We sailed forth between Wings Neck to the north and Scraggy Neck to the south (a wide entrance but where do they get these names). We left the Cape and crossed Buzzards Bay to the mainland at Marion. Wind was light and from the NE so we had a broad starboard reach going westward and then a close reach heading northerly into the harbor. We left at 11:45 and got onto a mooring of the Beverly YC at 1:15. So dividing the miles by the time, one can see that this was a slow passage. And part of the reason for this is that we used only the Genoa with no main. What's the rush? It was sunny and warm but out on the water it was not hot, like it is on land. Most traffic in Buzzards Bay runs to or from the canal, and is either a beat or a run. Crossing the Bay was a pleasure. Alfie Girl no longer cedes sole possession of the cubby in the base of the helmspersons seat to Witty. They both crowd into aAthis tiny space. They enjoyed the ride too, photo to follow, as in almost all of the posts on this cruise.
Marion is a charming little town and I do mean little. It's general store was fun though and it supports a coffee shop and a book store. And it is mostly a residential community, all around the bay; but on foot on a hot day, we did not explore far.
The Beverly YC, whose moorings nearly fill the inner harbor, is the biggest thing around, with a nice but not ostentatious clubhouse, a large membership, low dues and a major claim to fame: the biannual 600+ mile Marion to Bermuda Race starts here. Nice showers, but only two of them, so I wonder how hundreds or racers get clean before the race. My late son in law, Julien, won that race about eight years ago. He did it in a Beneteau 36 and after he won the many older and richer men who spend a fortune trying to do so amended the rules. They now forbid smaller boats like his from entering. Some beautiful boats here, pics to follow.
We dined in ILENE's cockpit, as we have been doing much more this trip than in the past. Lene is very particular about what she eats, and it is often easier for her to cook it herself. One side effect, in addition to a rather low cost cruise, is that because I eat what she cooks, with occasional ice cream or baked dainties ashore, I'll probably weigh less when we get back. I contributed a pan of rutabaga, potato and onion home fries in Marion. Not bad!
In the evening the humidity seemed to reach 100%. The air was wet and the skies grey. We prepared for the possibility of rain and about midnight a front passed. after a decent interval of very strong wind torrential rain fell for about an hour, though we were asleep and not watching the clock. Cool night though, once we were able to open hatches.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Saturday, August 13, 2016
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!
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Day 19 -- August 10 -- Sandwich MA -- 23.1 Nm
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.
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.
Days 16 - 18 -- August 7-9 -- Provincetown -- 68 nm
One frequent sorry consequence of waiting out a big wind storm is that when it ends you find it has taken all the wind with it. We had some of this, but were able to sail for other parts of the passage from Hyannis. Mooring to mooring 7:02 to 6:35; so a long day, but a good one. We had tide from the get go until 3 pm and especially in the Pollock Rip Channel, where, with tide and full sail, we made nine knots. "Rip" -- even the name of this channel sounds scary! And as usual with places I've never sailed before, a look at the reef lined path on the chart makes it seem like it's quite an obstacle course -- until you get there. In fact, the "channel" is wide, with lots of additional room for tacking, if needed, outside the reds and greens before you get to twelve foot water. We went through of a close starboard reach. We actually cut the end of the Channel, passing through an unbuoyed but wide area as we turned north. Still it could be a hard piece at night, on a stormy day or against the tide. We passed south of Monomoy Island, the big sandbar protruding south from the Cape's SE elbow and we were in the Atlantic. But that is where the wind died and we did a lot of motoring with the main up for stability, though this was not needed, given the calm seas.
And the "forearm" part of the image of the upper Cape curves a bit, gradually more westerly, by which we had hoped to find wind which was slightly off our starboard bow. But I t came up strongly, suddenly and on out port side at 3 pm, letting us sail most of the rest of the way.
We had been told to expect whales if we went ten miles off shore where they swim with the tuna. But adding that much mileage was not in the cards on such a long passage day. It was off Race Point, with the tide racing east, against us, that we passed a pod of whales, about five of them. They were going west, with the flow, and took the opportunity to blow, spouting their beautiful but foul smelling breath near us and arching their backs perhaps three feet out of the water. The ones we saw did not raise their tails, however, an element of their final deep dive. They leave a slick of smooth water in their wake. Magnificent creatures despite their halitosis. What we dId not see all day until PTown harbor: any sailboats.
I also learned how big the Cape is. It was on our port side all day long. Lene thought it would have been shorter going the other way round the Cape, clockwise, through Woods Hole, up Buzzards Bay, through the Canal and across Cape Cod Bay. I thought not, because we have gone that way about five times, dividing the trip into three or four shorter separate day passages. Next morning I plotted it out and the Admiral was right, but shorter by only three of the 68 miles. The advantage of Lene's route is that unlike the Atlantic route, there are places to put in if a storm comes up. But I'm glad we went the way we did because it is water that I have never sailed before and permitted our vacation to complete a circumnavigation of The Cape and their string of westward extending Elizabeth Islands. Besides, we have many stops planned in Buzzards Bay on the way home. PTown is the farthest from home we will get, and we will be half way through the days we allotted for this cruise here.
The Provincetown Marina has been vastly upgraded in terms of the docks, launches, office and showers. More improvements are scheduled. The basic water is the same, but the owners of the adjacent real estate who have the "rights" to its mooring field can charge higher prices and make more money by gentrifying it.
I contemplated a stop in Wellfleet, on the Bay side, on the way home but decided to call the marina there because of rumors of low water, despite the cruising guide stating at least six feet at low tide. I had anchored way out in the outer harbor, maybe three miles from town, with three friends maybe ten years ago. Nope, there is now only one foot of water at low tide and you have to avoid the four hours centered on low tide even to come in by dink. Until it is dredged, it is on our "off limits" list.
We walked a lot in PTown, pshopped a bit (two nice Vietnamese silk pillows), visited some of the town's 78 galleries and went to the summer stock theater. It was a play about a group of non-college educated mostly white men, who had been laid off from their factory jobs in a rust belt city, Buffalo, when the plant closed. Among other people things they took a few drugs and contemplated suicide. In short, here was the core demographic of Donald Trump's constituency. But they were portrayed very sympathetically and lovingly. It was a musical: The Big Monty.
Last time we were here, in 2013, we met up with my granddaughter, which was a thrill. This time the highlight of our stay was hanging with Greg and Kathy. Greg is an artist and another member of my book group. (There are only eight of them plus me, so with Lee in Hyannis and Greg here in PTown, I connected with a quarter of them. I have been a member of the group only about 21 years and I'm still the rookie; talk about stability!) We spent all afternoon and had dinner together before they took us to Stop and Shop for three large canvas bags of foodstuffs, and then drove us to the launch dock. During the afternoon we visited the National Parks Service's Provincelands Visitors Center and then took a long walk around a huge lilypond in the Beech Forest, near the beach. But mostly we just talked and talked. Great folks.
The only disappointment here is that one of the four little packages we bought on line to be shipped here, did not arrive, though we got an email message that it did.
And the "forearm" part of the image of the upper Cape curves a bit, gradually more westerly, by which we had hoped to find wind which was slightly off our starboard bow. But I t came up strongly, suddenly and on out port side at 3 pm, letting us sail most of the rest of the way.
We had been told to expect whales if we went ten miles off shore where they swim with the tuna. But adding that much mileage was not in the cards on such a long passage day. It was off Race Point, with the tide racing east, against us, that we passed a pod of whales, about five of them. They were going west, with the flow, and took the opportunity to blow, spouting their beautiful but foul smelling breath near us and arching their backs perhaps three feet out of the water. The ones we saw did not raise their tails, however, an element of their final deep dive. They leave a slick of smooth water in their wake. Magnificent creatures despite their halitosis. What we dId not see all day until PTown harbor: any sailboats.
I also learned how big the Cape is. It was on our port side all day long. Lene thought it would have been shorter going the other way round the Cape, clockwise, through Woods Hole, up Buzzards Bay, through the Canal and across Cape Cod Bay. I thought not, because we have gone that way about five times, dividing the trip into three or four shorter separate day passages. Next morning I plotted it out and the Admiral was right, but shorter by only three of the 68 miles. The advantage of Lene's route is that unlike the Atlantic route, there are places to put in if a storm comes up. But I'm glad we went the way we did because it is water that I have never sailed before and permitted our vacation to complete a circumnavigation of The Cape and their string of westward extending Elizabeth Islands. Besides, we have many stops planned in Buzzards Bay on the way home. PTown is the farthest from home we will get, and we will be half way through the days we allotted for this cruise here.
The Provincetown Marina has been vastly upgraded in terms of the docks, launches, office and showers. More improvements are scheduled. The basic water is the same, but the owners of the adjacent real estate who have the "rights" to its mooring field can charge higher prices and make more money by gentrifying it.
I contemplated a stop in Wellfleet, on the Bay side, on the way home but decided to call the marina there because of rumors of low water, despite the cruising guide stating at least six feet at low tide. I had anchored way out in the outer harbor, maybe three miles from town, with three friends maybe ten years ago. Nope, there is now only one foot of water at low tide and you have to avoid the four hours centered on low tide even to come in by dink. Until it is dredged, it is on our "off limits" list.
We walked a lot in PTown, pshopped a bit (two nice Vietnamese silk pillows), visited some of the town's 78 galleries and went to the summer stock theater. It was a play about a group of non-college educated mostly white men, who had been laid off from their factory jobs in a rust belt city, Buffalo, when the plant closed. Among other people things they took a few drugs and contemplated suicide. In short, here was the core demographic of Donald Trump's constituency. But they were portrayed very sympathetically and lovingly. It was a musical: The Big Monty.
Last time we were here, in 2013, we met up with my granddaughter, which was a thrill. This time the highlight of our stay was hanging with Greg and Kathy. Greg is an artist and another member of my book group. (There are only eight of them plus me, so with Lee in Hyannis and Greg here in PTown, I connected with a quarter of them. I have been a member of the group only about 21 years and I'm still the rookie; talk about stability!) We spent all afternoon and had dinner together before they took us to Stop and Shop for three large canvas bags of foodstuffs, and then drove us to the launch dock. During the afternoon we visited the National Parks Service's Provincelands Visitors Center and then took a long walk around a huge lilypond in the Beech Forest, near the beach. But mostly we just talked and talked. Great folks.
The only disappointment here is that one of the four little packages we bought on line to be shipped here, did not arrive, though we got an email message that it did.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Days 12 - 15 -- August 3 - 6 -- Hyannis, on The Cape -- 25.7 nm
So far, when we have had wind, it was mostly from the SW, pushing us along to the east. On this passage from Edgartown, however, the wind was from the NE; it was a beat and we put up the single reefed main and small jib, sacrificing some speed, especially when the wind diminished a bit, for greater comfort and control. The mileage reported in the title of each post is measured along the shortest logical route. "Logical" is my word meaning I exclude hazardous shortcuts. I mark off waypoints on the paper charts, draw lines between them, measure the length of each line and add up the total -- mooring to mooring.
But beating back and forth makes actual mileage longer. Assuming one can tack at a 90 degree angle and ignoring the leeway one gets, my high school geometry, if I remember correctly, gives the relationship between the lengths of sides of a right triangle as "one, one and the square route of two". Thus we would go two miles tacking as compared to 1.414 along the hypotenuse of the straight course. Two is more than 1/3 more than 1.414. On this passage I marked dots close to the points where we tacked, and after arrival calculated that mileage and it was only 28.4, much less than 1/3 more than the nominal 25.8. Well some of this was because more than four miles of the total were motoring out of Edgartown and into Hyannis on the nominal route, but the reason that the actual was not much longer than the shortest logical is that the shortest logical course was not a straight line to the northeast but a series of more northerly segments at the beginning and end with more easterly legs in the middle. Also the wind changed half way through the passage. It started at about 45 degrees and ended clocked around to 70 degrees.
It was a fun sail from 7:15 to 12:15, extended by a trip further into the Hyannis inner harbor for fuel and to refill water tanks. We had used up the water in one tank and been running on the other for the last thirteen day. Both are now full. And we have used 20.4 gallons of diesel since City Island, in twelve days, during which we had the engine on 27.5 hours. Some of these hours are merely to operate the refrigeration, in neutral. But I had wondered whether the higher pitch of our propeller would affect out gallon per hour burn rate. Nope; still 3/4 of a gallon per hour. But I suppose some of you are bored by now with all the math.
Hyannis is a nice YC with about 500 members and several thousand additional social members. The club is on a beach and on our arrival the youth program was in full swing with many kids learning to sail and even more swimming off the beach. We took the launch ashore to drop garbage, pay for our mooring and take showers, and returned for a delicious steak dinner aboard.
We were here aboard ILENE in 2008, but this time our trip coincided with a visit by Lee, of my book group, his wife Patty and their sons Aaron and Benjamin, to the nearby home they have owned for over sixty years. Small, lovely and with an outdoor shower! We spent a full twelve hour day with them, including all three meals, a walk to the beach at nearby Lewis Bay, and after lunch, a bike ride, of only about 1.5 miles, to Seagull Beach, on Vinyard Sound where we swam and walked. Their guests of the night before are oyster farmers who brought a bag of Wellfleets. And I learned a new skill -- oyster shucking! Our friends also chauffeured us everywhere: laundry, supermarket, post office, drug store, RadioShack and back to the laundry to pick up the fresh stuff.
Next day we took them to lunch at the Club, and Lee and Aaron accompanied us for a day sail out in Vineyard Sound. They had a good time and Aaron mastered the wheel, which was a challenge with strong winds in the mid twenties. Our round trip was fifteen miles, mostly near a beam reach, with reefer main and small job. We hit 8.1 knots and this against a small tide.
I created an accidental collision with 2013 41 foot Beneteau moored near us due to impatience, ego, foolishness and stupidity on my part as we were leaving. Our port side hit his anchor. I called the Club immediately to report the incident and went to his boat to exchange info with its owner upon our return. He is cruising back to Annapolis and checking out his anchor and I need a new stanchion.
The other excitement occurred near the end of the sail when the pin in the shackle that holds the main sheet block to the traveller sheared, making for the boom swinging free, back and forth. I secured it temporarily and had a replacement shackle aboard that I put in when we got onto the mooring. Too much negative excitement for one day, if you ask me.
We had planned to sail to Nantucket on August 6, but took another lay day in Hyannis and have sadly decided to blow off Nantucket this season. The reason was the weather and the tides. During the night the ride was bouncy due to strong winds in the harbor. Several weather sources said it was to be from the SW at 10 to 20 knots. The direction was correct but it was a lot stronger. Our instruments in the morning showed the wind in the low 30s with gusts to 40. But one does not need instrument to hear the wind howling in the rigging and feel the bouncing of the boat. And with all night to build them, the waves outside the harbor would be much greater. Finally, most folks are sensible enough to stay put in punishing winds. No one came in to Hyannis YC. So if we had gotten to Nantucket today, there was a strong likelihood that there would not be an available mooring for us there.
And Nantucket had to be scratched because the next leg, to Provincetown, is a long 69 mile passage through Pollock Rip Channel and we wanted favorable tide and an early start. We plan to start at 7 on August 7th. Each of the next few days if we had spent them in Nantucket would have meant almost an hour additional delay in the starting time.
But beating back and forth makes actual mileage longer. Assuming one can tack at a 90 degree angle and ignoring the leeway one gets, my high school geometry, if I remember correctly, gives the relationship between the lengths of sides of a right triangle as "one, one and the square route of two". Thus we would go two miles tacking as compared to 1.414 along the hypotenuse of the straight course. Two is more than 1/3 more than 1.414. On this passage I marked dots close to the points where we tacked, and after arrival calculated that mileage and it was only 28.4, much less than 1/3 more than the nominal 25.8. Well some of this was because more than four miles of the total were motoring out of Edgartown and into Hyannis on the nominal route, but the reason that the actual was not much longer than the shortest logical is that the shortest logical course was not a straight line to the northeast but a series of more northerly segments at the beginning and end with more easterly legs in the middle. Also the wind changed half way through the passage. It started at about 45 degrees and ended clocked around to 70 degrees.
It was a fun sail from 7:15 to 12:15, extended by a trip further into the Hyannis inner harbor for fuel and to refill water tanks. We had used up the water in one tank and been running on the other for the last thirteen day. Both are now full. And we have used 20.4 gallons of diesel since City Island, in twelve days, during which we had the engine on 27.5 hours. Some of these hours are merely to operate the refrigeration, in neutral. But I had wondered whether the higher pitch of our propeller would affect out gallon per hour burn rate. Nope; still 3/4 of a gallon per hour. But I suppose some of you are bored by now with all the math.
Hyannis is a nice YC with about 500 members and several thousand additional social members. The club is on a beach and on our arrival the youth program was in full swing with many kids learning to sail and even more swimming off the beach. We took the launch ashore to drop garbage, pay for our mooring and take showers, and returned for a delicious steak dinner aboard.
We were here aboard ILENE in 2008, but this time our trip coincided with a visit by Lee, of my book group, his wife Patty and their sons Aaron and Benjamin, to the nearby home they have owned for over sixty years. Small, lovely and with an outdoor shower! We spent a full twelve hour day with them, including all three meals, a walk to the beach at nearby Lewis Bay, and after lunch, a bike ride, of only about 1.5 miles, to Seagull Beach, on Vinyard Sound where we swam and walked. Their guests of the night before are oyster farmers who brought a bag of Wellfleets. And I learned a new skill -- oyster shucking! Our friends also chauffeured us everywhere: laundry, supermarket, post office, drug store, RadioShack and back to the laundry to pick up the fresh stuff.
Next day we took them to lunch at the Club, and Lee and Aaron accompanied us for a day sail out in Vineyard Sound. They had a good time and Aaron mastered the wheel, which was a challenge with strong winds in the mid twenties. Our round trip was fifteen miles, mostly near a beam reach, with reefer main and small job. We hit 8.1 knots and this against a small tide.
I created an accidental collision with 2013 41 foot Beneteau moored near us due to impatience, ego, foolishness and stupidity on my part as we were leaving. Our port side hit his anchor. I called the Club immediately to report the incident and went to his boat to exchange info with its owner upon our return. He is cruising back to Annapolis and checking out his anchor and I need a new stanchion.
The other excitement occurred near the end of the sail when the pin in the shackle that holds the main sheet block to the traveller sheared, making for the boom swinging free, back and forth. I secured it temporarily and had a replacement shackle aboard that I put in when we got onto the mooring. Too much negative excitement for one day, if you ask me.
We had planned to sail to Nantucket on August 6, but took another lay day in Hyannis and have sadly decided to blow off Nantucket this season. The reason was the weather and the tides. During the night the ride was bouncy due to strong winds in the harbor. Several weather sources said it was to be from the SW at 10 to 20 knots. The direction was correct but it was a lot stronger. Our instruments in the morning showed the wind in the low 30s with gusts to 40. But one does not need instrument to hear the wind howling in the rigging and feel the bouncing of the boat. And with all night to build them, the waves outside the harbor would be much greater. Finally, most folks are sensible enough to stay put in punishing winds. No one came in to Hyannis YC. So if we had gotten to Nantucket today, there was a strong likelihood that there would not be an available mooring for us there.
And Nantucket had to be scratched because the next leg, to Provincetown, is a long 69 mile passage through Pollock Rip Channel and we wanted favorable tide and an early start. We plan to start at 7 on August 7th. Each of the next few days if we had spent them in Nantucket would have meant almost an hour additional delay in the starting time.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Days 9-11 -- July 31 to Aug 2 -- Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard -- 9.8 nm
No sailing on the short passage from Vineyard Haven to this, our third port on The Vineyard. First, Lene requested no heeling while she made breakfast, and then, after turning the corner, the paltry wind, faced us. We were underway only about 90 minutes, 9:15 to 10:45. After talking with Lee, we made a date, subject to weather, for Thursday in Hyannis, making Wednesday our passage day. So we made arrangements to stay three nights in Edgartown on the Harbormaster's mooring "yellow 30".
It's funny how each of the separate towns on this island runs things in their harbors so differently. In Menemsha, they did not want payment until the evening before we left. The other spots like to be paid promptly. In Vineyard Haven it is cash or check only; no credit cards. Here in Edgartown they take only credit cards, no cash or check. They each probably have their reasons and the rugged New England and islander individualism mentality is a potential cause. We can pay either way but it's funny how differently they want it. It's surprising how well the all-island inter-town bus system works. We have been to Edgartown before twice, by bus, but never by boat. The Edgartown YC gives reciprocal privileges to visiting yachts to use their dinghy dock and the club is in the heart of town and only .47 miles from our mooring.
Usually Lene does all the cooking aboard but I made up a mess of sausages, peppers and onions and we needed pasta sauce and, for me, French bread. The reason for a trip to town! After coffee at a nice cafe, "Among The Flowers", and before browsing the bookstore, we bought both items and a postcard at three different local shops including "Rosewater" and "The Black Sheep". Colorful names.
During the dinghy trip to town, I believe I discovered the cause of the outboard failure. It happened again when I slowed to idle speed on approaching the dock. There is an adjustment that determines idle speed and for our outboard my hypotheses is that it is currently set too low, starving the engine of fuel and shutting her down. So until I can figure out how to bump up that setting, we will just avoid idle speed, taking the engine out of gear when approaching a destination.
It rained one night and another day and was cooler here. We did a lot of work on the net, paying bills, buying things to be delivered to ILENE, care of the Provincetown Marina.
The good day we took an afternoon bike ride to Oak Bluffs, less than 15 miles, round trip. We had moored ILENE in its tiny crowded harbor in 2008. When you put three boats in rafts on each tightly spaced mooring ball it can be tricky trying to get out, especially if there is strong wind, as was the case in '08. This time the harbor was less crowded.
Oak Bluffs was a camp meeting ground for one of the Protestant denominations in the 1890's and is a true Mecca for lovers of ornately painted gingerbread homes. It has a merry-go-round and lots of beach-related stores but not the bars and tattoo parlors of places like Daytona Beach; more family friendly, I would say. All of The Vineyard, but especially Oak Bluffs has a lot of seemingly middle class Black people. Thus the Island, overall, is integrated. Whether or not the folks are segregated into separate neighborhoods, like most of America, is something I did not investigate.
The bike ride was fun, mostly along the Shore Road between the ocean on one side and a large saltwater lake, Sengekontacket Pond, just east of it. Lots of cars lined the road as folks were on the beach to both sides, in the water, and on every sort of craft: tubes, kayaks, sunfish, dinghies, kite boards, etc. a sunny and windy day, a good day for sailing, but a lay day for us,
Returning, we did some shopping, gallery hopping and checked out a very luxurious new 140 foot sloop built in Holland along the lines of the racers of the 1930's with elegant overhangs forward and aft: Topaz. It was tied up at the YC, its crew having brought it over for the owner, who talked with us, and his daughters who were aboard. We also checked out the "Never Late" ferry which traverses the 550 foot wide harbor mouth to Chappiquidick Island, which the folks call "Chappy". The ferry is never late because it has no schedule but runs continually, on demand. There was a barrier island at the southern, Atlantic, side of this harbor, joining Chappy to MV, but it got blown out by a hurricane a few years ago, creating quite a tidal current running through the harbor.
It's funny how each of the separate towns on this island runs things in their harbors so differently. In Menemsha, they did not want payment until the evening before we left. The other spots like to be paid promptly. In Vineyard Haven it is cash or check only; no credit cards. Here in Edgartown they take only credit cards, no cash or check. They each probably have their reasons and the rugged New England and islander individualism mentality is a potential cause. We can pay either way but it's funny how differently they want it. It's surprising how well the all-island inter-town bus system works. We have been to Edgartown before twice, by bus, but never by boat. The Edgartown YC gives reciprocal privileges to visiting yachts to use their dinghy dock and the club is in the heart of town and only .47 miles from our mooring.
Usually Lene does all the cooking aboard but I made up a mess of sausages, peppers and onions and we needed pasta sauce and, for me, French bread. The reason for a trip to town! After coffee at a nice cafe, "Among The Flowers", and before browsing the bookstore, we bought both items and a postcard at three different local shops including "Rosewater" and "The Black Sheep". Colorful names.
During the dinghy trip to town, I believe I discovered the cause of the outboard failure. It happened again when I slowed to idle speed on approaching the dock. There is an adjustment that determines idle speed and for our outboard my hypotheses is that it is currently set too low, starving the engine of fuel and shutting her down. So until I can figure out how to bump up that setting, we will just avoid idle speed, taking the engine out of gear when approaching a destination.
It rained one night and another day and was cooler here. We did a lot of work on the net, paying bills, buying things to be delivered to ILENE, care of the Provincetown Marina.
The good day we took an afternoon bike ride to Oak Bluffs, less than 15 miles, round trip. We had moored ILENE in its tiny crowded harbor in 2008. When you put three boats in rafts on each tightly spaced mooring ball it can be tricky trying to get out, especially if there is strong wind, as was the case in '08. This time the harbor was less crowded.
Oak Bluffs was a camp meeting ground for one of the Protestant denominations in the 1890's and is a true Mecca for lovers of ornately painted gingerbread homes. It has a merry-go-round and lots of beach-related stores but not the bars and tattoo parlors of places like Daytona Beach; more family friendly, I would say. All of The Vineyard, but especially Oak Bluffs has a lot of seemingly middle class Black people. Thus the Island, overall, is integrated. Whether or not the folks are segregated into separate neighborhoods, like most of America, is something I did not investigate.
The bike ride was fun, mostly along the Shore Road between the ocean on one side and a large saltwater lake, Sengekontacket Pond, just east of it. Lots of cars lined the road as folks were on the beach to both sides, in the water, and on every sort of craft: tubes, kayaks, sunfish, dinghies, kite boards, etc. a sunny and windy day, a good day for sailing, but a lay day for us,
Returning, we did some shopping, gallery hopping and checked out a very luxurious new 140 foot sloop built in Holland along the lines of the racers of the 1930's with elegant overhangs forward and aft: Topaz. It was tied up at the YC, its crew having brought it over for the owner, who talked with us, and his daughters who were aboard. We also checked out the "Never Late" ferry which traverses the 550 foot wide harbor mouth to Chappiquidick Island, which the folks call "Chappy". The ferry is never late because it has no schedule but runs continually, on demand. There was a barrier island at the southern, Atlantic, side of this harbor, joining Chappy to MV, but it got blown out by a hurricane a few years ago, creating quite a tidal current running through the harbor.
Monday, August 1, 2016
Day 8 -- July 30 -- Vineyard Haven , MV -- 17.7 nm
Yes, here in Massachusetts, except for the scheduled passages to and from Provincetown, our hops twixt ports will be shorter.
We transferred the mooring pennant to a 45' Dutch boat built in 1968. In those early days of fiberglass they did not know how strong glass and resin was and laid in heavy thick sides. The owner had three lovely well behaved young kids aboard who requested permission to board, which was granted, and played with our feline team. Before separating ourselves from the Dutch built boat, we said goodbye to Jim, and his 31 foot Pearson, which was tied to our port side and was headed for Cuddyhunk.
Casting off at 9:15, we hugged the north shore of The Vinyard, which looks a lot like the north shore of eastern Long Island, with high sand cliffs reaching down to the sea, girdled by huge rocks. But there was no wind so we motored all the way. I saw turbulent water and unrolled the small jib to give it a try but the turbulence was caused by rough tidal flows, not wind.
The Harbormaster assigned us a mooring inside the sea wall which we took at 10:45. This location would have been more valuable if there had been a rough night, but it is the same price and a shorter dinghy ride, compared to those outside the sea wall. We found ourselves moored among five schooners for which VH is their hailing port. Beautiful old fashioned craft with the taller of their two masts aft of the shorter one. So different from ILENE's sleek modernity, yet both have their place on the water and in the hearts of their fans.
We contemplated leaving the dink hauled up and taking the launch in to town, but our two round trips for the two of us would have cost $32, so I lowered our dink, first for a grocery run and later, in the evening, to take in Woody Allen's latest movie, Cafe Society.
And the first of those trips is when our only problem here occurred. I slowed down to idle speed to talk with the folks on a nearby Solent rigged Tartan 44 and our Yamaha four stroke outboard died and would not restart. So I rowed a few hundred yards to the dinghy dock by the ferry landing and tried again. No luck. I noticed that the gas tank was low -- not empty but low. So while Lene was in Stop and Shop I took it to the gas station and put in three gallons. Still no luck. Lene got to talking with another boat owner who recommended a mechanic who lived on a houseboat about 150 yards from our mooring. He agreed to come over to the dock but the dairy products we had purchased could spoil so I rowed us back and he came to the boat. He asked what I had done to try to get the outboard to start. Hearing my story he said: "You probably flooded it. You don't need to choke an engine after it is warm. Try again." And she started right up. Our helper would accept neither coffee, beer nor cash as a reward for his service. He is an artist and a tour boat operator. I told him about the houseboat used by Noble at the Noble Maritime Collection we visited last winter.
A quiet night, cooler than the last few.
We transferred the mooring pennant to a 45' Dutch boat built in 1968. In those early days of fiberglass they did not know how strong glass and resin was and laid in heavy thick sides. The owner had three lovely well behaved young kids aboard who requested permission to board, which was granted, and played with our feline team. Before separating ourselves from the Dutch built boat, we said goodbye to Jim, and his 31 foot Pearson, which was tied to our port side and was headed for Cuddyhunk.
Casting off at 9:15, we hugged the north shore of The Vinyard, which looks a lot like the north shore of eastern Long Island, with high sand cliffs reaching down to the sea, girdled by huge rocks. But there was no wind so we motored all the way. I saw turbulent water and unrolled the small jib to give it a try but the turbulence was caused by rough tidal flows, not wind.
The Harbormaster assigned us a mooring inside the sea wall which we took at 10:45. This location would have been more valuable if there had been a rough night, but it is the same price and a shorter dinghy ride, compared to those outside the sea wall. We found ourselves moored among five schooners for which VH is their hailing port. Beautiful old fashioned craft with the taller of their two masts aft of the shorter one. So different from ILENE's sleek modernity, yet both have their place on the water and in the hearts of their fans.
We contemplated leaving the dink hauled up and taking the launch in to town, but our two round trips for the two of us would have cost $32, so I lowered our dink, first for a grocery run and later, in the evening, to take in Woody Allen's latest movie, Cafe Society.
And the first of those trips is when our only problem here occurred. I slowed down to idle speed to talk with the folks on a nearby Solent rigged Tartan 44 and our Yamaha four stroke outboard died and would not restart. So I rowed a few hundred yards to the dinghy dock by the ferry landing and tried again. No luck. I noticed that the gas tank was low -- not empty but low. So while Lene was in Stop and Shop I took it to the gas station and put in three gallons. Still no luck. Lene got to talking with another boat owner who recommended a mechanic who lived on a houseboat about 150 yards from our mooring. He agreed to come over to the dock but the dairy products we had purchased could spoil so I rowed us back and he came to the boat. He asked what I had done to try to get the outboard to start. Hearing my story he said: "You probably flooded it. You don't need to choke an engine after it is warm. Try again." And she started right up. Our helper would accept neither coffee, beer nor cash as a reward for his service. He is an artist and a tour boat operator. I told him about the houseboat used by Noble at the Noble Maritime Collection we visited last winter.
A quiet night, cooler than the last few.
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