Day 1 – Wind, waves and nausea – but great sailing (Boston
to Scituate)
Dave (my brother) and Sue from England joined us for a week of sailing.
When asked where we will go we answered, “depends”. We had booked dinner in Salem
at Restaurant 62 in the hope of heading there. However, winds were from the NE
at 10-15kts and once we exited the harbor it was clear that the sea was very
lumpy and needing to beat into the wind for several hours would not be
worthwhile. So instead we fell off the wind and had a great and fast sail down
to Scituate. When I say a great sail, I mean I had a great sail. During the sail our guests learned that going downstairs in waves
can be quite nauseating so they all stayed upstairs in the fresh air. It was
quite cold, probably 60F and overcast.
By the time we got to Minots Ledge all crew were incapacitated
with nausea. The upside was I was sailing solo. At the outset we were concerned
that Sue might not be able to handle the nausea and we had made a deal that she
could head back to Boston to shop for the week with Lande. However, she was a
trooper and wanted to try again the next day.
Day 2 – Scituate to Provincetown – whales, seals and a boat
on fire
We headed out of Scituate early at about 7am as the wind was
still at about 10kts and forecast to turn from the north to the south and to
lessen. So we wanted to make use of the wind we had as much as possible. After
dinner the evening before I was asked, “where tomorrow?” Of course the answer was “depends. We could
head to Provincetown, Plymouth or push through to Buzzards Bay and we would
decide as we left Scituate harbor. Upon leaving with three other vessels in
front of us they turned south toward the Canal (required to get to Buzzards
Bay) and/or to Plymouth. They had no sails up. The wind was about 10kts from
the north so heading south our apparent wind would be too low for fun.
Consequently we headed to Provincetown on a nice close reach sailing at 5-6 kts
all the way. As we approached the tip of Provincetown we saw 8-10 humpback
whales very close to land. They put on a great show!
The day was a little warmer but still chilly.
After seeing whales close and personal we continued towards
Provincetown and saw smoke and heard desperate calls on VHF channel 16. We
don’t believe anyone was on board. The emergency crews responded quickly and
towed the boat away from the town and the other moored boats and tried to dowse
the fire. One report indicated that they didn’t think the boat would sink, but
that there was not much left of her. Another responder asked if someone could
attach a floating ball to the boat so that if she sank they could locate her
more easily. Quite chilling to listen to all of this talk.
After a head pump out I snorkeled around Prairie Gold
checking the through hulls. In particular the one from the head which seems to
be blocked. More work to do there when she is out of the water for a bottom
paint job. Good news is that the hull is very clean and still has a good coat
of ablative paint.
We went into town and neither Sue nor Dave realized what a
sight P’town would be. I have never seen their eyes so wide open! We had drinks
at a restaurant with some of the worst service ever. As a consequence we
decided to head back to the boat to cook burgers (bacon and cheese) corn on the
cob, with some salad.
By the evening the wind had turned South to SE as predicted.
The evening discussion of destination was quite different than previously. When
asked where, I answered Plymouth. But of course this is almost straight into
the predicted wind. However, we have an important teleconference we can’t miss
at 2:30pm and it’s the most appropriate distance for the available time.
Day 3 – Provincetown to Plymouth
We set off closer to 6:30am this morning with light wind.
Dave is still to catch a fish so the rod was out quickly. We sailed for an hour
then turned on the iron genny. Today is the warmest of the three days and
everyone seems to be getting better sea legs. While underway Dave has even been
able to come down into the saloon!
Leaving P-town
When we were midway between P’town and Plymouth, we stopped
for a swim and as I was entering the water a whale surfaced 100ft away. I am
going to conclude that I swam with the whales today.
We have been having problems recently with emptying the head
holding-tank when offshore. To try and remedy the situation we had the head
pumped out and at the same time flushed sea water through the system to give it
a thorough clean out by the pumpout boat. As I snorkeled we opened the head
through hull, and with a coat hanger was able to push through the through-hull
into the holding tank and successfully get sea water to flush through. Hopefully the system is fully functional now.
Now we use the head and when we are offshore tomorrow we will see if we can
empty it.
As we were arriving at Plymouth we saw a seal (I think it is trying to steal lobsters)
And that vehicles really is driving on the beech