September 2 & 3 -- Quissett to Falmouth and Lay Day There

Our plan for September 2 - 4 was to visit three ports that we have been to before. First, 9/2, Hadleys Harbor, created by the proximity of several of the Elizabeth Islands, a pure anchorage (well there are now many free moorings) with no commercial activities, though undoubtedly a busy place this holiday weekend. Next day, through Woods Hole to Falmouth on the north (or Cape) side of Vineyard Sound. The sound is the body of water separating Cape Cod from Martha's Vineyard. And finally, on Wednesday, to cross that Sound to Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard. There the local synagogue has given us guest privileges for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year holiday beginning that evening.

Woods Hole is a passage between Buzzards Bay to the north and Vineyard Sound to the south.  But the passage is a graceful shallow "S" from NE to SW rather than a straight line. Here is a look through the Hole from the south.

 To the east is the Cape and on the west is the Elizabeth Island chain. Off to the Cape side of the passage, is the town of Woods Hole with several oceanographic research institutions. The tide rushes through the Hole at about four knots at the peak, and the channel between the many rocks does not align the same way that the water does; the water crosses the channel and can push you aside -- out of the channel onto the rocks -- if you are not careful. In fact, during our transit of the Hole in 2008 we glanced off a rock while blitzing through at almost ten knots, fortunately with no damage. So this time I was a lot more cautious. The safe time to go through is at slack, the brief interval when the tide is at high or low and the current is slow and hasn't yet started to rush the other way with force. This is less thrilling, but safer.
Rain was predicted for the afternoon. Lene called Falmouth's friendly and efficient Municipal Marina, where we had stayed, on their dock, in 2008 (at $2.35 per foot according to my note in the cruising guide), to inquire about availability for tomorrow ."Sure, and because it is September, our rate is $1.00 per foot."  "Why that's less than the cost of a mooring at Catumet!" Lene said to me, "Let's go today!" And the tide was right for the Hole. So we motored the 1.9  miles from Quissett to the Hole and the 2.0  miles through the Hole. Here is Nobska Point Light on  the Cape after we had passed through the Hole.

Then we shut off the engine and flew the genoa on a broad starboard reach in light air, making about three knots for a pleasant, stately, non-heeling passage of the 3.4 miles to Falmouth. Lene's favorite type of sail. Adding the final half mile in Falmouth Harbor the entire trip was only 7.8 miles and we arrived at 11:30. The harbor is about .8 miles long and was dredged to about 100 yards wide. In 2008 we were at one of the many slips that lined the western side, bow in, perpendicular to the shore. In the interim they built docks out about 100 feet long into the harbor with room for about six boats on each side of each dock, so we now docked parallel to the shore.
We had enjoyed lunch at Betsy's Diner in 2008. Its neon motto in the window: "Eat Heavy."

But they closed too early for us for Labor Day and totally closed on our lay day. So we had Chinese food at the Peiking Palace, across the street. Not bad.
After lunch, a postcard, a percolator top and a grocery stop, we returned to wash the boat with the unlimited supply of fresh water available from the dock.
Dinner aboard.
The lay day was quiet, with a few rain storms. This time the percolator top was too big to fit into the hole in the pot's top, so we walked in to town to return it. This statute honors, Katherine Lee Bates, the native daughter who wrote the lyrics for America the Beautiful.

It is located in the village green.

"Antares", a beautiful 40 foot, center cockpit, teak decked Hallberg-Rassey pulled in next to us flying the German flag.

 Olaf and Andrea, are from Hamburg and sail in the Baltic and Scandinavia, except they have been here in the Caribbean and Maine this last year.



An interesting "davit" arrangement for the dink, using the toping lift to winch it up.

All Hallberg Rasseys have the hard windscreen.

But Antares' windscreen is topped with an additional dodger and a large bimini is on top of that.

In the late afternoon we walked over a mile to see Blue Jasmine (Ilene's second viewing!) followed by a very cheap dinner and we got what we paid for -- mediocre pedestrian flavorless food. It rained torrentially during the movie and several other fronts passed during the night.
In the morning a very unpleasant and sad/scary happening. Witty was missing! Last seen around midnight, he did not show up for breakfast, which is unheard of. If he fell in he would have yowled. We searched the area thoroughly, calling his name and shaking the plastic box of his treats, a sure fire way to attract his attention. The road nearby did not have his body. At eight we called the police animal control unit and the harbor master. I prepared a "Lost Cat -- Reward" poster with his picture and by ten the first three of them had been posted in the neighborhood. Hopefully he had been picked up by a friendly feline loving person nearby.  Lene started crying. I said that there is still hope and it is too early to mourn; lots of good that advice did. While I was off posting the posters a person on a nearby boat said he had seen a cat the day before on a boat on the next dock. Third powerboat from the right in photo. This dock was full of local boats, their people living at home, not aboard. No one to hear his mewling and rescue him!

I had walked that dock calling his name and shaking his treats but no response. The harbor master's helpful friendly assistant, Kelsey, accompanied Lene. They searched the boat and heard a faint meow. Here is the ladder up her stern that Witty had climbed to board her. And here is the inverted dinghy on her foredeck under which Witty had taken shelter from the rain and become trapped.

What a relief! All's well that ends well.

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.

August 31 -- Plymouth to Catumet

I had a poor night’s sleep, thinking we had to cast off earlier than the 7 am I had told Lene, because we would be needing to tack to get to the Cape Cod Bay entrance to the CC Canal in time to get through the canal before the tide turned adverse. This is one body of water where you have to get the tide right. I compromised with myself and we left at 6:30 with motor and reefed main, in anticipation of 20 knot apparent winds. We jibed twice heading out of Plymouth and once clear, at 7:30, came on a starboard beam reach with 10 to 15 knots. We added the genoa, shut off the engine and made well over six knots. The wind was from the west, not from the SW, as predicted. Fast and pleasantly uncold. But at 8:30 the wind fell to calm so we furled the genoa and motored the rest of the way, arriving at the canal entrance at ten. Half an hour before this the wind came up from the SW, but less than ten knots so we put up the small jib to compliment the reefed main and left the engine on. Before entry we tried to furl the jib but an overlap required me to go forward and play with the drum for a while to get it furled. At the entrance there were swirly currents which caused me to second guess myself as to the tide. But once in, the tide was giving us 2.5 knots above speed through the water, peaking at 8 knots over the ground. But toward the western end of the canal, we experienced big waves with strong winds, now 20 knots apparent, from the southwest, opposing the tidal current. And once we got out into Hog Island channel, the extension of the canal, the waves were six feet high and very close together. ILENE’s nose was diving into waves, which caused water to flow into the forward head because the big hatch there, while dogged down, was not dogged tightly enough. The last couple of miles, the tide had turned so we were making good only about two knots while being washed around in that washing machine.  But we escaped all that eventually, turned to port and found and entered the well buoyed narrow shallow channel in to the Kingman Yacht Center in Catumet, Mass.

Here, at about three, Bennett, and his friend Rick, picked us up and drove us about 45 minutes to their summer home overlooking a golf course near the Atlantic side of the Cape. There we met Rick's wife Jane. We took showers, I took a nap, Harriet took Lene to get groceries, and after just hanging out we all packed into one car to return to the Marina, where we ate in its restaurant, The Chart Room. This place has been here since 1966 and is in an old barge used by the N.J. Railroads as a repair facility. It is very popular, very crowded, quite noisy and the food was fine but not what I had hoped for. We had eaten here in 2008 and it seemed better then on all fronts. Sorry about the lack of photos in this post.

August 30 -- Cohasset to Plymouth

After the hotel’s continental breakfast we returned to ILENE, stowed our stuff, hoisted the dink, fed the felines and were underway by 8:15.  Like yesterday, it was overcast and grey. Yesterday we entered Cohasset heading south via the Western Channel, thereby leaving Minots Ledge Light well to port. Actually this is the second light with this name.

The first was built on steel tubes and blew over in a big storm killing its keepers. Ah, infrastructure maintenance. This new Minot Light is over a century old and going strong. We exited Cohasset heading east via the Eastern Passage and again left the Light to port.  The trip consisted of  three segments. The first, exiting Cohasset and its rocks, was 2.8 miles of motoring. Once out of the rocks, we headed rather straight for Plymouth Light with only a few small course changes as the coast curves a bit, We were able to turn off the engine and sail under full sails on a close starboard reach throughout this 17 mile segment until we turned in to the town of Plymouth, after Plymouth Light.

The last segment, 5.1 miles, was under motor again. There were some big swells coming toward our port side, from the east, and the wind was from the west, making waves, in other words, confused waters. During the long sailing segment, with winds variable we made an average speed of over six knots. But the fun was the relative speed -- relative to another boat, about 1/4 mile off our port beam. We raced, though neither knew the other's name or communicated with the other. The competition induced me to trim our sails correctly, after which we pulled away. Alfie was not excited by the race.

Half way through the wide body of water leading to the channel to Plymouth, the chart showed good deep water on both sides of a green buoy, in fact, more on the left side than the right. So I directed Lene to steer to that side. But after a while she looked at the depth finder and it showed us rapidly shallowing out. So a quick sharp turn to starboard and we kept the greenie on the correct port side of the boat. Thanks once again Lene! We left Duxbury Pier Light to starboard.

We were assigned one of the Plymouth YC’s five guest moorings by 1:15. After lunch the YC launch brought us to the Club, at one end of town, to register, and then to the other end of town, where the public dock is, by 2. We walked the mile back, stopping and detouring to see some of the sights.

Sailing vessel ILENE is in good company. 

We were lucky that this 1957 replica of the Mayflower has returned to her dock after a lengthy repair, and that it was Fun Friday -- the $10 admission fee waived. How over 100 souls, men, women and children, were able to live on that small ship for the entire lengthy voyage of more than 60 days is quite a feat. Docents dressed in period clothing of seamen stayed in their roles and answered questions.

Here are both Ilenes from the aft deck of the Mayflower.

Nearby is Plymouth Rock, perhaps the most underwhelming historical landmark in America. It is a small boulder, perhaps six feet by four, lying on the beach, with “1620” carved into its top.

They built a monument around it to enshrine it and make it seem more substantial (and perhaps to keep tourists from standing on it as well), but underwhelming leaps out at you.



The monument from the land and from the water.

We also took a long bus ride with a driver who pointed out myriad sights that we should visit on our next trip, when we have more time.

Lene with Massasoit, who helped the Pilgrims

Monument to the Forefathers, celebrating Liberty, Education etc.

Leyden Streeet, the oldest in town, is named for the Dutch town which influenced the Pilgrims.

Ours was the driver's last tour of the day and we were her only paying passengers. We got back to the boat shortly after six. There is a lot more to see in Plymouth, next time, including at least three museums. Plymouth is a town filled with respect for its own history. The Mayflower Compact,in a sense an early version of our US Constitution, in that by signing it the people agreed in a document to pledge their mutual support for a system of non-Royal self government, is what I took away. Lene noticed how many of the tourists here appear to have been foreign born -- like the Pilgrims. A good dinner aboard.

August 29 -- Marblehead to Cohaset

We were nearer the mouth of Marblehead Harbor and that may have contributed to the rollyness at our mooring all night. It was not a calm night and the humidity was intense in the fog, which continued through most of the night. It was like living in a cloud. Actually, we were living in a cloud. Lene opened the hatch over our bed with the result that the wind blew the fog through the screen which caught it and caused it to condense and drip onto the bed. And in the middle of the night a big crash. But it did not wake me. Lene did wake, however, to report that the percolator,awaiting the morning with six cups of water and the corresponding amount of ground coffee had fallen off the counter onto the rug in the galley, making a mess and breaking the new plastic see through insert at the top of the pot. Mess cleaned up and remaining part of plastic top placed into service with duct tape. No problem.

We got underway at 8:30 and once we cleared the neck we had a straight shot for the entrance to Cohasset, and averaged 6.8 knots with 10 to 15 knots of apparent wind off our port quarter, heading about 185 magnetic under main and small jib.When we had approached Marblehead, we had been able to see the skyscrapers of the Boston skyline; not today though we were much closer to Boston.

We had the opportunity to use our new app, Ship Finder. This monster was off our starboard bow as soon as we got on course, headed across our bow. This shot shows her after we got much closer and were clearly safe. Ship Finder told us that she was registered in the Marshall Islands as "Noreaster", 594 feet long, 96 wide, and drawing 38 feet. But most important it said she was making zero knots, in other words, anchored. Here is the view the toy gave us of this, after we had passed her, including the white line reflecting the loops Noreaster had made before anchoring. The blue dot is us on our way south from Marblehead at the top of the screen.

Cohasset is a tight little harbor entered through a shallow channel via one of three routes. We took the eastern way and between good enough visibility to see the buoys and Lene reading off from her iPad, it was easy, though a bit scary when passing close by visible rocks and with only two feet of water under our keel.

Cohasset has a pretty, traditionally New England style Village Green,

with the church at which they filmed the Witches of Eastwick, currently undergoing renovation.

The town also has a small and not very well organized history museum. Interestingly, it said that the men of Cohasset had scared off the British after they had bombed neighboring Scituate, where we had stopped on our way north in June. Readers of this blog will recall that in Scituate the claim is made that the two daughters of the lighthouse keeper scared the British away by playing the fife and drum, saving that town.

 Ilene had a surprise in store for me. When we walked into town from the dinghy dock, we passed the Cohasset Harbor Inn. She got the idea to spend a night off the boat, our first since June 10. And once she gets an idea in her head, there is no stopping her. Here is the view from our window with Rojay, our dink, furthest right at the dinghy dock in the lower left and ILENE's mast the tallest in the inner harbor, center.

We dined ashore after putting out lots of cat food for the crew, at the tapas place in the hotel. Pretty good except the alleged flan, while tasty, was a chocolate mouse!

August 27 -- Gloucester to Marblehead and Lay Day There

What a difference a day and twelve miles makes! Gloucester is a commercial fishing city while Marblehead is crammed with moorings mostly with sailboats of pleasure; there is a forest of masts here.

We motored in light wind, supplementing with the genoa for about 40 of the 120 minutes, which gave us a knot.






Along the way we saw some rather large houses,

a lobsterman with hungry avian friends,










 Bakers Island Light,

and Marblehead Light.

We took a mooring at the Boston YC here. It is a bit more posh than the Harlem but the food is not as good. 500 members!

After lunch aboard we took the sleek Hinckley launch to go ashore and explore, as is our habit. But when Lene learned that they have a movie theater that was showing Blue Jasmine, we had separate afternoons.
The houses here have the names and professions of their builders and the year of construction as is true of many New England towns.

I visited Abbot Hall, which is the City Hall but also has a history museum in it.

Here is its tower, visible from the sea. From a distance, I had thought it was a church steeple. 

It features famous native sons of Marblehead: Four seamen who fought bravely for our nation and were honored by a series of warships being named after them, the most famous being John Glover, who ferried General Washington's troops from Brooklyn to Manhattan, thereby saving the Continental Army, and who later ferried General Washington and a few troops across the Delaware for that surprise raid on the Hessian troops there.

His boyhood home still stands.

Because the first four ships of General Washington's Navy were captained by Marblehead men, the town claims to be the "birthplace of the navy".They also featured the three cruisers that bore the name USS Marblehead. Mr. Justice Story, appointed to the Supreme Court at age 32 and who served for more than 30 years in the court's early days was a Marblehead man as was Governor, Vice President and Declaration of Independence signer Elbridge Gerry, who is more famous, or should I say infamous, for inventing "Gerry-mandered" congressional districts.Here is Gerry's warehouse

and his home.

I also visited the Marblehead Museum and Historical Society, which had an exhibition on the town's contribution in the Civil War.

After, I bought a clevis pin at Westmarine, to replace the one that went overboard (which held one end of the aft lifeline) we reconnected and visited Crocker Park, next to the YC, with its magnificent views of the harbor, left, center and right. ILENE is toward the left photo, with the lighthouse, but I cannot pick her out. We caught this at tide change because the left photo shows the boats pointing one way and the other photos show them facing the other way.

Before our planned departure for Cohasset we explored again in the morning. It was foggy but we hoped the fog would burn off.

It got worse, though you can still see neighboring boats, though just barely, if you look closely at the photo below. We took off but after a few minutes the Admiral prevailed upon me to return to an empty mooring, this one of the Eastern YC. We called them after we got moored and told them that we had taken one of their moorings.

So this has been an unplanned lay day.

Here is the Old Town House, a public meeting hall since 1727.

Fort Sewall, now a park, was built of earth at the entrance to the harbor in 1742 as protection against the French, but used to protect Old Ironsides which took shelter under her guns in 1814.

We have reconfigured our remaining itinerary AGAIN!  Previously we had nixed going to Nantucket via the outside route, in the Atlantic, from Provincetown around Cape Cod. Seventy plus miles was too long a trip for one day, decided my previously fearless admiral.  Today she decided we would forego the four Nantucket days entirely: it is one day east from Martha’s Vineyard, two days on the island and one day back. I think it was the one day east, away from home, at this stage of the summer, that did it for Ilene. We visited there back in the late 90’s and will visit Nantucket again, but not in 2013. This gives us more time to explore new places on the western side of Cape Cod Bay (currently Cohasset and Plymouth are planned) and in the Martha’s Vineyard region as well. We learned that Bennett and his wife Harriett are planning to visit Cape Cod so I have been figuring when and where we could meet them and this fog delay has removed some options.