strong
(about 20-25 knots) and the sea was very rough. We did great
time to Watch Hill. However, the wind completely died down by
the time we got to Fishers Island. We motored the rest of the
way and arrived at our home port in Westbrook at 4:00 P.M.
I strongly recommend sailing to Block Island in the fall. We
are already thinking of doing it again next spring (try out what
it is like *early* in the season).
I love sailing! 8^)
Jacqueline
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