An action packed weekend full of sailing, sail repair and observing the grounding of another boat.

As usual in the summer months we set off sailing for the weekend. As we left our home marina you can see it was a beautiful day. Winds were quite low but its hard not to enjoy sailing on such a beautiful day.

Our large headsail (135% genoa) has a lot of UV weakening and damage near the leech, which we believe has occurred because with sail stretch the UV protection no longer covers all of the sail when it is furled. As a consequence we have several tears. A consequence is this sail, which is great for low wind conditions, is rolled up and out of use. Thus, in this low wind condition we brought out our high wind 90% jib. With less surface area it does not power the boat well. Our choices – i) stay home or ii) sail slowly. Of course we sailed. We made our way over to the Marblehead area and decided to stay at Beverly port marina. As is the norm on a weekend in the summer there were several races taking place.

Once in Beverly we went to the Anchor pub. Its full of locals and you can have several beers, and dinner for two for $40. The locals are quite an interesting bunch and we struck up a conversation with a veteran, John, who served in Vietnam.

Next morning we woke to low wind; actually, no wind. With a little coaxing Yolande decided it was time to repair the 135% genoa. We put on 20 feet of 10 inch wide adhesive backed Dacron (a sail fabric) then got out our new Sailrite sewing machine. Yolande sewed up a storm and we quickly changes sails and set to sea.

Boat traffic in the islands around Beverly

As we were leaving the Marblehead/Salem/Beverly island area we saw another race. In this one there were larger boats than on the Saturday and they were sailing over to just west of Nahant and back.

It was great to have the 135% genoa back on board since winds ranged from 5-12kts and we were able to make good pace.

As we arrived back in Boston harbor we saw a boat “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” that had run aground next to the channel “Lower Middle”. This can be a tricky channel but if you use the buoys and sail between them there are no problems. However, today the problem was even worse. On Sunday the moon was a super moon so at 5:22pm the low tide was about a foot lower than usual. I have never seen the tide so low. In fact lower middle rock was exposed and you can see surf breaking over the rock. This boat was unlikely to be using its charts. Probably they have sailed over this area before without knowing the near miss that they had had. They are not alone, however, as we have seen a commercial vessel run aground here this year also.

Here is Tow Boat US rushing off to help. However, the tide is so low it cant get closer than about 100ft.

We saw this incident about an hour before low tide. I imagine they had to sit on the rock for some time, 2-3hrs at least

Back to some good news. Here is the sail in all of her beauty with her sail patches (I think Yolande should show off her sewing machine on the docks and she would get good patching business). When we got home we then made first use of our new jib sock which we purchased from Becky at LeeSailCovers. I affectionately call it our sail condom. It was easy to measure for, to install and now she covers the 135% genoa to prevent further UV damage of our sail.

Boston to Beverly Port Marina

I got chastised this morning for not posting recently – my eldest who is overseas. She is right, I have been lax. So the camera was chugging away today and pictures are beneath. We headed out from Boston with light winds and since we still have our 90% headsail (awaiting the repair on the 135% - more about that later) sailing was slow going. A beautiful August afternoon with temps in the low 80s on land. Gradually the wind picked up and we sailed with about 14 kts of apparent wind. We know we will be going into Salem again soon so decided to come to Beverly port marina. It’s a relatively quiet marina that’s never full and next door has the Anchor pub. A favorite.

Our headsail keeps tearing near the leech. We think its because the sail has stretched and now when its furled, the UV protection no longer covers the sail. Its well known that UV damages the sail. Yolande purchased a sailmakers sewing machine and today we brought it to Prairie Gold. We have added 10 inch wide adhesive backed Dacron fabric along a sizeable portion of the weakened sail and will sew it in place soon (I hope).

Liberty Clipper in Boston does not know the rules of the road

Yesterday we were sailing back to our marina after a damp July 4th afternoon when the Liberty Clipper caused us problems. The Liberty Clipper is a charter vessel out of Boston and they were motorsailing behind us while we were under sail power. They kept getting closer and closer as if they had not seen us. At the last moment we hit our air horn and turned 90 degrees to avoid them hitting us. I politely called them on channel 16 on the radio twice, but they did not answer. I am not even certain if their radio was turned on. We then heard someone from near the helm shout at us that "the near miss was our fault because we should look behind us"! Actually this is not true. Also it turns out we were looking behind us hence our ability to maneuver away from them before they hit us. The Liberty Clipper is required to have coastgaurd approved captain on board and he/she just failed on two counts: First, motor power gives way to sail power. Second. if you are overtaking you give way. I guess they could argue that they weren't overtaking because they were trying to sink us. However, they were under motor power. The person at the helm looked in their teenage years, which makes me wonder if they are coastgaurd approved and appropriate to man this vessel. We even called their office to explain our concern about the event only to have someone who knows nothing about sailing answer.

I would not go aboard the Liberty Clipper based on their lack of knowledge of how to control a vessel.

Stars and Stripes

The Stars and Stripes in San Diego harbor - its fast

San Diego from the harbor

The last two days

We found the only bar in Massachusetts that doesn’t have a TV! After our telecon we headed to the chartroom bar to watch the England game. Alas, no TV. Of course you can stream to your phone if you have a subscription through Xfinity to ESPN– but we don’t (can’t stand overpaying for hundreds of channels of garbage). So we managed to follow the game with live updates on our phones (Gaurdian and NYtimes) as well as with text messages from my brother and one of my sister in law. It was probably better as England didn’t play well and we lost and are now out of the world cup.

We are very happy that we have dual citizenship because tonight we can cheer on the USA vs Portugal.

From the stern of Prairie Gold in Red Brook Harbor

On Friday morning we departed Red Brook harbor at low tide. Any of you have been through this area know that this can be quite intimidating. But since it was out fourth transit through the narrow channels we were fine. 

Notice the very shallow region beyond the buoy

We quickly hoisted sails and headed for the Cape Cod Canal. At 10am I had another telecon (the final one of the trip). Afterwards, Yolande commented that I had never been so quiet on a phone call before!

 A classic as leave Red Brook harbor

Entering the Cape Cod Canal (this time I got my Flood and Ebb correct) 

Passage through the canal was a breeze and we then turned north toward Scituate for our final night. We managed to sail for about half the distance then needed to turn on the engine. We arrived at Scituate, noticed wear in the sail, so did a quick patch job, then headed to land for our last dinner of the vacation – Oro.

Sunset from PG in Scituate

Saturday morning we woke to another beautiful day in all ways but one – wind. We force sailed for an hour, then motored home.

 Scituate on departure

Visibility was amazing - Boston from about 18nm

During the trip we had our GPS track running as well as monitoring distance through our through hull speedo. The former recorded 385.5 nm and the latter 380nm. I guess this means it is well calibrated. We only used about ½ a tank of diesel and did not need to refill, a good indication of how much wind we had. 

Rain and fog

We departed Hadley harbor after a very quiet and peaceful anchorage to head north towards the Cape Cod Canal. Since we have a 1pm teleconference (I did say in an earlier post that we are working while we vacation L ) and England play in the World Cup at 3pm today we decided to just take a short trip. We enjoyed Red Brook harbor so much that we returned.

It was our shortest leg of the trip, but since it was rainy and foggy with little wind, we didn’t really mind. Of course we did get the sails out!

We recently purchased a 4’ x 6’ American flag (now that we are citizens) and have it hoisted to the top of the mast while in port. We are now looking for the Union Jack to show our dual citizenship.

Vessel about to enter the Cape Cod Canal

And here is our favorite vessel

Cuttyhunk, Edgartown, Nantucket, Hadley harbor

I have been a little slow to write the last few days. I have been having too much fun. Actually, I have been having to work from the boat in the mornings before we disembark. Excuses over. Here is a recap.

We motored out of Cuttyhunk up Buzzards Bay and then through Quicks Hole into Vineyard Sound. Once we entered the sound the wind immediately picked up – it was as if Buzzards Bay and the Sound had different climates and they are just separated by a strong of islands. We were able to sail with the current and make good time up and around Martha’s vineyard and enter into Edgertown.  We had hoped to dock but a 100 foot sailboat, Chimera designed by Ted Fontaine, took up all the dock space. But she is such a beauty. We called for a mooring and were told to take the first free blue mooring ball. We called back with the number and nobody came to collect the fee. We called back, no answer. We went on land and called again – no answer. We stayed the night for free. Well not so free. It costs $4 per person for a launch ride to the docks. Since we went in for dinner and to watch the USA – Ghana game as well as the next day for dinner, it cost a total of $32.

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Edgertown is a quaint town, but like all that we have visited, they are hurting from the long winter in New England that has caused school closing to be delayed by 2 weeks. Good for us, we can get in anywhere with no booking.

The next morning we left Edgertown with fantastic winds. We started wing on wing heading NNE, then cut east (beam reach) then SE (close hauled) to Nantucket. Of course we were racing all the way. Although there are not many boats out on the waters yet, any that are, are ready to race. The guide book says that it is necessary to book up to 6 months in advance to get a reservation in Nantucket. The marina was almost deserted – again the winter worked in our favor. We have never been to Nantucket before. It was fantastic – at least without tourists. And Yolande found a great Tapas restaurant – Nautilus. Go there, highly recommended.

So today we start back toward home. Disembarking at Nantucket was a challenge with 20kt crosswinds and deckhands that didn’t have a clue what they were doing to help. Two came along, and I had to explain what docklines are. They said they could bring a third dockhand– I declined. But we made it our without harm. I guess the tight space at our home marina helps tune the boat maneuvering skills.

 Any marine maintenance staff available?

 Owned by some fancy restaurant owner - Really thats my helicopter; there wasn't space on Prairie Gold so they let it land there!

 Leaving Nantucket harbor

As we left Nantucket, the winds were a constant 25kts. We were sailing with both sails reefed and having a blast. Of course, before we left the marina we had washed off the windows and deck of salt to give better visibility. Lot of good that did.

For 3 days the currents had been in our favor. Now we were pushing against them for several hours. And they are strong. Suddenly the wind dropped so we motored toward Woods Hole and the infamous “hole”. Now that we were under motor power we dropped a lure off the back. I took a quick nap to be woken by Lande telling me that we had a fish on. A great bluefish that was really tasty after it was bbqed an hour later. Coming through the hole was uneventful. Its narrow, there is a cross current and we were motoring through at 11kts. We decided to get through the hole today, rather than stay vineyard sound side, and motored into Hadley harbor. Its private land and there is a small place to anchor. We sit at anchor (with bloody mosquitos) but it’s a beautiful place. 

9000 nm on Prairie Gold

The winds were roaring overnight in Block Island, though passageweather.com predicted they would drop by late morning. We headed out of Block Island on a nice sunny day and got into our first race against a 47ft boat. Who says, “size doesn’t matter”? As we turned to the east toward Buzzards Bay the wind died (as predicted) so we motored (although we left the spinnaker in the sleeve attached ready to go into action). Our destination was Cuttyhunk; we have never been there before but always wanted to go. About an hour and a half before arrival the winds picked up to 15 kts so we used that spinnaker and sailed as fast as the now silent engine was previously taking us.

Cuttyhunk is a pretty place. They charge $45 a mooring and have them packed tight. There is no way that a 47foot boat could moor here as their stern would hit another boat.  Presumably this is why the large boats were hunkered in the corner under anchor. However, I would never go over there. The boats look fine with the current wind direction, but with swing if the wind changes it could get ugly.

We learned that each year 4,000 boats moor in Cuttyhunk and that the fees go to the town for things such as their sewage treatment system as well as for reinvesting in the mooring field. At $45 a vessel that’s $180,000 per year.

We radioed for oyster delivery but their driver was not working. We could go to the dock to get some. This is the first time on the trip where a dingy would have been useful. Still not convinced about dragging a dingy around for thousands of miles for an occasional use. Although last night I am sure those oysters would have tasted good.

Today was an important day – we reached 9000nm on Prairie Gold. There is a tradition in our family that was established by one our daughters on long road trips from the Midwest when we lived in Iowa. She would draw important events on the trip.  Yolande made the important drawing for this momentous achievement.

And some morning scenes in Cuttyhunk