Wednesday 9/12
We'll, buck in July we'd set an informal goal to be home today, and we made it... just not the way we expected. With help from Enterprise rental trucks, we towed Elf to my yard from Brant Beach New Jersey where we had stashed Elf on Saturday at probably the most hospitable yacht club you will ever find. It's not the triumphant return to our slip in Annapolis that we had envisioned, but we've been spared the misery that four days of mostly rain and fog would have inflicted. Plus, there's more rain in the forecast the next few days as well as the uncertainty of hurricane Florence coming up the coast over the weekend, bringing potential catastrophic flooding..
All in all, we're happy to be off the water with ready access to showers, refrigeration, and juice for our devices. But there's hope that we'll get to enjoy more long cruises in the future.
Sunday 9/9
This bag holds all my cold weather clothes: sweatshirt, thermal layer, smart wool, socks, etc. I never used any of those items during the trip. First day ashore, it's 57 degrees in Linthicum at 9am and it's time to break open the cold bag. I guess our decision to abort the sail home was will timed--this bitter wind out of the east would have made for a miserable day in the cockpit!
Saturday 9/8
We were making lemons out of lemonade. With the wind too strong to continue out in the ocean, we decided to motor sail south along the intracoastal waterway. We were making pretty good time under job alone with the wind aft of the beam, but the winding channel would certainly add many miles as compared to the straight line route in the ocean. Still, progress is progress.
At one point, I decided to throttle up the motor since the wind had dropped and the boat had slowed. An uprecedented plume of white smoke gushed from the motor and I could smell burning oil. This was clearly a reason to stop and figure out how to respond to this latest catastrophy.
Amazingly, we limped into a nearby nook inside the barrier island, and a gentleman from the next door yacht club saw our diapers and motioned us in to their dock.
Long story short, the members of the Brant Beach Yacht Club, and we talked with about a dozen, were uniformly hospitable, helpful, and knowledgeable. They helped us find a mechanic whose diagnosis was the we needed to replace the piston rings, and that people often choose to replace the motor rather than pay for the major overhaul. BBYC is kindly letting us stash the boat at a vacant slip for a couple days until we can pull her out onto the trailer and drive her home.
Sadly, our on-the-water adventure is over. But if there is a bright side, it's that Elf will be safely out of the water and in my yard if hurricane Florence pays a visit next week.
Friday 9/7
We had a successful broad reach from Sandy Hook to Barnegat Bay--roughly 52 nautical miles. This blows away our previous single-day record of about 36 miles. Our alarm got us out of bed at 4am to ensure we would arrive before sunset. We would not want to navigate an unfamiliar inlet in the dark.
It turned out to be a faster ride than we'd expected, fortunately. We were anchored by 15:30 and treated to a close-up display of kite boarding! It's nice to get in early, since it was another bumpy ride that demanded considerable attention during each turn at the helm.
Thursday 9/6
We've done everyone we can do. Pop top is up, Sunshade is deployed over the boom. Wind scoop is deployed over the forehatch. And the 12 volt fan is running. Still we are baking at 89 degrees in the cabin.
Next step, I'm considering a dip in the distinctly non pristine bay here behind Sandy Hook NJ. The brown, murky water is not appealing, but it's looking like the lesser of two evils. At least there appear to be no jellyfish.
Wednesday 9/5
The alarm wasn't too heinous when it went off at 5:15 this morning. We were off the morning at City Island half an hour later with a fair tide promised through NYC and out the Hudson.
Everything went well, and despite a lot of later summer haze, we had good morning light illuminating the sights. It was noticably busier with more ferries and a couple big ships, as compared to our first transit, which began after the morning rush hour.
Sunday 9/2
This is a popular tourist destination that I'd never visited before. It's the nearest thing to the Maine coast that you're likely to find in southern New England, with about a dozen small, rocky islands in a small archipelago. Most islands have a few houses and a couple have several houses crammed together ranging from tiny guest houses to large three story works of art.
It's definitely a spot rich with character, but it was pretty busy on a holiday weekend. Only a handful of sailboats spent the night, including Elf. We were unpleasantly surprised at how much the boat rocked when the tidal current held the boat parallel to the small winds-blown waves. Despite moving to a more sheltered spot after dark, it was a fitful night of sleep.
Recommendations: try to visit during a weekday and or outside of the peak summer tourists months, and either choose your anchorage carefully or set bow and stern anchors to suit the wave conditions. Other options include commercial sight seeing tires or guided kayak tours. It's definitely worth a visit if you're passing through.
Saturday 9/1
While we were in the neighborhood, it was important to stop at the Shanty in New London. Dad took us here innumerable times after our day sails growing up, and it was always a treat. Good memories, and the same classic foot-long dogs. Famous since 1972--and I remember that sign back from about about 1978.
Friday 8/31
It was a bumpy downhill ride from S. Dartmouth to the Harbor of Refuge at Point Judith. This huge harbor, behind 3 miles of breakwater, was built in the early 1900's by the Army Corps of Engineers for ships traveling between NY and Boston to ride out bad weather. It was a welcome calm after 32 miles of 15-25 kt winds, where we slept under the gaze of the lighthouse. Unfortunately there is enough small boat traffic in the early morning hours to set up some nasty side-to-side rolling that interrupted our sleep.
Thursday 8/30
We took a quick detour behind Bassett"s Island in Pocassett on Cape Cod. I have a lot of history here from my years on the Cape. The family 16' sailboat, Imp, lived on a mooring at Barlow's Landing for 5 seasons, and I initiated countless day sails around Buzzards Bay from here.
In addition, i lived aboard my 25-footer, Snizort, for 2 summers at Kingman Marine, pictured here. It's nice to see that things haven't changed much in my old stomping grounds.
Wednesday 8/29
It seems that marine mammals have bookmarked our trip. A dolphin swam by the boat on the first morning of our outbound trip. This morning, I saw my first gray seals on the first day of our invoice trip trip near the dinghy dock, and later saw my first ever right whale! It was an easy identification because most harbors around here have an informational poster with closeups of their fins, tail, and spout. They estimate there are only 450 left so they are critically endangered.
We first spotted this one at a distance of about 600' and thought it was a right based on the time spout. We'd been motoring through Provincetown harbor, so we immediately throttled down and took the engine out of gear while we waited for it to surface again. In the next 5 minutes, we were the only souls in the area, so we scanned the waters continually hoping to see it again. As usual this time of year, there was a feeding frenzy going on with stripers feeding on a school of bait fish about 100' away. These are easy to spot because flocks of gulls and terns will also dive into the frenzy to pick out the scraps.
Evidently the whale honed in on the meal too. It surfaced on its side with its mouth open and baleen clearly visible, chomping down on the whole swarm! Seeing the pectoral fin confirmed it was a right, maybe 30' long our so. The feeding behavior mimicked that of a blue whale that was filmed in the Pacific during the Volvo Sailboat Race last winter--one of my favorite drone shots from the race.
We saw the whale surface one more time about 5 minutes later, headed away from us, of before a couple power boats moved into the area. I suspect he/she knows enough to avoid harbor traffic and was laying low.
This was a total thrill for me, and something I'd really hoped we'd get to experience in Provincetown. After re-learning about whaling at a couple museums, which was such a historic component of coastal New England, and the damage it did to whale populations, it's been great to see that whale watching and conservation is thriving and is more profitable than killing them.
Sorry, no photo--i didn't want to miss the experience by trying to capture it.
Tuesday 8/28
Today we were due to start the return journey home. Conveniently, Kate came down with a cold and fever that has kept us in harbor another day in Provincetown. Metaphorically, we've raised the yellow Q flag on Elf to make sure nobody comes aboard and gets infected.
To allow Kate to rest and recover, I walked down to First Landing Park at the west end of Commerce Street, then across the stone breakwater to the beach. It was nice to stretch the legs a bit and do some rock hopping.
Monday 8/26
Here's the view to the southeast from the top of the pilgrim Monument. Can you spot elf?
I've driven over this bridge dozens of times and ridden my bikes along the canal path hundreds of times in the 4 years I lived on the Cape. But this was the first time sailing under the bridge and transiting the canal. The was all pretty routine--we didn't even need to contend with any"heavy metal". (Meaing a large barge, tanker, or container ship.). I was disappointed about that, but Kate was pleased. Maybe we'll encounter something big on the return trip.
Friday 8/24
We grabbed a mooring yesterday just outside the West end of the Cape Cod Canal. It's a good stop to catch up with friends and family while we wait for wind and our canal transit.
We can heartily endorse Marc Anthony's restaurant for their excellent pizza. Thanks for the suggestion, Tamara, and it was great to catch up!
Wednesday 8/22
We grabbed a mooring ball in Oak Bluffs Harbor to escape the high winds and do some provisioning. It's a very convenient port with fuel, laundry, and a good sized grocery store a short walk from the dock.
We also hopped a bus to Vineyard Haven to buy more stove alcohol at the mini west marine. It was fun to see the town where Dad built his summer house back in the 90's, although we didn't actually walk by the house. (I'd rather leave those memories intact in my head.). Of course, we grabbed some Mad Martha's ice cream while we were in town!
The photo is a golden hour shot of the ginger bread cottages in the 1800's Methodist community, which is one of my favorite parts of town.
Sunday 8/19
Last night, a nor'easter blew into our anchorage with gusts probably around 25 knots. This after gusts of similar strength from the opposite direction the previous night and day. Luckily, the breeze changed direction right after Sunday so we could easily reset our storm anchor to suit the new wind direction. Given the trouble we had with the working anchor not holding in the weedy bottom, I was really happy to get this done before going to sleep.
The prudence of resetting the anchor was driven home around midnight when Kate spotted a sailboat, maybe 35' long, dragging anchor. It passed between us and our neighbor, shown in the picture, being blown sideways at about one knot. (I'd guess there is about a 75' lane between the two boats that the dragging boat navigated cleanly.)
I tried to wake up the passing Captain and crew by shouting and blowing the air horn, but that didn't seem to work. No one seemed to be listening to our hails on channel 16. Surprisingly, the harbor launch seemed to be out patrolling after their usual last run. He responded to my horn, and I sent him after the draggers.
By this time, they were broadly a quarter mile to Leeward, but I saw lights on in the cabin and running lights lit. Soon they were obviously under power and in control of their boat. I couldn't tell if they had hit any other craft, but in the light of day, a couple vacant mooring balls lay in their path. Hopefully they bumped over one of those and woke up before hitting anything valuable or damaging their own boat.
There are too many lessons to learn vicariously from this experience to list here. Let's just say that it was better to see someone else dragging than to be dragging ourselves. (We had enough of that the one time it happened on the Florida sailbbatical.) Whew!
Friday 8/17
I tried to snap a photo of this gorgeous wooden sloop as we were entering the channel into the main harbor. Alas, it took 5 attempts to get this poor photo because of the waves and my inability to see the screen of my phone while in bright sunshine. Trust me, it was a head turner! The eye candy nside the harbor is equally fulfilling for a classic boat enthusiast like me. Can't wait to row around and ogle the oldies.
Thursday 8/16
Because Dad built a summer house on Martha's Vineyard, in seen most of the island by ferry, sailboat, car, bus, bike and canoe. Today marked a new perspective as we sailed to Edgartown in the southeast part of the island. I've visited the town by road, but never by boat. Tomorrow we'll see the other side of Cape Poge as we embark for Nantucket--a part of the island that will be totally new for me.
Sunset over the anchorage was notable for the lack of distinct clouds but an abundance of humidity to color the light a neon red.
Tuesday 8/14
Since we decided to wait out the rainy Monday at Cutty Hunk, we thought we'd splurge on breakfast on the islands this morning. As far as we can tell, the only option is the fisherman's club on the south side of the island. And heck, there's no reason to go anywhere else! Superb food, good prices, and a view of Vineyard sounds that can't be beat. We voted it best breakfast of the trip, and we still have a month of sailing left!
Monday 8/13
I had almost this same view last time I visited CH Island in 2001. That was the first cruise I took in the 25' sailboat that I lived aboard at the time. Visiting 17 years later, we happened to anchor in the same spot.
The island hasn't changed much, thankfully, and is still a great place to do almost nothing. The summer population is about 500, there are only two restaurants and a couple clam shacks, a general store, and a little museum. I still dig the place!
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Herreshoff Museum in Bristol Rhode Island. Definitely worth stopping in next time you're in or near Newport. We even came away with a few cool ideas to incorporate into some of the designs I've been working on during the cruise.
There we're a couple times growing up when we stopped in Newport while the Americas Cup was underway. I remember seeing the Twelve Meters being towed in and out of harbor, but we never attempted to watch the actual races, which were well offshore. I have a clear memory of seeing Australia II hauled out of the water with the infamous shroud hiding her innovative winged keel. Days later, she took the Cup from Stars and Stripes
35 years later, the 12 meters are still sailing as excursion boats. This one is older than me, so I didn't see her during her heyday. Nevertheless, it was great to be welcomed this way as w we approached the harbor.
