DAY 5: New Haven to Old Saybrook, CT

Eleanor gets off the hook, finds Yale

Ahhhhh, Old Saybrook, thank you for your lovely neighborhoods, quaint used book store, resort pool, steam room, lobster roll, and, what was that I heard? It was the sound of my own deep cleansing breath.

But first: away with the body bag. I mean, Elle, the dinghy.

There is something cathartic about ratcheting.

Then a short cruise to our next destination: Old Saybrook, CT

Lighthouse welcoming us to Old Saybrook

We took a long walk along many manicured lawns, finally stumbling upon Yale. (You’ll recall, we never found it in New Haven) Actually founded in Old Saybrook in 1701, it was then called the Collegiate School. It closed in 1716. Then some folks put a rock in its place.

The Yale Boulder

We also found Harbor Books, where we made strides toward replenishing Eleanor’s library, its former contents having been lost in a winter soaking.

Upgraded library now includes tributes to Eleanor R (of course) and Gloria S.

I got a kick out of finding the 1999 book launch press releases inside the E book.

Another famous strong-woman, Katherine Hepburn lived in O.S until she died in 2003 at the age of 96. There’s a theater/arts center named for her on Main Street.

An affectionate nickname for the theater

And what better way to wrap up the day than with a Smoked Old Fashioned (Shout out to the Shady Ladies!!) at the resort’s Choo Choo Lounge …

Hmmm, where’s Jon? Wait for it….

HE’S ALIVE, AND CALCULATING:

Eleanor is a pretty unique boat in a lot of ways. Not just Terese’s favorite front cockpit (her Frockpit), or the varnished transom, but in the efficient thoughtful design of her hull. Long and lean, Eleanor has a beam of 13-feet for a beam to length ratio of 1:4. Most powerboats these days are fatter to offer more accommodations and it is common to have a ratio of 1:3 or even wider. (An 18-foot beam is more typical of today’s motor yachts Eleanor’s size.) This feature makes Eleanor more akin to a narrow kayak than to a plump rowboat, and thus very efficiently driven through the water. We were about to find out what this meant at the fuel pumps.

At the yacht club in New Haven with our reciprocal privileges from Chesapeake Yacht Club we were able to buy diesel at the member discount. We had traveled 334 statue miles from home in 20.9 engine hours. The engine clocks start when we fire them up, and there is a few minutes of warm up, and then time while we undock before we head out, so our underway hours are less, but let’s ignore that for now. (Some of you may be ignoring all this math already. Hi, Jina.)

Back to the math, we had topped off in Shady Side and so it took 273 gallons in New Haven to refill our 400 gallon tanks. Eleanor’s normal cruise speed is right around 20 mph. Flat out she will hit 27 but we like to take it easy on these 22-year-old Yanmar diesels. And yes, we should use knots, or nautical miles per hour, but I really like to see the speed number on the GPS start with a 2 and twenty knots is 23 mph so that would be pushing her too hard. In slow speed areas we adhere to the 6 mph limit, so our average speed is a mix of slow and normal cruise. Here are our numbers:

·      Average speed: 16 mph

·      Fuel burn per hour: 13 gph

·      Miles per gallon: 1.22 mpg

·      Nautical MPG: 1.06 nmpg

Our normal numbers running from Shady Side to Ego Alley, or chasing sailboat races on a Wednesday evening, are closer to 10 gallons per hour. On this trip we are moving along at a fast clip but these numbers, while staggering compared to car fuel economy, are actually pretty amazing for a 52-foot vessel with a gross weight of 25 tons. But enough math for today. Our next port of call is a great one so stand by for tomorrow’s update, with more of Terese’s interesting stories and fewer numbers.