CruiseNews #8
Date: 7/25/99
Port of Call: Southwest Harbor, Maine
Subject: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-jig
After checking, double-checking, and triple-checking the engine oil level ("no leaks yet," I announced periodically with my head in the bilge), we left Newport on July 17th. We motored past Castle Hill and Brenton Point, raised the sails, and headed east. The winds started light then filled in to the forecast 20-knot sou'wester. We enjoyed a beautiful broad reach, then a run as we turned down Buzzards Bay. As we approached The Sand Spit, which marks the southern entrance to the Cape Cod Canal, we had a bit of a wild ride as the three-knot current fought the 20-knot winds. We were glad when we dropped the anchor in the calm of Onset Harbor.
Throughout the day we heard the Coast Guard issuing "Pan-Pan" (urgent) broadcasts about a plane overdue on a trip from New Jersey to Martha's Vinyard. It was standard Coast Guard fare: "Keep a sharp lookout, assist if possible, and report any sightings to any U.S. Coast Guard unit." We had heard this type of broadcast dozens of times on our trip. Still, we kept a "sharp lookout", not spotting anything more sinister than the infrequent plastic bags that litter the oceans. It wasn't until we went ashore in Onset and sat down in a restaurant that we saw a TV and found out that the search was for JFK Jr's airplane. We had passed within ten miles of where all the drama was unfolding.
Railroad Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal
The next morning we raised anchor and motored through the Cape Cod
Canal with the first of the flooding current. We spent an unremarkable
day alternately attempting to sail as the light and fluky winds rose, and
motoring when they fell. We anchored off Cohasset, MA in a harbor
protected to the south, but almost completely open to the north.
The settled weather of the forecast was unusually accurate, and we had
a quiet night.
The next day we went on to Gloucester, MA, where we enjoyed a more protected, if dirtier, harbor. We spent the following day ashore in Gloucester doing laundry, grocery shopping, and generally waiting for the northerly winds accompanying a passing cold front to die down.
Fishing Boats in Gloucester, Massachusetts
On Wednesday the
21st, the uninspiring forecast was "variable 10 knot winds becoming onshore
after noon". The correct translation of this meteorological phrase
into English is "calm". We decided this might be a good time to head
offshore for Mt. Desert Island, Maine. Because of the forecast, we
expected to motor the whole way, so we were pleasantly surprised when,
around 4 PM, the wind filled in from the south at a steady ten knots.
Because of the earlier calms, there were no seas yet associated with the
new winds, so we sailed in lake-flat seas. (For you Lake Lanier sailors,
think of the lake at midnight in December rather than noon in summer to
get the right idea.) On a broad reach, making an easy six knots in
flat water, it was the best sailing we have had on the whole trip.
We were even treated to the sight of both finback and humpback whales blowing
and sounding nearby.
It was calm enough that, at dinnertime Cathy made a big pot of Brunswick stew without fear of the pot spilling off the stove. We ate dinner and sailed on into the night. After the first-quarter moon had set, we were treated to one of the clearest night skies we have ever seen. It is rare these days to see the Milky Way as distinctly as its name implies--a milky swath spilled across a black velvet sky. We enjoyed our night sail until the sun came up, chasing away both the stars and the wind.
We motored the last few miles towards Mt. Desert Island, up Western Way, and into Southwest Harbor. This is where we first saw Sovereign; where she was built and launched; and where we have come almost every summer since 1987. As we dropped the anchor and Sovereign settled back on her rode, we basked in the familiar surroundings, glad to finally be "home".
Sovereign at anchor in foggy Southwest Harbor
Smooth sailing,
Jim and Cathy