Into each cruise some rain must fall. This was our first day of it. We got underway at 7:45 and arrived at 12:15. It started as a nice sail, though the wind was from the SW, where we had to go. We went south first and then tacked to the west, and could almost make the waypoint until the wind came more southerly and diminished. No problem with less wind, we just unrolled the Genoa to replace the small jib. But then the wind got very strong, indicating 35 wind units on our meter and we could see the storm clouds approaching. Hmmm, they were not supposed to arrive until the afternoon. We furled the headsail, turned on the engine and powered straight for the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal, straight into the seas with high Rome. The rain came, very heavy, and we took down the main, rolled down the front of the dodger and inserted the canvas piece that connects the dodger to the Bimini. It was the last ten miles and I was not feeling sorry for myself as I got wetter and wetter because we saw several smaller boats going the other way without dodger or bimini. "I had no shoes..." -- you know the saying.
The rain stopped about half an hour before our arrival at the Marina slip. actually they wisely put us an the outside end of a "T" dock. This Marina is also gentrifying, building a big new office and shower house building. It is a tiny harbor jammed with docks filled mostly with local small personal fishing boats. I think it was mostly dredged. It's claim to fame is its location, just inside the Cape Cod Bay side of the Canal. So it is a place to hang out while waiting for the tide to go favorable. I had been here once before while crewing, Maine to RI, on Sealeaf, a 58 foot custom sloop, perhaps 2010. but it was a new harbor for ILENE. Knowing the strategic advantage of a short stop here, they have an hourly rate for those who do not plan to spend the night.
We relaxed, showered, visited the nearby supermarket, filled our water tanks and I did some exterior cleaning, of the starboard side, the side where the launch brings us. There is a glass museum in town, a long walk away, but not this time because more storms were forecast and it did rain several times during the afternoon, but only lightly, each time.
A nice couple on a power boat was tied up to our dock, stern to stern. Their boat was named after a country music song and they had come from Warwick in northern RI, and headed out just before we did in the morning to Charlestown, Boston, where they were going to have dinner with their son. A much faster boat.
Another cool quiet night.
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