Connecticut in the Wind

The plan for the day was to meet at Esker Point in Groton, paddle over to Race Point on Fisher's Island, reconnoiter the Race, paddle back, and then party in Mystic. The marine forecast was not encouraging (SW winds around 20knts), but I wasn't about to let a little thing like that dampen my spirits. My rational brain knew that given the forecast, paddling out to the race was not and ideal plan for a relaxing day on the water. The wind would push us over to Race Point, but would pound us all the way back. The wind would also work the waves into a frothy mess.
Undaunted by rational thoughts, I arrived at the put in early and took a nap. I figured PB, TM, and BH would show up shortly there after. Some time later, PB calls me to see where I was parked... The directions to the put-in from the RIC/KA website are not the greatest. PB had found the parking lot across the street from the put-in. BH showed up on PB's heels. But TM was still missing.
TM had taken the long way to the put-in to reconnoiter possible places to crash in the evening. He was also suffering a bit from several consecutive days of paddling.
Once he arrived TM quickly squelched any plans to paddle to Race Point. His back was not up to it. The rest of rejoiced that at least one of us had enough sense to not embark on a death paddle. PB, BH, and I were willing to give the original plan a shot despite our good judgement.
The modified plan was to hug the coast and paddle east towards Mystic and Stonington. That would give us some cover from the wind and still offer interesting paddling.
We set out of the nice protected cove at the put-in and entered the wind. The wind had kicked up some good chop and it was pushing the stern of the Q-Boat around.
I was pretty happy that we weren't heading out into Fishers Island sound. I was having a heck of a time finding the right amount of skeg to settle the Q-Boat's stern. Eventually, I settled on not using the skeg. It was easier to correct for the wind by edging when needed.
BH needed to make some adjustments. So stopped at the monastery in Mystic Harbor. We kept looking for their kayaks.
We stopped for lunch on a pleasant beach between Mystic and Stonington. It was right on the railroad tracks, but it was not a problem. The train was very quiet and the view was superb. The beach also kept us out of the wind which was nice.
After lunch we headed over to Stonington for some ice cream.
Our first attempt at landing nearly got TM eaten by a large German Shepherd. We paddled up to what looked like a public dock and TM and BH proceeded to pull ashore. Meanwhile this woman on her sailboat was growing agitated watching helplessly as we invaded her private beach. Her husband was sitting idly by and their shepherd was quietly eyeing the boarding party. I politely asked her what the issue was and explained that we were looking for a public dock. As the shepherd was eyeing TM, we decided it was best to move to the public landing.
We found the public docks. There was a bathroom, but no ice cream.
The paddle back to the cars was a slog into the wind.
Back at the cars we located my brother, who was drinking at the near by restaurant, and made a plan for the evening festivities. Find rooms in Mystic and then eat.
We caravanned around Mystic vainly looking for a room. Mystic is a very popular place on sunny summer weekends.
After being shut out of all the hotels in the area, we decided to bag finding rooms and get some food. BH guided us to the Packer Inn Pub. It is a small colonial era pub with great atmosphere. We got a table in the corner and enjoyed a fantastic meal and some nice beers.
After dinner we grabbed some ice cream and headed home. It was not quite what I planned, but it was a fun day with great friends.