September 1 -- Catumet to Quissett

I forgot to mention that I cancelled the day sail that was planned with Bennett and his friend, Rick, for yesterday. It was too rough to introduce a newbie to sailing and unpleasant even for me. But an alternative was to do this sail today. 

We had a thunderstorm at about 5:30 am. First the lightning, silent but bright, from under the horizon; this was not some lighthouse's flash. Then we heard rolling thunder. A few minutes later the rain came, heavy at first and it hung on until about ten am. Aboard, inside, it was nice and dry.

During the morning a lengthy series of text messages took place because cell reception was so lousy that we could not hear each other. The final plan: Bennett and Harriet and Rick and Jane drove their two cars to Quissett Harbor; all four of them got into one car and drove it to Catumet, and took the launch to ILENE on her mooring. Here transferring from launch to ILENE.

Hey, what are all these people doing here?

After lunch we sailed from  Catumet to Quissett Harbor, a distance of only about 11.3 miles.

We got underway at about 1:30 using reefed main and small jib in anticipation of sailing close hauled into 15 knot winds.  Everyone had a good time except Rick, who was a good sport and hung on to avoid sea sickness. No pictures of green people in this blog! We ran the engine as well, for the last hour, to try to shorten Rick’s misery.
Jane became a happy helmsperson.

Though 11.3 miles by the shortest logical safe route it was well over 16 miles because it required several tacks and we lost ground on each of them due to the wind and tide pushing us
backward. And it took us more than three hours.
Once on the mooring I lowered the dink and took our friends to the car they had left hereso they could drive back to Catumet and pick up the other car. Five people in the dink but it was calm in the harbor. Harriet and Bennett:

Quissett is a pretty little harbor. The chart shows it as almost impossible to get into due to a very narrow channel with rocks in it. In reality, however, it was easy, and well marked with reds and greens. Its YC has a web site that says “We have no clubhouse and no phone number, only boats and people.” They have a small fleet of Herreshof design "12s" for match racing. and some other pretty boats. The adjacent boatyard rents moorings, without launch service, at a reasonable cost. The Marina operator described Quissett as a huricane hole. I wouldn’t mind coming here again.

We dined aboard and prepared for more rain tonight, which did not come. There is no store in Quissett so no opportunity to buy a postcard for my granddaughter, from here. Tomorrow we plan a very short hop to Hadley’s Harbor.