June 17 -- Block Island to Phinneys Harbor, Mass

A long passage of more than 50 miles, so we got started at 7 am and motored at near six knots to be sure to get to our destination: a port near the western end of the Cape Cod Canal. The three options were Mattapoisett,  Marion and Onset., all on the mainland (north) side of Buzzards Bay, more or less near the entrance to the canal. The Canal's tide starts to run in our favor at 10:22 am tomorrow, so we want to be near, to jump in for the shot to Provincetown.

There was not enough wind and it was from behind us, to sail. There was a moderate ocean swell, maximum five feet, coming in to shore from the south, rocking our boat as we slid over each crest. These were not waves, with whitecaps, just ocean rollers.  We passed three large ocean freighters and averted course to pass behind the first of them. They appeare to be crossing our bow from port to starboard and with the rollers crashing on their bows, it looked like they were going forward. But in fact they were anchored in 110 feet of water, about three miles off the Rhode Island coast.

Then about ten o’clock the wind came up from about 120 degrees off our starboard quarter and we shut off the engine and averaged a bit more than seven and a half knots. The wind shifted further astern and we ended up wing on wing,making 6.5 knots, for the final half hour before dousing sail to traverse a passage to our anchorage.

And we ended up on our anchor, in Phinneys Harbor on the Cape Cod (south) side of Buzzards Bay.  Lots of room around us and we have 110 feet of chain out in depth of 30 feet at high tide.  We are secure on anchor ready for a home cooked meal in a spot with a nice view.

And we have hot and cold running water at last. The replacement  part arrived in Essex, but when I installed it and turned on the fresh water pump to test it, water leaked out of the bowl at a rapid rate. I removed and reinstalled the bowl, with the same result. So I called Brian, of  Headsync, the firm that installed the water maker back in 2010. He said maybe the black plastic top into which the bowl is screwed, should be replaced. But upon dis-assembly, I learned that some of the white plastic fittings had been glued in to the old part and I had no such replacement parts. But with the device taken apart, I thought to screw the bowl on right side up, rather than upside down. I asked Lene to hand it back to me which she did. Then I asked for the “O” ring.  I explained what that was (you may recall that the space shuttle takeoff disaster was attributed to a faulty “O” ring.) She said she did not have it, and I did not have it so what gives? I had the one from the broken bowl but it was put away. Then I looked down and saw what the problem had been all along. The “O” ring was lying at the bottom of the compartment dedicated to the water maker. I thought I had put it in originally, but in doing this job upside down it had fallen out and without the ring it leaked. Retrieved and installed and the thing no longer leaks and we have hot and cold running water at last. So I'm a hero to Lene who forgot that I caused the original problem by not winterizing the system fully and by dropping the "O" ring while trying to make the repair.