And for one group it was misery. They reversed, their props hit a rock, lost all power. A Sea Tow boat was nearby but did not respond to the VHF so eith judicious use of our air horn we got there attention

Rafting with Fujin at Misery Island

Emptying water from the Charles River

We have had significant rainfall over the past weeks. The Charles River empties into Boston harbor and the level is regulated by the locks and associated dam. Rainfall has been so high that the locks were open to allow the necessary waterfall. Normally there is a heavily used pedestrian pathway over the locks from Boston to Charlestown. No path today. In the background I pan to show the Zakim Bridge, which takes I-93 over the river and then under Boston, as well as the TD Garden, the home of the Bruins and the Celtics

Races in Boston

Jellyfish in the marina

Its the time of year when the Jellyfish bloom begins. Here you can see some jellyfish in the Constitution Marina. Does anyone know which species this is?

I did a little research and found that they are moon jellyfish (Aurelia_aurita). Also there is an article in the Charlestown Patch concerning the annual bloom of these jellyfish. Apparently one jellyfish can lay 45,000 eggs in one day. Taken straight from the article in the Charlestown patch - The jellyfish might be compared to a butterfly, Tony LaCasse, media relations director at the aquarium has said. The medusa, the ‘bell’ has a short life, maybe just a few weeks. When the medusa spawns, its eggs float to the bottom of the harbor or attach themselves to hard surfaces, like pilings on the piers. A few more stages follow until the following spring when ‘saucer-like’ jellies emerge, eat like crazy, and become the ‘bells’ floating around in the harbor.

Planes over the mast

With wind from the correct direction planes approaching Boston airport fly over the main channel. This can cause serious wind shifts, accidental gybes for the unaware.

High winds in Boston

Sunday was a windy and gusty day. We sailed out past the Graves under a reefed 90% headsail and reefed main. At times our speed over water indicator was showing speeds of 9.4 knots. We assume a little mis-calibration, but it felt like we were flying. As we were coming back into Boston we needed to furl the headsail entirely and at times there were periods where we were sailing under reefed mainsail only. Winds were 35 knots constant and gusting up. We had an exciting moment when the electronics on the whole boat went out! Good thing was there was no panic and we went back to the basics - paper charts. Of course we know the harbor well, but it was a good trial for a similar experience in distant waters. I have heard people say that there are things that are guaranteed with sailing, one of them being - "you will lose your electronics, be prepared". We think we lost the electronics because of a lot of use of the electronic winch on the mainsail. We will be more cautious in the future.

Here are some shots as we were sailing on a reefed main and reefed 90% genoa as we were passing the Graves. At this point we were sailing with 25kts of sustained winds.

Salem for our first overnight

We headed out of the harbor after taking an early afternoon from work and sailed to Salem. Winds were modest and from the west so we hoisted the spinnaker.

Here is the Friendship Salem - a beautiful boat that is well worth a visit.

We took the Salem water taxi into town for dinner.

Afterwards we enjoyed a nice sunset

We woke early (~5:15am) for the sunrise and a sail back to Boston harbor to meet friends at noon.