WAITING NO MORE! ! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

      At Last, At Last, At Last . . . .  I write this from the upstairs lounge of TYC and 100 yards away, ABISHAG  rests peacefully at the dock. Yes, SUMMER has truly begun. HUZZAH! ! ! ! !

     Russ Kennedy and Tim Duffy joined me for the trip from Portland(Goodbye!) to New London (Hello!) on what could only be described as a perfect day! The wind was blowing 10 - 15 knots, gusts to 20,out of the Northwest shift later to the Southwest. The only negative, if you wanted to count it,  was that we were battling the tide on the run up the Sound from Saybrook to New London but with the wind, we still averaged 6.5 knots topping out at 8! in the gusts and when surfing. It was fantastic for a first day sail.

     The trip down the Connecticut River was uneventful which is a good thing. The only thing of note was the rather shallow water depths just south of the Pratt & Whitney Plant. For the most part now, the is little in the way of commercial traffic going up and down the river and as a result there is little reason for them, whoever "them" are, to do the needed dredging. As a  result, it is beginning to silt-up badly in several places, more the further north you go. We actually had to slow down and creep around the corner and the depth actually played with the 9-10 foot mark but that was as low as it went. Drawing 5.5 feet, it was a little cause for concern but it was only momentary. And aside from that, it was no muss, no fuss. It was interesting to see that the depths on the chart and what we were reading on the depth sounder were not always in agreement. Some places were more filled in and others were scowered out, though the fill-ins out numbered the scrower-outers.

      On second thought, there were two things that happened that were amusing and each involved one of the two bridges we had to pass on the river. At the East Hadem Swing Bridge, which opens on the half hour, we got there in place about 11:15 and so had to wait. We used the time to have lunch and help out another sailboater waiting for the bridge with a radio problem he was having. It was a fun way to past the time and wait for the 11:30. At 11:30, the warning bells and horn went off, the gates dropped, the cars stopped and the bridge didn't open! Something was stuck and the poor woman bridge tender was really embarrassed and so apologetic.  It wasn't a long delay, about 12 minutes, so it didn't have much of an impact on us. However since the bridge, like most these days, once it started to open, couldn't be closed until it was all the way open. This caused a problem for the State Police who came roaring up to the barrier, lights flashing, siren wailing,  just after the bridge started its swing.  When we passed through the bridge, I thanked the tender over the radio and she apologized again. When I mentioned that the Staties must be really upset, she brushed it off saying that when they come by "on the job" they are supposed to call ahead and notify the bridge tender and ascertain the status of the bridge. These guys didn't call an so she said it was their own fault.

     Down near the mouth of the river is the Lyme Railroad bridge. As we cross under the Baldwin Bridge (I-95), I called the Railroad bridge and asked when their next opening was.  I did this more to find out if it was back in regular service. It had been very restricted in service for several weeks and surprisingly it is tough to get up-to-date info on its status. The bridge tender told up to get up close, in bridge terms less than 100 yards and call again. Between the time we called and then got to the 100 yard spot, two trains cross the bridge in opposite direction. Once the second one pass the tender called us and told us he was opening the bridge and then proceeded to launch into a long mechanical history about the bridge - it's 105 years old; it has a different operating system now than when he started 45 years ago; it moves at 50% slower speed opening and 20% slower speed than closing than when he started; it has "chimpanzee controls"  rather than controlling with levers the bridge so that he can raise and lower it to the degree needed, now he just has to push a button but like most bridges, once pushed it has to open all the way before it will be able to be closed. He went on and on and on. I think he was lonely.

     With the great flooding of the river (thank goodness no debris) and the good wind we made the trip in seven hours which is an hour better than last year.However, this was a more pleasant and enjoyable trip. Still, it was also exhuming as I am certainly out of sailing shape after the winter. But I am here now and all is right with the world.