Day 6: Laundry, Fuel and Wine

Westport and FL Trip & Sons Marina:  Thumbs up!

Woke up to a guest on our V berth hatch:

Stow-away

First thing in the morning the nice folks at FL Trip & Sons Marina allowed us to tie up temporarily to the fuel dock so we could clean up the boat, fill water tanks, and get a pump-out.  While we were there, we topped off the Diesel too.  3.5 gal - Not bad.  We also took the opportunity to start our first load of laundry for the trip.  (Linda caused a small flood issue in the laundry room.)

Wine Country
In the cruising guide for Westport, there is a bit about the Westport River Winery which is about 6 miles from the Marina.  So we inquired about Bike Rentals or Taxi.  No bikes to rent in Westport but if we ask for "Garcia", we can get a lift into town.  While taking the launch back to the marina, we mentioned Garcia to the launch driver and he said... "why don't you just take my car.  And, while you are out, go to the market and take a scenic drive."  Really.

Launch driver, Rick, offered to lend us his car to go to the winery and to sight see.  Wow.

Borrowed car for the afternoon.  Beats a taxi any day.

This is not the first time we've gotten the impression of how nice people are in Westport. Everyone here has been awesome - the type of place where everyone seems to be smiling and says hello.  The friendliness of Westoport was especially nice after our previous days with the somewhat "snooty" vibe we got at Beverly Yacht Club in Marion.

Private wasting at Westport River Winery (we got to keep the glasses)

The winery and the vineyard

On to Sakonnet Harbor
We finally departed our mooring during a strong river current. It was a little less than graceful but no harm done.

Westport River current at peak

Eventually we exited the river and got back into Buzzards Bay.  I say that like it's a good thing.  One again, going straight into the wind and waves to get to our next destination.  We didn't even bother taking the sail cover off.  Well we charged batteries and made some hot water (code for "ran the diesel a lot").

Splashing around in Buzzards bay.  Not as bad as the other day.

Sakonnet Point Light

Sakonnet Harbor
The Cruising Guide says this is the place to go to get away from Newport.  I can see that.  It's a pretty tiny harbor but the breakwater keeps it mostly calm.  Originally, the harbormaster was going to put us on a mooring out past the edge of the breakwater, but since Linda called, he offered her one in closer.  Found out that when you call the harbormaster number in the cruising guide, you really get the Compton, RI Police Department and a rather impatient person on the other end (who gives you the right number to call)

Fishermen on the breakwater. You can see Newport Bridge in the distance

Newport Bridge in the distance during sunset in Sakonnet Harbort

Photos from Android

Day 5. Sippican Harbor to Westport Harbor

The wind forecast was 15 kts out of the WNW which would allow an ideal course to Cuttyhunk.  However, we decided to make our way to Westport (the western most harbor in Massachusetts).  The cruising guide opens up with "Westport is not for the faint of heart..." due to the shifting sands caused by the river and the severe current causing 3 foot standing waves at the entrance.  Thus, we must go.


Linda hoisted the sail before 7:00 a.m. and we floated leisurely out of Sippican Harbor on a broad reach in light wind. 

Linda plotting our course for the day

As we turned SW our speed picked up slightly to 4-5 kts with only one sailboat in sight.  While Linda manned the helm, Bob did some pink chores including shaking out the bed sheets.  A pillowcase was inadvertently tossed in to the bay which prompted a clumsy man overboard practice maneuver.  We are ashamed and saddened to report that the pillowcase was lost at sea.  But we are committed to practicing our MoB skills. 

The wind picked up and we were able to hold a decent course for a couple of hours as the waves intensified before reefing and heading a bit more southerly (and farther off course).  After a couple more hours of pounding into the waves Linda was not feeling so well.  We passed Penikese  Island all the way over near Cuttyhunk and finally tacked to get back on the other side of the bay; but later regretted allowing ourselves to get so far off course.  Several other sailboats had passed us motor sailing (or just motoring) higher in to the wind and now we knew why.

But, alas, we finally made our way to the mouth of not for the faint of heart Westport Harbor - although by now we were feeling quite faint of heart.  We dropped a hook to wait for the flooding current to ease then made our way in under motor and on high alert.  The harbor entry was easy, uneventful and beautiful but surprisingly windy with a stiff current throughout.

The Knubbles - Westport Harbor Entrance Fl G 6s

That wasn't so bad

We were perplexed by the mooring rigging - the entire mooring ball gets hauled up on the deck and the bridle retrieved from underneath.  As we observed the sterns of boats facing in to the wind with bows pushed out over the mooring we realized why.

Strong current and opposing winds require an interesting mooring rig

We ventured to shore with a friendly and informative launch driver and took a walk to Horseneck Beach.  Soft, white sand and sparsely populated.

Shadow pics are starting to be a tradition

After a walk at the beach we had a light dinner at the Black Eddy.  Highly recommended for good food and atmosphere.  Linda had her first martini of the trip.  Gibson, of course.

photographer = friendly tuna fisherman

And that was day 5.  :-)


The last leg of our track below is not accurate (we were way less straight) because Linda crashed Bob's Android App (Captain's Blog).  Something about a NullPointerException or some BS like that.

Day 4: Landlubbers - Hiding from the Stormy Weather

We once again were up by 6:00 a.m. after a solid night's sleep (not sure why we keep getting up so early - perhaps just programmed from our normal schedule).  We discussed two main options:  stay put or head out towards Falmouth before the storm arrived.  But by the time we plotted out a plan for Falmouth, we were too late to hit the early favorable current in Woods Hole so decided to stay put in sleepy Marion.  Our dear friend, Greg, (who joined Bob and Charlie last night since Greg is also from Binghamton) invited us out for breakfast with his wife, LeeAnn.  We spent an enjoyable morning over coffee and a tour around Fairhaven (by motor vehicle).
Footnote:  Greg credits Bob and I with his fortuitous meeting and subsequent marriage to LeeAnn in 2012 :-).

LeeAnn, Bob and Greg

After some boat chores and before the real weather hit, we packed up our computers and headed for the yacht club.  (Bob had to dinghy back to the boat for a proper collared shirt - we forgot we were at a proper yacht club and not just any old marina.)   A bit of Biogen and Amadeus work with a glass of wine for Linda and a Rum Swizler for Bob.

Sippican Harbor is beautiful and has a preponderance of impressive sailing vessels.  The homes along the harbor and Front Street in Marion are pristine and stately.  The food at the Beverly Yacht Club was quite good and inexpensive.  However, we never did feel settled or welcome - whether at the Yacht Club, walking down the street, or at the General Store (with expired, unpriced food on the shelves).  But enough complaining.  It was a relaxing day and a half and a fantastic visit with Charlie, Aleesa, Greg and LeeAnn.  And if we come back to the area, we'll stay further up harbor at the boat yard.

Day 3

We woke early again to a very peaceful morning on cape cod bay.  I eventually went ashore again to retrieve my phone which I left at Didier's house the night before.  When I got it back, I was glad I had a camera with me because the view from the bluffs there in Manomet is really something.

Fujin on a mooring with the dinghy (chin-chin) in foreground on the beach

Our plan was to hit the canal for slack tide at about 13:30 and this is only about 9 miles away. Capt Bob was getting impatient to leave so around 09:00, we sailed off the mooring and with only the main sail up, we did a nice slow (2-3kts) sail down to the canal.

Leisurely sail early Monday morning from Manomet Point to Cape Code Canal under main sail only

We still got there too early.  So we anchored off Sagamore Beach and rested for an hour. 

The Canal trip was pretty unremarkable at first.  We got there a bit early and had some rapidly decreasing opposing current.  By the time we were near Bourne Bridge, we had almost 2kts behind us.  Wind was blowing very hard up the canal so even then, we were not making great speed.  When we finally got up to where the RR bridge comes into view, it looked different somehow.  It was coming down for a train!  Cool.  There was a police boat there and one sailboat already just turning slow circles behind the bridge.   We slowed to idle-forward speed and we never had to do any turns to kill time.

Coming down...

And... Down

After all that, about three train cars went over it.

Yay Buzzards Bay with wind opposing current, yay!
When we exited the canal channel, we still had a nice current behind us, but the SW wind was really up and it got really nasty for a while. For some reason, this is when Capt Linda got out some food and a beer.  Go figure.  We were pounding into 3-4 footers and making barely 3 knots forward with the engine cranked.  Fortunately, we were able to turn right out of the channel pretty soon after the jetty to head to our destination for the day... Marion, MA.  It started to calm down and we actually got an angle to the wind where we could sail a bit.  Capt Bob sent Capt Linda up to the mast to hoist the main.  We have some exciting video of this I'll post later.

So we're sitting at Beverly Yacht club in Marion.  They have a bar and some food, but we decided to walk the 1.2 miles into town (well there is a traffic light), for dinner.  We found "The Wave".  Open 7 days a week... except tuesday.

Blue Wave:  Open 7 Days a Week.
Closed Tuesdays. 

The Best Part of Day 3
The best part of Day 3, however, took place on land after dinner.  Bob met up with his old friend and Neo band mate, Charlie.  Bob and Charlie met in college and formed a rock band in the early 80's (The Neo's) and both (along with drummer Mike) were very focused on becoming rock stars but instead chose the lucrative fields of software engineering and pharmacy.  This evening was the first time they saw each other in perhaps 20 years.  We enjoyed drinking wine and beer on the yacht club lawn until after midnight.  We may get Charlie and his girlfriend, Aleesa, out for a day sail while they are still in the area.

Almost rock stars; still both making fantastic music

Hey do

"Day 2" is what I said.  But "Hey do" is what the android speech recognition heard.  Oh well, close enough.  Welcome to day 2.

We considered just staying put in Plymouth because: we like Plymouth, we had a few things to do, and there was not much wind forecast for today.

Linda poses in front of (a replica of) the ship of her people - The Mayflower II

We went ashore and met our friends Didier and Cyd (owners of our favorite restaurant Scutra in Arlington) for breakfast. They own a house down here and do their weekend sanity getaways in Plymouth. After that, we went to the marina and Didier showed us his fancy new Stingray power boat (the kind our kids wish we had).

Bob posing for the Stingray 2014 catalog

We took the dinghy over to the big sand bar and splashed around in the water for a while. We've always wanted to go to the bar in Plymouth, but this was the first time we made it.

Next order of business was to take a taxi to Best Buy and buy an obnoxiously overpriced battery charter for the Nikon battery in my SLR camera.  Why? Because Captain Bob forgot to charge it before leaving yesterday.  The quality of the photos should dramatically increase for the rest of the trip.  While I was doing that, Capt Linda got her toes done.

While we were walking around town, we noticed there was actually a little breeze.  Didier had invited us to his house which is near the water south of Plymouth, so we decided to head toward him and anchor for the night off of Manomet point.

Pilgrim Nuke Plant near Plymouth

Sun setting over Plymouth as we head south to Manomet Pt

Before we took off, we hailed the super friendly Plymouth Harbormaster and asked if we could get a quick pump-out.  Enough details there.

Wind was from ESE as we left Plymouth harbor so we were hoping we could do one big tack and make it to the point.  But as predicted, the wind started veering to the SSE and so finally we were heading right into the wind.  About this time, Capt Linda made the call to start motoring.  We were happy to see the wind change to SSE because we were planning on anchoring for the night in a place that would be exposed to east or north winds.

Along the way, Capt Linda ordered dinner.  Cabin-boy Bob served up marinated Lamb tips, couscous, and sauteed peppers.  And he cleaned up after himself being the Renaissance man that he is.

Photos from Android

Dinner is served - under sail

First light through the portlights

Day 1: Boston to ?

Left the dock about 09:30 for a 3 week trip. wind supposed to be 15kt westerly. started out much weaker and more nw. finally turned more westerly by boston light. target for today will be Pkymouth.

Leaving Charlestwon.  "Chin-chin" in tow

Boston behind

Straight down-wind.  Sailing wing-wing

zzzzzzz

Bob drives past Boston Light

Wind was up and down all day. once we rounded Minot light, we got a better angle and were hitting 8kts.

Linda at the helm near Scituate

Making sausage and peppers for lunch; and weak gin and tonics.

We attempted to anchor in Duxbury harbor but when we got to the anchorage, it was full of mooring balls. Guess its time to update the cruising guide. So Bob played communications offer and hailed the harbormaster who guided us to a ball for the night. complication: they only accept checks! I smell a software contracting opportunity.

Our spot for the night at Plymouth

Linda poses

We're going to sit tight on the boat tonight. Linda is starting on the Salmon dish for dinner. Maybe dinghy to town for breakfast tomorrow.

Morning in Plymouth (day2 technically)

Quick loop around Gallops Island.

Linda and I had some time to do a quick spin today so we headed out in the afternoon for a few hours.  The wind was very gusty and flippy in the inner harbor so we started out with reefed main and reefed genoa.

We were still hitting over 7kts at times.

We headed south through The Narrows and then turned up into the wind to cut between Georges and Gallops Islands.  One more tack to bring us up through Nubble Channel and back into the main shipping channel in Presidents Roads.

We had to do a couple more tacks before we could make the turn up into the inner harbor.  Once in there, the wind was all flippy and gusty again.  Calmed one minute, 7kts the next.

After we got back, we did an extra nice job cleaning up Fujin for Linda's Captain's party / openhouse today at the marina.

That is all

Photos from Device

Back in the inner harbor doing a nice 6.0kts with two reefed sails