We had just 24 hours before bad weather with strong southerlies stopped us sailing south so we departed Cuttyhunk for Block Island. The winds were 15-20 knots but easing. Block Island was an easy day sail away and we dropped anchor in the Great Salt Pond, New Harbor at 1500h. We had originally intended to sail down Long Island Sound and visit New York City but decided instead to catch the first weather window to sail direct from Block Island to Cape May. The weather was against us for the next couple of days and when we were offered a free mooring we decided to leave the boat at the strategic take off point at Block Island and take the ferry across to the mainland to visit Newport the home of the America's Cup for many years and to visit the Herreshoff Museum at Bristol RI. To lovers of great sailing boats the name Herreshoff is uttered in hushed tones of awe and respect. The museum houses a number of boats designed and built by the Herreshoffs and many of their plans and design tools. It is still a source of amazement that Nat Herreshoff could design America's cup winning boats by whittling a half hull shape in a block of wood until it looked and felt right and have the boat trounce a Thomas Lipton funded boat designed and tested by the most scientific methods then available. The America's Cup Hall of Fame was a bonus.
Newport is a great place for sailors and Australian yachties are held in high regard and fondly remembered after the many America's Cup challenges and finally victory!! One of its special places is the Seamen's Church Institute housed in an old building near the waterfront. It provides every service a visiting yachtie could ask for: A cafe serving good cheap food, showers, laundry, computer and wi-fi access, library, mail collection and a chapel.
We also visited the International School of Wooden Boat Restoration and observed first hand the wonderful skills their students are able to develop. Bruce wanted to enroll. A night of luxury in a motel and bus rides through Providence to Point Judith and Ferry to Block Island completed our side trip. The weather forecasts for the next few days were not good and we began to question our decision to bypass New York. Block Islanders were good to us though and we attended the Baptist Church on Sunday and were invited to the home of a local family who had sailed to Australia and flown home for a while.
It was not until the following Wednesday October 24, that the weather looked right to sail south. The forecast was for winds W to NE to a maximum of 20 knots. The forecasters got it wrong. We estimated the trip to Cape May (203 nautical miles) would take us about 35 hours so braced ourselves for two days and one night at sea. By nightfall the winds were up to 30 knots and by Thursday morning we had gusts to 35 knots and breaking seas. It was fast but not comfortable sailing. It was rough enough for us to radio the Cape May Coast Guard to enquire about the conditions at the breakwater entrance. We decided to enter and had a rough entry with large breaking waves on our beam until we were well inside the breakwater. Trying to anchor in 35 knots is not easy and we got it wrong. We were too close to the main chanel and in the process we seized our anchor windlass so we couldn't use it to reset our anchor. We stayed the night and the next day when the wind had eased a little we were able to use a line and chain hook to inch the anchor chain up by using the main sheet winch. Rather than anchor again we decided to go into the Canyon Club Resort Marina but nearly fainted when they told us their charges were $125 a night.
We needed to get our windlass out of the boat and send it to an expert in Florida for repairs so we really had no choice. On Saturday morning, with the work completed and the weather, miserably cold, wet and windy, we took a taxi into the main shopping area of Cape May for a southern style breakfast of coffee, eggs, bacon and grits. The cafe proprietor was extremely helpful and suggested we might be interested in the bird show that was being held in the Convention Hall.
We went and discovered the hall full of bird watchers, binoculars, scopes, book sellers and a display of live raptors mostly birds that had been injured and nursed back to health by the owner of a bird sanctuary a nationally renowned ornithologist. Tethered and standing on their individual perches were magnificent looking eagles, falcons, hawks, and owls. The owner of the sanctuary was present and had scheduled a series of lectures. We made sure we were well positioned for the first of these. We could never have guessed at the saga that was about to unfold as one by one the birds were taken from their perches clipped to the lecturers gauntlet and paraded around for the audience to see at close quarters. A small falcon was let go to fly around the hall and quickly returned to the gauntlet bribed by a morsel of meat. "These birds of prey always attack the necks of their prey, so watch your necks" the lecturer cajoled. Towards the end of the lecture he asked how many would like to see an Arctic Falcon in free flight outdoors. Outside it was raining and blowing a gale but the majority wanted to see it. So outside we went. The falcon was released, soared into the sky and then plummeted into the centre of a flock of pigeons grabbing a pigeon in its talons and neatly cutting its jugular with its beak. It then flew out of sight with its kill. The lecturer and his assistants set off to track it down using a radio direction finder. Bruce decided to go back into the hall out of the rain but Bonnie tagged along with the lecturer and a couple of others to see where it had gone. When they finally tracked the falcon down they discovered it had flown into the main shopping mall dragged its prey into a shoe store and started to dismember it's pigeon lunch. Women were running out of the store screaming and the police had been called. The police arrived, the lecturer recovered the falcon clipping its tether to his gauntlet and removed the dead pigeon. The police refused to let him leave the store and return to the hall as they seemed to think that with a dead pigeon and screaming women some horrendous crime must have been committed. In spite of his request to return to finish his lecture, he was detained in the store until the animal control officer could be summoned. Cruelty to animals was one possible charge suggested. Half an hour later a rather frazzled lecturer with Bonnie, falcon and dead pigeon in tow returned to the hall but he was in no mood to continue his lecture and outdoor flights were ruled out for the rest of the day. It was rumoured that the police officers involved spent the rest of the day searching the statute books determined to find some charge to justify their efforts. Only in America?
We wandered back through the town cold and wet and on the way spied a billboard in front of the Cape May Baptist Church that said "Thanksgiving Celebration today. Public welcome." Any excuse to get out of the cold, so we entered. For the next couple of hours we enjoyed a good old fashioned social event with home made chilli con carne, corn bread, hot dogs, hot cider and some fun activites, bobbing for apples, eating buns on string, potato peeling contest (won by Bonnie) and a cake walk. What is a cake walk? When the music stops you stand on the nearest number and if it is drawn you win a cake. Bruce won a huge cake covered with chocolate icing that fed us for the next three days. By the end of the social we had made some good friends and arrangements had been made for a ride back to the boat, and a ride to church next morning. We also dined with our new found friends on Sunday evening before planning to move on.
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