Today, I feel like I am in the lap of luxury. It is a beautiful day and the boat is humming along just fine. We are entering the Cape Cod Canal with the tide and I am down below watching the Wimbledon final where my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, is winning at the moment.
Last night, we stayed in the Mattapoisett Harbor with the Salty Dawg rally and went ashore to a town festival and lobster dinner. Jae and I decided on Friday that we would not go to Maine. It was just too much travel up and back with not enough down time in Maine. Plus, the forecast was for very light winds and that meant a bunch more motoring. I had been worrying about this for several days because as I studied our schedule, I was concerned that Jae and I would be hopping down the Maine coast over 5 days with a need to make substantial ground every day without regard to weather and that is a prescription for a problem. That did not seem congruent with the whole reason to be doing this. Also, Cape Cod is a lovely area in its own right, so why not explore and enjoy it. So, that is what we are doing. The photos of Long Point, at the very end of the Cape, look fantastic. Tomorrow, we will anchor and picnic there. Along the way, I hope we can catch some fish. Raul says he knows how to fish – I am clueless about fishing, like my friend Walter Laird (who affects to know about fishing).
I did feel a little badly about dropping out of the rally because so many other boats had dropped out for various reasons, but in the end, we need to do what is right for us. I knew it was the right decision because once made, I felt a considerable sense of relief, and that just confirmed it was the right thing to do. This is a sense of discipline that we need to learn on the boat – don’t push it. I also have this strange sense of feeling that I need to spare the engine from unnecessary work and hours. That is really stupid; diesels love work, but I was vindicated when Raul offered the same thought.
My last post left us in Stonington. We took our English folding bikes ashore the next day and rode several miles to Mystic Seaport, which neither of us had ever visited. It is the nautical equivalent of Williamsburg and we both enjoyed it. The bikes worked great. Our pump crapped out en route, but then we encountered – a bike shop. We had a great talk with the guy there who was all interested in our trip. Throughout this trip, I have been very pleased and a little bit surprised to encounter so many friendly and helpful people. No one has been unfriendly, even the launch captain in Mattapoisett after I accidentally dumped strawberry shortcake into the bottom of his boat.
Back in Stonington, we had dinner ashore in the Dog Watch Café, which the cruising book highly recommended. I wanted to go to Watch Hill, RI, but we did not think we could get back in time for the last launch to the boat. The Dog Watch was terrific as it turned out and we met a couple at the bar who are cruisers and want to help us when we visit eastern Long Island. We had a great chat and we also watched Federer win a match in the process. So, all good.
From Stonington we motored up to Dutch Harbor, RI, which is actually in Jamestown, R.I., across the harbor from Newport. It was a very rolly ride in the ocean with swells coming at us amidships. Jae steered a good bit of the time as that is a good way to deal with her tendency toward motion sickness.
It is truly remarkable, by the way, that she does this boating thing with me given her tendencies toward mal de mer. What a great wife.
We arrived in Dutch Harbor just moments ahead of a sizable thunderstorm and hardly had the mooring ball secure when things got a little crazy. We were cozy down below, except that we had to wait quite a while for the launch to pick us up because of lightning in the area. We did get ashore just in time to meet Madeline’s parents, Andy and Marilyn, for dinner. We had a great time with them and talked quite a lot about our mutual granddaughter, Quinn. Andy then asked if we wanted to go to the grocery store. Of course we said yes, but that turned into quite a bit of a madcap car ride to find one open and then get back for the last launch. It all worked out fine. Next day, we went to Newport in search of filters for the watermaker and welcomed Raul and Valerie aboard in the afternoon. In our brief exploration of Newport, we found much of interest and will have a chance to visit again.
In this part of New England, we have discovered that the mooring fields are quite large and the boats are generously spaced apart. On the chart, we thought Newport mooring space would be quite tight with limited maneuvering, but riding the ferry over, we saw that is not the case, so I am sure we will bite the bullet and pay for one night in the harbor. There is plenty to see there, that is for sure.
We deferred a visit to the Tennis Hall of Fame until later in the trip, probably when our daughter Lindsay is aboard. We are very excited to have her join us and just wish all our kids could be with us for some part of the event. For her visit, we will stay in Narragansett Bay and focus on having fun as opposed to trying to get anywhere. That is the sailing spirit, not the motoring spirit.
As for life aboard, I cannot say there is any particular rhythm to it yet. We are running the systems just fine as far as I can tell. There have been two minor issues since Raul came aboard that were easily resolved. He is incredibly knowledgeable about nearly everything as far as I can tell, so that is a great resource. The bigger issue was the forward toilet and we determined an air vent was blocked, which we remedied easily by pumping out the nearly empty tank. That worked just fine. The other one was to tighten the belt on the secondary alternator, which we had to consult the manual to find the 2d bolt that needed to be loosened. Importantly, the watermaker seems to be working well so we have not been tied to a dock even for that purpose, except for taking on fuel and water in Oyster Bay, which we could have skipped. So, we have been pretty self-sufficient except for the the need to buy water filters.
As I conclude this post, we are now through the Cape Cod Canal and sailing, slowly, toward Provincetown. It is a beautiful, sunny day with light wind but we are moving at around 4 knots and having lunch. Some motoring is clearly in our future this afternoon, but right now it is nice to be underway with sail only.
I am very pleased that Roger Federer won Wimbledon.