August 26 and 27 -- Portsmouth to Manchester by the Sea to Scituate, 40 and 23 Miles

Here is a view in the morning sun of all of the Isles of Shoals, at which we stopped while outbound. There we had a free mooring provided by the Portsmouth YC, while in Portsmouth proper we paid the reasonable $32 and thanked the members.
Not enough sailable wind from Portsmouth until Thatcher Island, off Cape Ann. This was the longer of the two legs of the passage. Sail up but not enough wind. We tried sailing off course on a close reach but not enough wind to make it worthwhile. Once around the Cape, we turned off the engine and sailed the rest of the way using the genoa at first and then the small jib and finally only the main. It was not clear that we would have a mooring at Manchester; the club did not answer their phone. But was saw "Sea Quester, by name, on the AIS and called them. Jamie used his influeence and got a mooring assigned to us, by name and lat and lon, in the outer harbor. This is acually the Atlantic, but the big bay, off of which Gloucester, Manchester by the Sea , Salem and Marblehead are all ports, is somewhat protected by a group of off shore islands. Half an hour later, the owner of the mooring came alongside and told us to get off his mooring. We did so, of course and called the club by VHF. It sent out a young man to point out another mooring to us. Jamie and Lori had worse luck: Someone unknown to them or anyone else at the Club had taken their mooring and left their boat. So they tied Sea Quester at the Club dock.

useful for off loading all the stuff that was aboard for their cruise.











Here are views from the Club of the inner harbor and the outer harbor.

They invited us to what are frequent socials on the club veranda. They bought me a drink chit and free soft drinks offered by the club whetted Lene's whistle. There were lots of tasty edibles some provided by the Club and others by various members. Had we known I would have whipped up something to make a contribution. They introduced us to their fellow cruisers and after an hour of this, drove us to a local eatery in town where we were one of three couples. And they got us back to the dock to make the last launch ride back to I
Next morning the wind was from the northwest, the best direction for a passage to Scituate on the Boston Area's South Shore. But not enough of it after the first couple of hours, so another motoring day. We passed through a constellation of freighters anchored out and saw the outline of Boston's skyline on our starboard beam through the haze. I took down the main without help from Lene, who was chatting with friends, gradually, without heading directly into the wind. And while doing so, noted a pretty white lighthouse. When the job was done, i looked at the chart and saw that the light was Scituate's and we had motered about 1/4 mile past the entrance channel.
We tooka mooring at the Satuit Boat Club, lunched, and took the launch to the clubhouse for showers. Then walked about a mile to town to provision. As much as I like sailing, I think Lene likes provisioning. We buy some groceries, especially perishables, nearly every opportunity and this was no exception. But we eat well and of healthy foods. We carried our bags only to the nearby Harbormaster's office where he called our launch which picked us up in town and took us to our boat.
A few hours later it was time to have dinner with Hugh and Arlene. He served with he on the USS HAmmerberg, ending in 1967, and they live in Boston. They came out to dine with us and we ended at the same place in Scituate where i had first tasted Lobster, Mac and Cheeese. And it wass just as good this time. Hugh had just come back from an Alaska cruise with kids and grandkids so we swapped Alaska stories and got caught up. We had not seen Hugh for about four years, when he visited NY with grandson Levi and toured Governor's Island with me, as reported in this blog. Hugh is a good sailor. So on two consecutive nights we dined out with quite different friends: Jamie and Lori whi we knew for two days and Hugh and Arlene who I have known for 51 years!