On the hard for the winter

It was good to see our friend Prairie Gold today. She is ready for the winter. Inspection of her hull shows she is in good shape and that the Hurricane didn't cause any damage. Not too much bottom paint will be needed in the spring so that's good. I took of remaining sails, cleaning solutions and the liferaft. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will put her canvas cover on for the winter. I am very happy with the canvas cover as this year we are effectively covering her for free.

Prairie Gold at Marina Bay

Prairie Gold came through hurricane Sandy without a scratch. On Thursday November 1st 2012 we motored over to Marina Bay in Quincy and docked her ready to take her out of the water. This season has been excellent sailing. We ended up achieving 86 legs with the longest solo sail of 82nm and with a four season accumulated 7,024 nm on Prairie Gold. We sailed as far north as Bar Harbor, saw amazing bioluminescence near Portland Maine. We caught fish - only bluefish this season - that tasted fantastic when freshly barbecued.

After surviving Sandy my concerns about leaving Prairie Gold on the water for future winters are now allayed. We will store her on the hard this winter (given that this has already scheduled and paid for), but in the future leave her in Constitution marina, and merely short haul for bottom painting. In this way we can sail late in the season and early in the new season. I would love a winter holiday sail – even if only for 30 minutes.

Repairs over the winter are minor. We need to replace the spinnaker halyard that has chafed. There is a minor leak in a screw and we need to address a leak in the raw water cooling system drain plug. We will take the sails to be cleaned and inspected for any wear and tear and then get Prairie Gold ready for a new season.

5pm view from Charlestown Bridge

Winds have picked up and its difficult to stand on the bridge. The marina staff have been out during the afternoon looking after the boats - checking dock lines and finger piers. Hurricane Sandy is still hundreds of miles away but its blowing here!

Marina evacuated because of Hurricane Sandy

The storm is starting to get real. Although we are hundreds of miles from the eye of the hurricane, the storm is in fact ~1000 miles wide and affecting most of the northeast of the US. We are now feeling 30-40mph winds and expected to get gusts to 70mph.

I just went to the marina to check the dock lines and all looks good so far. You can see even in our marina, which is considered to be highly protected, we are getting significant wave action. At the entrance to the harbor 20 foot waves are expected.

New York City and New Jersey are going to be hit hard. Although winds are lower than with Katrina, the width of the storm, the density of population, the surge of water, a full moon tonight together with the fact that the hurricane will join with the jet stream will make this a "perfect storm".

Predictions

If the latest models are to be believed this is going to be an awful storm hitting numerous large population centers in the US. Currently Boston is forecast to get sustained wimds of 30-40mph with gusts to 70mph. Models show the storm heading to land in the New Jersey area, but funny things can happen. We wait and see. It is anticipated that the Hurricane will join another storm crossing the US at the moment which will make for one of the worst coastal storms in many years. Although the winds may not be as high as in other hurricanes, the storm is moving slowly and is spreading over hundreds of miles. There will be lots of rain, flooding and downed trees.

She is stripped and ready for the storm. 12 docklines and the marina is being tied together in a web. The marina staff are doing a great job of looking after everyone. When we arrived today they had already added extra docklines on all boats

Preparations for sandy begin

85

We just made the season's goal of 85 leg. It was a beautiful autumn sail. Winds were high and gusting. We sailed most of the time with both sails reefed and winds were gusting to over 30 knots. At one point the gust was so high that I was standing on the seatback holding on to the helm. I assume we were heeled over more than 45 degrees and I have no idea what the wind speed was. It was awesome.

Leg 82

Its getting chilly in Boston. It was in the 30s last night, but we set sail towards Salem. When we were halfway there we decided to turn around because it was really chilly. Lots of action on the way back. Still coastgaurd calls about the dead whale and then there was radio traffic about a sailboat aground in the narrows. As we sailed past we saw it - a beautiful boat. They couldn't tow it off and it was still 3 hrs until low tide and they had to wait for the tide to rise to get her free. Hopefully there won't be too much damage.

Today was leg 82 of the season. The goal is 85 this year.

Columbus Day

Although there was no work today, I went to the boat and worked. Its great to have an internet connection in the marina. I also cleaned the fridge and started the overall cleaning process in preparation for the winter. Fuel is full and treated. Bow water tank is emptied and bilge is cleaned. But of course I had to play too. Winds were low but I set out and sailed at between 2 and 3 knots. Yesterday and today there were reports of a 50 foot whale carcass in the harbor. Initially it was at President's roads, then Deer island (yesterday), then on the news today it said Long Island, and when I was out sailing it was by George's island. Its being carried around with the tidal currents.

Apparently its a finback whale and nobody knows what to do with it. I think they are waiting for it to wash up on shore, and then will inspect it. But nobody wants to take responsibility for disposing of it. What do you do with a 50 foot dead whale? How much does it cost to dispose of?

Today was Columbus day - winds were low and there was little sailing activity. Last year we saw a boat named Columbus, this year we heard about a whale - next year?

Naval scenes in Boston harbor

We took a leisurely Friday morning sail in Boston harbor (by leisurely I mean there was little wind) and saw a lot of naval activity. First a battleship came into the harbor and was followed by a fireboat making a welcoming display of water shooting in the air. Then as this battleship arrived a naval vessel left dry dock. We think this latter ship was a fueling ship. Two examples of the ever changing scenery in harbor. BTW - when these naval vessels are around you make certain that you stay your distance. They have intimidating fast boats traveling in convoy with them and they are not messing around.

Every time we come back to Boston it looks different

Weekend of perfect sailing

This weekend I had intended to sail non-stop from Saturday morning until Sunday evening. Unfortunately, there had to be a last minute change of plans. However, that didn't stop me having a great sailing weekend. On Saturday Yolande and I sailed out to Cape Ann and back, a trip of about 55nm which took a total of 9 hours. The winds and wind direction were perfect. We sailed on a close reach in both directions and for large portions of the return journey at hull speed. When we got back we had a corn rissoto dish on the boat that Yolande had made. Every day of good weather we now take to our advantage, as the season is getting close to an end.

You may get bored with my keep putting pictures of the approach to Boston. However, no matter how many times I see this view I still can't get over its beauty.

On Sunday I sailed with a sailing friend Bob. This was an important trip as it was leg 70 of the season - but more about that later. Bob's boat Fujin is about 5 slips from ours and we sail together when we can, and when not we share sailing stories (just like with fishing, they can get bigger and better with each recollection). We sailed out along the main chain, down lower middle towards Deer island where the winds dropped. So we turned and sailed around Spectacle island and back home. The winds were fickle - as we were leaving along the main channel we were having 90 degree wind shifts which resulted in a couple of accidental gibes. On the way back as we were tacking along the main channel this wind shift was revealed again in our path. On the southern side of the channel the wind was about 45 degrees different from the northern side with winds shifting from 5-20 knots.

As Bob said in an earlier text message between us - "it would have been a crime not to sail".

Bob has also given me the urge to get my captain's license. For this I need to have documented 360 legs on a boat. If I don't include legs on chartered boats, just those that are in Prairie Gold's log book then I need to complete 85 legs in 2012 an 2013. Only 15 to go this season and about 5 weeks to do it. Its going to be close because as the weather starts to turn colder, there will be less incentive to get out.

Cape Ann nearby

We are heading east, no idea where to or when returning. Winds are 15kts, the sun just came out and we have peanuts and beer onboard. Life is good

Some pictures of our trip

Here is the sunrise last Friday morning as we were heading to Cape Elizabeth and Seal harbor

And the subsequent sunset in Seal harbor

The USS Miami undergoing repairs in Kittery ME - $455 million estimated bill.

Some sailboats in Salem

Many facets of sailing – overnight sailing, docking, anchoring, mooring ball

pictures will be uploaded later

We set off on a four day sail on Thursday evening at about 6:30pm. We sailed east until about 1am, then turned north. As we were passing Cape Ann, the land blocked the winds (~2:30am) and we had to motor for an hour. Winds picked up again and we were able to sail until about 4am. At this time, the winds died and we motored on north. By early afternoon we were approaching Cape Elizabeth. Rather than entering Portland we decided to head west to Seal Harbor which turned out to be a lovely little cove – although there are many unmarked rocks in the middle that we had to steer clear of. Just before we turned into Seal cove we caught a nice bluefish – guess what went onto the bbq that afternoon.

In Seal harbor we anchored for the night and as we were turning in for the night we noticed that two of the other three boats did not have their anchor lights turned on. This turned out to be an important observation, for when we woke in the morning (4am to set out early) there was dense fog and darkness ad we could just see one anchor light. As we got up the bioluminescence was spectacular – the best I have seen. Off the back of the boat there were thousands of spontaneous flashes and any disturbance of the water lit up the area. As we prepared to raise anchor, we also noticed that the slightest movement of the anchor chain caused vivid bioluminescence on every chain link – you could see the chain lighting up for at least 10 feet into the water.

With radar on, we identified the three boat, and with the charts the rocks to avoid and carefully navigated through a small gap between the rocks on the stern of one of the boats. For a couple of hours we were recording gps coordinates, direction velocity, just in case of problems. Then the fog cleared and the air was still. There was no wind. At one point we optimistically raised the spinnaker and with 3 knots of wind from the stern we made headway at a roaring 0.9kts. Given that several on board have the patience of a gnat, we decided to motor on to Portsmouth where we docked at Prestcott Park marina. The current can be wicked, but the marina is slightly to the side of the main current so we made it in okay.

That evening we went to a great restaurant, Cava, for dinner followed by drinks with a local band playing. Lots of oldie stuff, that we could sing (and I use that word loosely) along to.

On Saturday morning we had breakfast – a tasteless breakfast at a local restaurant. However, we should have thanked them for their slow service as it delayed our departure until the winds were up. Once we had disembarked and got into the channel, we were sailing immediately with the current. We passed the navy repair yard where there is the USS Miami. It has a fire and the repairs are estimated to cots $450 million.

Sailing was glorious. The wind was right on the nose from our destination, the Annisquam river. So we headed on an easterly tack past the isle of shoals then headed SW and finally motored into the Annisquam. The transit was beautiful and quite uneventful (thankfully). Finally we entered Gloucester harbor, and then sailed into Salem harbor where we picked up a mooring ball for the night. On Monday we then sailed back to Boston with great winds. WE used the motor as little as possible. In fact we sailed directly off the mooring ball and didn’t use the engine until we arrived at our marina. One day we will have to try to dock until sail power alone, but conditions weren’t right yesterday.

In addition to great sailing, we learned to be careful where we pick up water. We filled one tank in Portsmouth and it proceeded to clog the filter such that the water pump couldn’t force water around the boat. After much flushing and cleaning we managed to rectify the situation on our return.

new schedule for the 160 mile sail

Having learned a lot about fatigue and solo sailing this past weekend, I have rescheduled my attempt for the weekend of Sept 29th 30th. If any friends want to join me that would be great - send me a message. Otherwise I will set sail alone.

Successes

I achieved two of my goals for yesterday’s sail – sail and have a fun time and beat the personal best solo sail of 72nm.

Part of the reason for doing this trip was to evaluate whether I feel that I have it in me to compete in the Newport 160 race (yes a 160nm solo race) that is required to qualify for the Bermuda 1-2. In the Bermuda 1-2, one person sails to Bermuda from Newport where they pick up a second crew member to sail back to Newport.

I set sail solo on Saturday morning to see how this will go. I headed out NE with easterly winds. The wind direction would not allow me to take one long tack past Cape Ann so I headed towards Marblehead, but then had to tack to the Southeast to make some distance from land. As you can see from the SPOT GPS tracker I made a few tacks. The next one was under sail power alone (more about this later). Then I headed further northeast before deciding to change my destination to Provincetown. Another boat and I were in a race, we were well matched making little ground in one another, then they turned back to Marblehead (chickens). I was on a close haul towards the tip of Provincetown, but the wind started to turn from east to southeast to south pushing me further back to the mainland. Ahead I could see a storm over Cohasset and Scituate and it was a focused storm on Prairie Gold’s radar too. I tacked to port, now able to head east because of the change in wind direction and started to try to out run the storm by moving northeast. However, the storm was catching and moving in that direction too. Consequently I did a quick tack across to south to minimize the time in the storm. As you can see from the radar it was an elongated storm so I sailed across the narrow part. I quickly reefed down both sails (reducing sail area in anticipation of high winds) and made my way across the storm. Winds did not climb above 15 knots, in fact they dissipated to 15 kts. However, I left the sails reefed until I exited from the storm. There was a lot of rain, but it was warm and I was wearing shorts which would dry quickly. After the storm passed, I tacked again to the east and set out for Stellwagen bank and points beyond.

I set on a course that would allow me to sail on a close reach (about 60 degrees off the apparent wind) since this would allow me to turn around 180 degrees and head back to Boston with a similar point of sail (close reach). This is a preferable way to sail over a close haul (30 degrees off the wind) because it is less bouncy and faster.

As I was passing over the western edge of Stellwagen bank I saw a whale. I believe it was a humpback. As it passed the stern of Prairie Gold it sent a giant spray of water in the air as it exhaled. What a glorious site.

I continued east until I calculated that I had enough distance to beat my 72nm goal. About 20 minutes prior to turning around I started to make dinner – burgers and salad. Once dinner was made, I safely stowed it and at the 44nm elapsed part of the trip I turned 180 degrees and headed back in a westerly direction to Boston.

I have never had a burger that tasted any better. Its amazing what a day of sailing, salt air, and a storm will do for the appreciation of a burger.

As I was returning there were a couple of whale watching boats from Provincetown in Stellwagen Bank area talking about the two humpbacks that they were seeing. I will take this as verification of my identification of the species of whale that I saw.
I continued to sail at over 6knots towards Boston. I turned at 6:14pm and docked in the marina at 12:15am. The trip was a total of 81nm with 37nm being in the return leg. Taking 6 hours for 37nm put me at a little over an average speed of 6knots for the return. Overall my average speed was 5.7knots, and that included some slow stuff initially, with a maximum speed of 8.33 knots. I had good winds from about 12 noon until I docked shortly after midnight (15-18 knots apparent) and only used the motor while in Boston harbor.

It is quite amazing how quickly one gets into the groove of sailing, especially as you are leaving congested waters. The combination of a 10 minute intermittent radar scan with alarm if a radar reflection is detected, 360 degree lookouts every 10 minutes and few vessels (when away from the mainland) make sailing a very relaxing and even mesmerizing event. I could have pushed on further, but with responsibilities this evening – a business dinner – I thought it better to get a night of sleep. For me the worst part of sailing is the anticipation of a storm. You see it on the radar, you see it in the air but you don’t know what it will pack. Once you are in the storm you just deal with it and it is usually less bad (so far at least) than the anticipation. One of my friends says “if it really gets bad hove to, drop warps of the back of the boat or set a sea anchor, go beneath close the hatches and open a bottle of whisky”. I hope not to have to encounter that storm.

Before closing let me return to turning under sail power. During the tacks around Marblehead I decided to try to control the direction of sailing by using the sails, not the rudder. I trimmed the sails so that there was no weather helm, then clamped the rudder in the center position. Then by moving the mainsail up towards the wind I could turn the boat towards the wind and away from the wind I could turn the boat in the same direction. So then I determined whether I could turn the boat through the wind by manipulating the position of the mainsail. It worked first time. Of course, theory says that it will, but there is nothing like trying it. I need to try this more often and see how much I can sail at different wind angles in this manner.

Here are a few more pictures from the day (all post storm) and of the sun setting behind the clouds and entering Boston harbor.

20nm done. completed tack out to marblehead, have ...

20nm done. completed tack out to marblehead, have now tacked on heading for p-town, seteting up for bem reach home

2nd attempt

At 10am this morning the forecast was not great but I decided to go on out. At least thre are no tornado watches today. Today's goals are simple
1) Go out and solo sail #55 leg of the year
2) Sail more than 72 nm, my own solo record
3) Sail solo through the night - never done a full night solo
4) sail 100nm solo
5) sail 160nm solo

Since I have a 6pm dinner tomorrow, I doubt I will reach goal #5, but I sure will obtain goal #1

Here are some departure pictures. The hat I am wearing is an official Slovenia Aolympics hat - thanks Robert.

Return to Port

Yesterday evening was fickle. Big storm came through, tornado watch, then as I left the harbor fog fog fog, no wind and rollers. Securite calls of 35+kt winds, and I had not yet hit my stride. So I decided to head home and wait for this morning. I got in at about 10:40pm (about :)) and took a good night of sleep. After having breakfast I will decide on plan A for today.

Boston skyline

Disembark at 7:30pm

waiting for weather

in marina, tornado watch, 25 kts wind, horizontal rain. Sounds like its time for a beer. Prairie Gold is ready to go. Just waiting a few more minutes to decide whether to postpone or head east.

On Acela heading for Boston

Am on the way back to Boston from New York and am getting mentally prepared for the trip. By that I mean, I just took a nap. Not many hours of sleep this weekend so I am catching whatever I can now. We provisioned Prairie Gold during the week before heading to New York. All that is left is to find a weather window to head out - oh, and I still have to get to Boston. My current estimated time of departure is 5:30pm today. However, there are storms (we are in them on the train now) heading Boston's way, so I might need to delay slightly.

Solo weekend sail ahead

This weekend I intend to take Prairie Gold on a solo sail. Destination is unknown, but I will leave late Friday and return Sunday. If all goes as planned it will be a non-stop voyage. I will post from my cell phone during the trip (when 3G service is available) at regular intervals, so check in and see what adventure is in store. Dont forget to use the SPOT button to the right to see where we are. Also, I hope to made sequence of video clips during the trip that I will splice together on my return. Now its time to get back to emails and work.

Weekend sailing with a friend from Slovenia

We set off on Saturday morning either for Scituate or Salem. The destination was to be determined based on wind. It turned out to be a toss up, and so we decided to go to Salem. As we were heading out near Nahant we decided it was lunch time so in the galley the guys started making a salad and Yolande was at the helm. Salad was almost prepared and we decided to open a packet of spicy fish (we didnt have many protein options on the boat). At that moment Yolande called down "Fish on". We were trawling a lure and there was something attached. Having caught lobster pots before I was a little circumspect. However, I gave the rod to Robert who proceeded to reel in. Then a fish jumped clear out of the water. We had a bluefish. We brought the fish to the boat, cleaned and fileted it on the deck, marinated, and barbequed. 30 minutes after reeling the fish in we had fresh bluefish and salad and a chardonnay. If you have never eaten fresh bluefish you are missing out.

We sailed on towards Marblehead and there was a true race going on. It was great to get amongst the racing boats, although regardless of the rules of the road we gave way so that they could race uninterrupted.

We moored in Salem and went to Restaurant 62 for a few small plates.

Sunday morning we headed back to Boston. As we approached Nahant we had to tack south and as we did the winds started to rise 15-20kts. We continued south past the NE Graves Lighthouse, and then saw another sailboat on the opposite tack heading for the Hull entrance to the harbor. The race was on. Phew - winds were rising and gusting to 30 kts. As we passed the boat the comment was made that "eat our spray" should be on our t-shirts.

The afternoon sailing was invigorating and after docking, walking back to the condo and having a shower, we walked down to the waterfront cafe so that we could soak up the atmosphere of some of the locals from North End of Boston.

It was great to have a sailor friend visit, and it was a great weekend.

We are off - again

This week has seen lots of small trips around the harbor. We are about to head either to Salem or Scituate - depends on wind direction as we depart. We will update while traveling.

Day 18 - Back home to Boston

After a great last breakfast on our adventure (I was the chef, so you might want to check with Yolande)we headed out of Beverly for home. We were determined to sail regardless of the amount of wind. There wasn't much, 5-6 knots but because we were sailing towards it our forward speed increased the apparent wind to about 8 knots. We departed at 10:15am and arrived in the Constitution Marina at 3:45pm.

Here is a view back into Salem harbor area

As we rounded the tip of Marblehead we could see Boston in the distance

As we approached Deer Island and the entrance to Boston harbor

And here is a great helmsman and all around sailor.

It was a fun time. We made more than 600nm. As we were entering the harbor Yolande said "we are not trying for 650nm."

When we got back to the condo it felt so big - not that the boat felt small.
Thanks for enjoying our journey with us.
We will keep posting during the season check back in.

Late breaking financial news!

We phoned in to Beverly Port Marina about an hour before potential arrival and asked for slip availability. In the discussion they mentioned that they were offering a special this week - $1 per foot - yes! We accepted. To dock Prairie Gold at a slip tonight we set the all time record of $36! We thought the rates in Maine, and especially in Belfast were great. We then went to eat at "The Anchor" - two for dinner with drinks $36. You might not see us back in Boston - no need to work at these rates.

And here is the sunset.

Day 17 - Portsmouth to Beverly

Today was the worst day for wind, or lack thereof. We did manage to sail a little but ended up using the engine for many hours. Rather than go around Cape Ann, we used the short cut through the Annisquam River. We read many reports on how to do this and since the channel is narrow, where there is depth to the water, but wide and shallow outside of the channel, it can be somewhat puzzling getting through without running aground. For example you will see in some the pictures beneath that there appear to be vast expanses of water, but in fact the channel which was about 6-10feet deep only occupies, at times, about 40 feet of width. However, with the marker buoys we made it. There was one moment of panic when we realized that there was a pair of buoys missing! Then we noticed them off to the side amongst moored boats, so with a quick turn to port we managed to keep in the channel with little problem.

The Annisquam River is really beautiful. Here is the entry from Ipswich bay together with some homes and boats.

Here is a picture looking back at the entry to the river

The Annisquam River and has three bridges. Route 128 goes over the river with a clearance of 65 feet. Although Prairie Gold's mast is only 52.5feet it felt like she was going to scrape under the bridge.

The next bridge is a railroad bridge. Fortunately it was up which allowed for easy navigation. However, it is on a 90 degree turn so you have no way of seeing if someone is coming in the opposite direction. The final bridge (Blyman Bridge) is about 12 feet tall and 30 feet wide. Over the radio were able to ask the operator to open the bridge. Although its reported to be 30 feet wide, we inhaled as we passed through, to make sure we could make it. At the other side of the bridge is Gloucester harbor. We then motored for another 10-15nm to Beverly where we tied up at the dock. It wasnt the most pretty docking. We had to come in slowly to the dock and the wind and the current were pushing us away (sideways)and the dockhands leave at 5pm. Of course we arrived at 5:05pm. So as we were in a perfect position at the dock, the wind current pushed us away before I could jump off with docklines in hand. On the second attempt we powered in an made sure the dock new who was boss.

Tonight is our last night on Prairie Gold before we return to Boston :((

Its been a great trip though.

Day 16 - Portland to Portsmouth

We set off bright and early at 6:55am and headed south. Its a sad day as we are departing from Maine. However, as I was reading on the sail (well actually lots of motoring) if we dont leave after 30days we are subject to tax, and if we keep our boat in Maine for 60days or more and purchased it in a state without tax on the purchase then we have to pay Maine the purchase tax. Hmmm. So maybe its good we are on our way home.

As we departed Portland we saw seagulls eating out of the fishing nets and had to take a picture of one of the landmark lighthouses.

Winds started as predicted from the north at about 8knots, which isn't enough to sail with if you want to go anywhere. But with time they turned to the east and SE. Which was great because we were then able to sail at between 4 and 5 knots for the remainder of our journey. On day 2 of our trip we also came to Portsmouth and stayed at Wentworth by the sea marina which is a little remote from Portsmouth. This time we wanted to stay in the heart of Portsmouth. However, the guidebooks warned of the strong currents. But what the heck, we tried it. With Yolande at the helm we made about 3 knots over ground and 6 knots over water - that is we were motoring against a 3 knot current. The slips we were trying to get to are exposed to this current and since at the slips the channel narrows even more we estimated that we would need to dock in a 4 knot current. At home I have docked in a 2-3 knot cross current, and it can be ugly. Not knowing the marina, and only getting one shot at it, we decided to turn around. So I mentioned to Yolande that when she turned she might find the bow moves quickly. Oh and did it. As she turned Prairie Gold Yolande was heard to say woohoo.

So we turned and headed into the small harbor and returned to Wentworth by the sea. Getting into this marina was fine, except initially as I entered the fairway leading to the slip I was traveling diagonally to keep up headway. But then the current abated and we were fine.

After we docked, there were turns having dinner on fish behind the boat. Here is one diving for his supper.

And here is the lighthouse at the entry to Portsmouth harbor.

Day 15 – A day in Portland – A special post for our Canadian Friends

Weather south looked poor and so we decided to take a rest day and stay in the marina at DiMillo’s in Portland. Our day has consisted of little – Yolande made a few purchases, I cleaned the stainless steel and checked the engine and other items before disembarking bright and early tomorrow.

Here is the entrance to DiMillo’s – Dustin and Rochelle, they flew the flag specially for you.

Downtown Portland

Back in the marina – can you spot Prairie Gold (Waldo)

Here are some statistics on our trip – we have now travelled 498.8 nm. This might not seem far but if you assume an average speed of 5knots (~6mph) and compare to a driving vacation with an average speed of 60mph this would compute to a driving trip of 5,000 miles. Since Bozeman Montana is 2,399.4 miles from Boston, we have in driving terms done the roundtrip between these two cities. Yesterday I mentioned to Yolande that we are not docking in our home marina until we have 600nm under our belt in this trip (the driving equivalent of the roundtrip between Boston and San Francisco). If you see someone circling in Boston harbor for a couple of hours, it could be us.

There has been a massive yacht in the marina called Harmony. Here is a link to Harmony’s specifics. Of note, she has two diesel engines providing a total of 7,300 HP. Now with a maximum speed of 24knots and a cruising speed of 20 knots, I think Prairie Gold’s 29HP engine compares favorably. We cruise at about 6-7 knots, only 1/3rd of the speed of Harmony, and I bet we use less diesel than she does. Harmonies fuel capacity is 20,002 gallons, Prairie Gold’s is 40 gallons. So it takes us three times as long to get anywhere, but we still have cash in our pocket when we arrive.

As I was returning to Prairie Gold this afternoon I couldn’t but help take this video. I hope you enjoy.