Hurricane Irene toys with Lazy W

While cruising the final few miles of Rhode Island’s western coastline, we spotted this impressive Victorian building high atop the rocks at Watch Hill.  Ocean House was built in 1868 and is now a boutique oceanfront resort with its own private beach on Block Island Sound.

 Ocean House

As we wound our way up the Mystic River to Brewer Yacht Yard we were rewarded with beautiful New England scenery.

Along the Mystic River

Alan and Patti Sutton caught up with us in Brewer Yacht Yard Mystic, CT on Wednesday. August 24^th.  Our original plans called for a berth the following day at Mystic Seaport (the Museum of America and the Sea), a recreated 19^th century maritime village complete with cobblestone streets and authentic 1870’s trade shops and businesses relocated here from locales all over New England.  While the museum is typically open during daylight hours, your dockage fees allows you to roam the grounds after dark and the four of us along with Rich and Terry Wills were looking forward to our visit.  But all conversation that night revolved around Hurricane Irene.  Do we pull Lazy W?  Do Alan and Patti head to New Jersey to help his parents prepare for the storm?  What about their boat in Hampton and their cabin on the Northern Neck?  We poured more beer and wine, delaying any decisions until the morning.

NOAA forecasts were filled with doom and gloom.  Irene was packing a wallop and projected to make a direct hit somewhere near New York City.  Her massive wind field would push the water of Long Island Sound north into the Connecticut rivers causing a tidal surge of 8 – 11 feet.  It was no surprise that Mystic Seaport cancelled our reservation in order to take care of their own vessels.  Alan and Patti headed to New Jersey.  Arrangements were made to pull Lazy W.  We removed her canvas and stowed all loose gear and electronics inside.  Rich and Terry came with two cars from East Lyme to Mystic later in the day.  After lobster rolls at Costello’s Clam Shack in Noank, they returned to East Lyme, leaving us ‘the Beast’ (Ford Expedition).  I was convinced that Irene would not be kind to Lazy W and proceeded to fill ‘the Beast’ with all the stuff I didn’t want to leave behind.

The crew at Brewer Yacht Yard was working non-stop and by end of day on Friday they had secured Lazy W and some 60 other boats in their gravel parking lot.  There was nothing more for us to do but hope for the best.

Lazy W ready for Hurricane Irene at Brewer Yacht Yard

We are so lucky to have great landlubber friends who are willing to take in storm-ravaged refugees.  During Hurricanes Isabel and Earl we were taken in by Peg and Greg in Chesapeake.  Now Rich and Terry were graciously opening their home to us for the duration of Irene.  We needed to earn our keep so Frank helped Rich move plants and patio furniture indoors.  When the house was as secure as possible we sat back to await Irene.  But wait!  She slowed down and her arrival was pushed back to Sunday morning so off we went to the casino at Mohegan Sun where we threw away some money in the slot machines and enjoyed brick oven pizza at Frank Pepe’s.  (Frank Pepe, an Italian immigrant, supposedly made the first American pizza at his New Haven pizza shop in 1925.)

By 5:30AM Sunday, Irene made her presence known by knocking down trees and power lines throughout Connecticut.  Before she was finished over 700,000 Connecticut Light and Power customers were without power – Rich and Terry included.  But we had the foresight to fill the bathtubs with water so we could still flush the toilets!  By day’s end we ventured out to assess the damage.  While others were dealing with fallen trees, the Wills property was relatively unscathed, littered only with branches and mangled leaves.  After sunset the neighborhood was dark and eerily quiet except for the hum of scattered generators.  With nothing else to do, we retired early.

All of us were wanting for showers so the men reserved a room at the nearby Sleep Inn which inexplicably had power.  It was filled with plenty of other folks in search of soap and running water.  Rich and Terry entrusted Monte, their aging Golden Retriever, to our care while they rushed to Brick, New Jersey to attend to some legal business.  When they returned Tuesday evening, the power was still not restored!

 Monte Wills

By Wednesday afternoon Lazy W was back in the water, her canvas reinstalled, and new provisions stowed. She had weathered the storm quite well.  We enjoyed one final lobster roll meal with Rich and Terry at New London’s Captain Scott Lobster Dock and said our goodbyes.  We would have cocktail stories for years to come thanks to Irene.

Lazy W returns to the water

Early Thursday, September 1^st, we left Mystic.  Irene had severely ravaged the western part of Connecticut so we knew we would have to be self-sufficient.  If there were any intact marinas they would be too busy recovering to welcome any transients.  We set our sights on an anchorage in Joshua Cove, some thirty miles west of Mystic.

As we passed the mouth of the Connecticut River we were stunned by the extent of the muddy outflow reaching Long Island Sound.  We would need to keep a vigilant watch on the water for storm debris.

The muddy Connecticut River meets Long Island Sound

We reached Joshua Cove by early afternoon.  Just off our bow we were treated to a strange sight – a mini Stonehenge!

 Joshua Cove scenery

On our way to the United States Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point we dodged tree limbs, flower pots, toilet seats, logs, wooden crates – the detritus of severe flooding courtesy of Hurricane Irene.  Back in East Lyme, the power had finally been restored.

 Approaching USMMA

The docks at USMMA are not usually accessible to transient boaters. However, good friend John Wolak has a friend Jerry whose son Matthew is a third class cadet.  Matthew works the waterfront here and he made room for Lazy W among the dozens of academy boats.   When we arrived, Parents’ Weekend was in progress and Jerry and Matthew as well as a contingent of cadets greeted us at the dock.  Lazy W’s lines were handled by the most competent group of dock hands we had ever met! 

Lazy W at USMMA waterfront

It looks like we will be hanging around on the Long Island Sound for the next few days as we await a favorable weather window to make our run down the Jersey shore to Cape May and back up the Delaware Bay to the C&D Canal.  We were hoping to depart the Sound on Monday but NOAA is forecasting seas of 5-10 feet through Wednesday – not the conditions that we fair-weather boaters are seeking...