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In another effort to get some photos
of Chip Ahoy under sail, Wally Riddle of Nahant and I arranged to
finally meet up halfway between Marblehead and Nahant where he keeps his
C-22, "Carpe Diem," moored. The plan was to meet near red nun
"4" off the Swampscott coast at 11:30 am. When I got down to
my boat, the water was as flat as I've ever seen it, with not a wisp of
wind. (Sep. 22, 2004) |
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Once outside Salem Harbor I hoisted sail and by the time
I passed the mouth of Marblehead Harbor and Marblehead Light a slight
breeze had developed as promised. At 10:30 I was out of Salem Sound and
into Massachusetts Bay, heading toward our rendezvous.
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That's when Wally reached me on
Channel 72, which we'd agreed to monitor, with the bad news: his new
keel cable had broken at his mooring! He didn't want to risk sailing the
boat not knowing its condition, if the keel was down and had done any
structural damage when it dropped. It was too nice a day to waste, so I
decided to sail the rest of the way to Nahant and take a look at his
boat. |
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Upon arrival I rafted up alongside
Wally's Carpe Diem. His cable definitely had broken, but there didn't
appear to be any further damage, though we couldn't see the keel
extended beneath his boat. |
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After sharing a couple beers and
relaxing for an hour or so, I headed back for Marblehead at about 2:00
pm. |
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The breeze had picked up nicely in the
afternoon. Chip Ahoy and I averaged about 5 knots in a NW wind all the
way back. I made it to the mooring just before sunset, at about 6:30 pm
-- only to find that the launch service had begun operating under fall
hours, and had closed down half an hour before. After picking up a few
others stranded on their boats, I brought us all back to the town dock
and tied up Chip Ahoy there for the night, until I could get a launch
back in from my mooring the next morning. (Sep. 22, 2004) |
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Last weekend my buddy David
Hudson and I took Chip Ahoy out for what I thought might be the last
day sailing, but it wasn't. Today, Barbara and I went out on a perfect
autumn Sunday afternoon. (Oct. 3, 2004) |
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Those idyllic days of
barefoot/bare-chested sailing are behind us, but for October you can't
beat it. We had a temperature in the low 60s and a steady if light NE
wind, about 8 knots. Fall is upon us, with temperatures only in the low
50s in the mornings now, the day cooling off by 3:00 pm and sunset at
about 6:30. Season '04 is quickly coming to an end. |
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Back at the mooring for perhaps the
last time before hauling out until Season '05. I'm thinking about
pulling the plug on the season next week ... but I said the same thing
after last weekend and here we are still. But time's definitely running
out fast now. (Oct. 3, 2004) |
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NEXT |
| It's never-ending ...
but summer has arrived and the real fun has begun! |
