Robin's engine ran through the night, charging the batteries although at a somewhat lower level than I was accustomed to seeing. By Wednesday morning, we were veering offshore from Long Beach Island, NJ, aiming generally toward Vineyard Sound. Although I had planned this to be a sailing-only cruise, we had no wind and I decided to make up for the day lost in Cape May.
The forecast had been for winds of 15 knots gusting to 20, but at first there was nothing. Then, around mid morning, a breeze came up from the southeast and soon we were able to shut down the engine, making a good six knots under sail alone. I had visions of a silent passage all the way to Maine.
In six hours, the wind was gone, followed by haze tending toward fog and limited visibility. I turned the engine back on, then checked the volt meter for both batteries.
Nothing.
The alternator was not charging, and we were 24 hours from the nearest port. I decided to head for Newport, RI, the home of many boat mechanics, to learn what the mechanic in Cape May had missed.
The fog never let up, and by the time we were passing Block Island the next morning, we had about 200 feet of visibility. We ran the radar from time to time, using the Honda 2000 watt generator to recharge the batteries. Still, we missed the large object lurking in the mist just off our port bow. Suddenly, we were facing a large (maybe 90 foot) motor yacht as it crossed our bow within that 200 foot limit. The yacht disappeared to our east -- probably entering Great Salt Pond on Block Island, and then we turned around the green buoy north of the island and aimed for Newport.
It was about then that we heard the fog horn of a ship and then on Channel 16, the call of the ship's captain. He was steering a 600-foot tanker east on Block Island Sound, generally in our direction, and was gaining on us.
I called the skipper and gave him our location. He said he had slowed and that we would clear his bow.
We never did see the tanker, although we heard his repeated blasts on the horn. But now the wind came up and we sailed into Newport Harbor on a steep following sea, blinded by the fog, unable to see even an outline of the shore. With the sails down as we approached the inner harbor, we motored and navigated by use of the chart plotter. There were large sailboats moored everywhere, and I became disoriented for a few minutes, until I noticed the profile of the Ida Lewis Yacht Club and used it to find the channel.
Once we had taken a mooring, I called Beta Marine and got a number for their local dealer, who said they would be able to visit Robin the following week.
That would not do, so with the help of the folks at Beta in North Carolina, I began examining the engine myself and came up with a plan.
Using the Honda generator, we would proceed toward Maine, passing between Cape Cod and Matha's Vineyard and then taking the Pollock Rip Channel to reach the Atlantic offshore from the Cape. I'd wanted to make this passage for a long time, and I wasn't going to be deterred by engine problems.