Thursday we decided to use tail winds to our favor and sailed almost all of the way from Block Island to Mattapoisett harbor on a run with the sails wing-on-wing. We rigged a preventer to the mainsail to stop a boom swing if we accidentally gybed. We were glad we did this as the seas got to be about 6 foot swells which caused an occasional problem.
As we left Block Island we initially headed into the wind, then fell off to a close haul under sail and gradually changed sail position as we turned to a run as we rounded the northern tip of Block Island. When we started sailing a wave came into the cockpit (well a splash) and hit Bob in the face. He smiled, and I knew he was hooked.
There were several interesting VHF announcements - a 20ft tree in the channel at Block Island, a person in the water and most interesting was a runaway 16ft Boston Whaler doing circles with nobody on board.
After about 60 miles of sailing we arrived at Mattapoisett harbor where we picked up a mooring for the night, bbq mackerel and relaxed and slept well.
We write this early as we have to make it through the Cape Cod Canal by 10:40am before the current turns against us. Not certain where we will stop tonight. There is a holiday this weekend and its unlikely we will get a slip or mooring. Maybe we will anchor somewhere or head back to homeport. We will see what the day brings us.
Ok so I just checked the spot, and I thought you would go around the big "flexed arm" but you are shooting some tiny little windy bit through land!!
ReplyDeleteYes we were going to do that but it was going to be a through the night sail and i was too tired. We stopped in mattapoisett and decided to go through the cape cod canal. Now we are heading east and finding it difficukt to find a mooring. Stay tuned, we could end up anywhere!
ReplyDeleteYeah just checked the spot, looks like an easy one tomorrow for you! Go on, fly that spinnaker one more time before the 4th!
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