Saturday, July 16, 2011

Two weeks never felt so good!

Laura and I are just back from our longest cruise yet in terms of both time and distance. And for LIQUIDITY, as far as I know (and for sure on my watch) the first time beyond Buzzards Bay and into Vineyard Sound.

We started with a general plan and a long list of harbors we'd hit if there were no weather days. Boston, Scituate, Onset, Hadley Harbor, Cuttyhunk, Menemsha, Tarpaulin Cove, Lake Tashmoo, Quissett, Red Brook Harbor, Provincetown, Scituate, Boston. That was the plan and with only some modification, we stuck to it. We took a weather day in Onset, skipped Tarpaulin Cove because the wind was the wrong way for the anchorage there, went to Vineyard Haven instead of Lake Tashmoo and took our last weather day in Scituate before heading home. We stayed over an extra day in Menemsha and in Vineyard Haven instead of pushing on to Provincetown.

First evening in Scituate I heard MAD WAVE on the radio calling for a mooring. Nice surprise to have Tony and Angela cruising at the same time and we sailed together (or at least had the same destination) to Onset and then Hadley Harbor. We also met Skip and Deb (What's the name of their boat?) in Onset and sailed with them to Hadley Harbor and on to Cuttyhunk.

Highlights...

The currents basically worked for the whole two weeks.

Second night in Onset (the unplanned weather day) we got to enjoy Onset's delightful fireworks display.

Hadley Harbor was remarkably quiet on July 4th and we all managed to pick up moorings in the inner harbor.

Cuttyhunk was also quiet, with moorings available in the pond.

The day with the worst fog was also our layover day in Cuttyhunk.

We were the only boat on a mooring in Menemsha that normally holds three rafted boats.

Other than into and out of port, the was no motoring in Vineyard Sound.

We sailed dead downwind from Menemsha to Vineyard Haven.

Sailing close hauled in a 15 knot breeze, we held the perfect course from Vineyard Sound to Woods Hole and crossed the Sound in record (for a Cape Dory 28) time.

We finished the cruise on a nice East wind that had us running and broad reaching from Boston Light to Marina Bay.

My phone pretty much didn't ring for two weeks.

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