Day1: Newport - Mattapoisett
We left Newport at exactly 07:00 on Saturday May 12. We killed the engine almost as soon as we got out of the mooring field and were doing a decent 4-6 kts. The plan was to either stop somewhere near the buzzards bay side of the Canal or maybe go all the way through the canal. To do the latter would mean crossing the canal at 10PM or so to catch the slack current.
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| Last look at Newport bridge |
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| Nice calm RI Sound |
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| This guy made better use of some light wind than us |
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| Shipwreck! Arrrrrh |
As we got most of the way through Buzzards Bay we had to decide if we were stopping for the night or going all the way through the canal. I called Mattapoisett harbor and found that they had some open guest moorings. How much? No cost. "It's too early to charge people" he said. He gave me info on where to get dinner and we were all set. I called him back a few minutes later and asked the most important question: "do your showers work?". He said yes. Ok, so Mattapoisett it is.
Just about now the wind is really picking up. We were doing 7ks on almost a dead run. We knew things would be a bit intense when we turned up to take down the sails.
When we got up into the harbor, the wind was still very intense. We had a wet dinghy ride to shore. We went straight to the shower building. LOCKED! Oh well I guess I forgot to ask that little detail.
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Day2: Mattapoisett - Plymouth
We woke up to a very calm morning in the harbor. We had about 8 miles to the entrance of the Canal and had to hit it around 10AM.
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| You know the harbor is calm when your boat is in front of the ball |
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| Breakfast |
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| ??? |
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| Entering the canal. Fooling around with the Radar |
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| And leaving the canal. Mass bay in front of us. |
P-towne or Plymouth?
Once we got into Mass Bay, we had to decide between Plymouth or Provincetown for the next leg. The distance is about the same but one is east and one is north. We never made it to Provincetown last year so we thought we would try that. We pointed at the correct headding and found the wind right at our backs. The seas were calm so we were able to get a nice stable wing-wing configuration going. We made around 4kts.
For fun we decided to point to Plymouth. We got a great beam reach and hit more like 6 or 7kts. Ok, Plymouth it is.
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| Relaxing on the bow en route to Plymouth in a nice breeze over the beam |
It's On
We wanted to sail most of the way into Plymouth. We were in some very nice winds at the entrance to the harbor when we hear a boat do a Tack right behind us. It's another pearson - a 36. If we didn't know any better, it almost seemed like he wanted to race. I'm not sure what the PHRF rating would be for our 34 compared to his 36 if you factored in that we were towing a dinghy but in any case, he passed us pretty easily. There were also a couple of horribly performed tacks on my part that didn't help. Another day... We met the skipper Robert on shore later and we talked Pearsons for a bit. He said "I wanted to make you work for that last mile"
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| I think he wants to race |
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| He definitely wants to race |
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Day3: Plymouth - Boston
I got out of the bunk at 6:00AM and fired up the engine. It was going to be a long 36 miles in some pretty low wind and maybe some rain.
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| Minot Light to the north |
We had my favorite chilly weather sailing lunch: Trader Joes boxed Tomato Soup. Linda made it extra special with some cheddar cheese and some spicy crackers.
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| All the tools a skipper needs. Chart, pencil, compass, ruler, tomato soup |
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| You're not in Boston yet. The lobster pots are not floating trash |
Once we got north of Minot Light, we were able to get a decent angle on the wind and we sailed most of the way back to Boston.
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| Back to our home port, Boston |
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| Posing as we approach Constitution Mari |
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