Perry L. Gardner: Private Journal #39
Friday, August 21, 1992
Having declared a two-week vacation, we have started by taking a sail to Port Jefferson Harbor. The weather prediction is excellent for the next three days. This is a mini-cruise just to check us and the boat out, since I don’t feel prepared for a major cruise right now. It took us till noon to prepare food, and pack, and then we shopped for Stor-N-Start and alcohol, just in case.
We started off with serenity, even though my hat and our vitamins had been forgotten. Went to Caboose for #7 Kadee couflers [?] and a magnifying glass for map reading, but no luck.
Got to the boat and stepped down into the cabin to open the forward hatch, and stepped into 6 inches of water with my shoes and sox [sic] on. I didn’t see the water, because I was wearing blue-blockers, from bright sun into dark cabin. Pumping out the boat caused a delay in departure until 2 PM. By three, we were out to Eaton’s Neck. We were making about 3 knots in 5 mph winds.
Off Nissequoge, the wind was light and waves were slathing [?] sails, so we turned on the engine to proceed faster. It was about 5:30 PM, and I estimate we could get to anchorage by 7 PM with the engine on at 5 or 6 knots instead of 2 or 3 knots. Got to practice some rudimentary navigation. Off Crane’s Neck, we ran out of gas in small tank and switched to the full 6-gallon tank. Came into Port Jeff inlet ahead of schedule, probably due to 1 knot current, favorable. At 6 knots, we make 1 mile in 10 minutes—at 5 knots, we make1 nm (nautical mile) in 12 minutes. This should be obvious, but it took me a few minutes to figure this out in my head—so at 3 knots, it would be one nm in 20 minutes.
After entering the harbor, I slowed the engine to enter the mooring area, and it fouled and stalled and couldn’t restart, so we dropped anchor to hold position while getting the engine unfouled. Finally got the engine to run by adjusting the needle screw, and proceeded to anchorage. It was late for supper at 8 o’clock—noodles and chicken divan.
Lessons Learned: For serious cruising prep the day before and overnight in Lloyd Harbor for an early start. Engine could probably need new plugs.