Our Maiden Voyage

Posted by admin on June 17, 2015 in Featured | 0 comments

June 6-7 we headed off to Greenport, NY for our first real checkout run. I’d spent the last couple of days loading up clothes, equipment, galleyware, etc. With everything clean, and stowed in approximately the right locations, we were ready to move in. Friday we spent our first night aboard, and Saturday we were planning to be part of a convoy with Whateva and Nordic Lady.

We left in pea soup fog near-zero visibility, but the Garmin 18xHD Radar did a great job picking out targets. AIS kept Nordic Lady and I aware of each other’s position, and Whateva stayed in the middle as we crawled down the Connecticut River towards Long Island Sound.

Paul Tortora (who was aboard Whateva and is credited with all of the photographs in this post – many thanks Paul!) was about 100 yards off our bow and grabbed this shot of Enemy Glory emerging through the mist.

Enemy Glory passing under the Old Lyme bascule bridge.

Radar on, AIS on, lights on, fog horn sounding, checked in with the guys on the Maritime Mobile Service Network on 14.300, we made our way into the Sound.

Once we got into the sound, we set our course for Plum Gut and proceeded cautiously ahead. Happily, the fog started to clear and visibility improved considerably once we were a couple of miles into LI Sound. By then we were able to increase speed to 8-9 knots and had a nice leasurly ride across the Sound.

As we approached Plum Gut, the day had become pretty nice and the marine traffic increased.

Nordic Lady is an NT54 – with visibility improved, we were able to close ranks a bit and get a couple of shots together. I didn’t feel nearly this small while I was at the helm!