Days 20 & 21 -- August 11-12 -- Pocasset Harbor -- 12.7 Nm

• Underway from Sandwich only 90 minutes, starting at 8 a.m.  The tide in the Canal was fair from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. And all but two of today's miles were in the Canal. The wind was in our face so we motored, at a modest 2000 rpms and made speeds of 7.2 to 9.3 knots, depending on the wind, waves and eddys, which were against us and the current overcoming them. We were slower after exiting the canal.
• (Where the heck did those dots come from?)
• We have stayed on moorings at the nearby Kingman Yachting Center in Red Brook Harbor, only about a mile away from Pocasset Harbor several times. We met friends for day sails there twice, including Bennett and Harriet and their friends in 2013 and Rona and Tabou in an earlier summer. But we had not yet used our anchor on this trip, and Pocasset beckoned. With winds forecast from the SW at 10 to 20, the anchorage area in Pocasett, being NE of the high part of Bassett's Island, looked appealing. And the price was right. We were disturbed to find several moorings, mostly empty, in the area shown as the anchorage, but they were far enough apart, we hoped, to give us room for our anchor, especially if they remained vacant.  Sixty feet of snubbed chain in 15 feet of water.  I called the Harbormistress each day. She took our information and told us we could stay the night. I lowered the dink. We cleaned, cooked, ate, read, played games, planned some navigation and slept. The only problem was the wind, which despite the Island's protection, reached 35 wind units on our instrument. Once the anchor showed that it held in winds of that strength, we knew it had dug in and would continue to do so. The next worry became whether we would be able to break free when we wanted to leave. But the half gallon empty milk bottle float that marks it's spot is tied on with a strong line that is tied near the blade of the anchor, providing an alternative pulling up point that should get us free. Worries were not to become realities; exit was easy.
• We did not go ashore, except one trip I made alone, on the second day, to Barlows Landing dinghy dock on the NE side of the harbor, about .6 miles from ILENE as the crow flies, longer if one wants to stay in the channel as I did. The Landing is a municipal facility at the foot of Barlows Landing Road, on which sit several placarded 18th and 19th century homes, including that of Mr. Barlow. I saw a group of wild turkeys. I asked in several stores for a postcard from Pocasset. A man in one of them gave me a ride to the Kingman Yacht Center where one of the four venders there who I asked, after saying they had none, offered me her only postcard, a map of The Cape, for the astronomical price of $2.11, including tax. I took it and having mailed it, commenced the walk back home. Without my extending my thumb, another local man gave me a ride to a small supermarket on Barlows Landing Road, where I got the two items Lene wanted. The trip back in the dink was a rough one with high winds threatening to lift the bow of the dink too high. I scooted forward, placing more weight toward the bow.
• Thunderstorms had been predicted both days and we got one, sort of, the second night. The lightening  was visible, the thunder was sustained but not at all loud and the rain light. And unlike most such storms, which come with the passing of  a front accompanied by strong winds, this storm saw the seas flatten out. The 20 to 35 knots came down to five!
• In the morning after breakfast I tried a new functionality, for me, in our Raytheon chart plotter called "Variable Range Line / Electronic Bearing Marker, or VRL/EBM. This has always been in the device, but I had never had occasion to use it, drawing my lines on my paper charts. This function allows one to draw electronic lines on the chart plotter screen and I don't need dividers to measure their length. The need arose because one page of our chart book has gone missing and I want to know and feel a need to report out daily mileage.  We have the InavX progrem on the IPad so we are not lost, but the VRL/EBM is supposed to make route planning easier. It is true about new tools that it takes some time to learn how to use them. I'm not there yet. I also did some more topside polishing, but at this rate it won't all be done by hauling time.
• As we were about to leave, a man in a dink came by and told us to take a mooring, for free! I wish I had known that two days earlier when we arrived. Neither the cruising guide book nor the Harbormaster told us this. Yes, he said, they want us to use them so that the seaweed does not grow on them -- just like I hope ILENE's is used by guests at the Harlem. The numbers painted on the mooring balls refer to the size of the boat they are suitable for: I should select one with a number 43 or larger. Pocasett: I'll be back!