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Saturday, July 28, 2012; 8:50 pm
Scituate Harbor Marina at a slip
I’m out of Provincetown at
last!
But I’m never satisfied. Chip
Ahoy is on a slip at the town dock. I’ve got shore power: the battery
charger is charging the two batteries – the laptop is now running on
shore power – but there is no Wifi here whatsoever. At least not without
my 5MleWifi system, which is grabbing many networks including the
harbormaster’s (“linksys,” though I was told the signal is too weak to
pick up outside the office), but something’s still not working – I still
can’t connect to the Internet. No customer Wifi at this marina is a
first in modern day marinas. Scituate has caught up with Edison and
electricity, but the town marina needs to be introduced to the 21st
Century real soon.
It is pouring rain. I got in
here and business completed (dockage: $66), walked up to Mill Wharf
Restaurant for my traditional landfall steak dinner, and got back aboard
just in time, minutes before the deluge.
While breaking down the pup
tent this morning I discovered why things have gotten so damp/wet up in
the v-berth area – e.g., my foul-weather jacket and hooded sweatshirt.
The cover of the deck pipe
through which the anchor chain runs had been knocked loose – likely in
those rough seas coming over – and remained half open since. I never
noticed it, even when at the bow picking up the mooring. It would be
hard to see from the cockpit, and impossible to reach from below.
This morning at 8:15 I
dropped Chip Ahoy’s mooring in Provincetown Harbor, headed out to
Provincetown Bay and Scituate across the bay. Once clear of the
breakwater I did the requisite circles while programming the new
tiller-pilot for compass variation, then was on my way. I don’t know why
I bothered calibrating the tiller-pilot; I only use it based on my GPS
observations anyway, just to point the boat and hold it there, but I
might as well got off on the right foot with it.
I called the Scituate
harbormaster just before departing, was told they have a slip for me at
the town dock. Beautiful, no need for the launch. I grabbed it.
Sailing was great with a SE
breeze and seas running a foot, maybe two. It was incredible to sail
back on the exact route I sailed in on – in such starkly different,
calmer conditions. It was hard to believe that I did this in obverse
just a week ago while wondering if I’d make to Provincetown Harbor.
No whale sightings this time
either, and I was looking today. Last week they were the furthest thing
from my mind – though I started out last week with expectation of seeing
some. Today I would have spotted them; last week no way.
I pulled through the Scituate
breakwater at about 2:30 pm, still under gray skies darkest to the west,
and into the harbor. I arrived at the pre-arranged town marina slip at
about 3:00, settled in by about 4:00. I turned on the marine VHF and
heard reports of major rainfall not too far away. I decided to deploy
the pup tent – even though I’m hoping this is just an overnighter. I'm
real glad I did, now. Chip Ahoy is bow-in to the dock; the rain/wind is
blowing in from astern, but two cribboards are keeping it out of the
cabin, beneath the sheltering pup tent over the boom.
Sunday, July 29, 2012; 7:15 am
Scituate Harbor Marina at a slip
From its start, today isn’t
looking too good for heading to Marblehead and home. I awoke before dawn
as usual – though there wasn’t a sunrise. The rain that was still coming
down when I fell asleep last night has stopped, but it’s still hard to
tell for how long, and fog has rolled in and blanketed us here. It
appears to be ready to start raining at moment’s notice.
I don’t know why I keep
banging my head against the wall with this Wifi problem: just my nature,
I guess. It’s getting me nowhere. Nonetheless, I keep banging my head
bloody trying to make it work, somehow. I’m convinced it’s something
simple, a setting in the laptop – if I can just discover it. I haven’t
run the antenna up the mast – why bother unless I can connect – but I’m
still getting strong signals with it standing in the cockpit, just can’t
connect to the Internet. I wonder if Stephen at Digital Docs is picking
up on my wave of curses pointed in his direction over in Marblehead!
Without Wifi I can’t check
the area weather forecasts online as usual. How very frustrating, near
infuriating. Instead, I’m listening to the NWS weather band on the VHF
radio, trying to be attentive as it drones on with generalities, but I
hear nothing about real bad weather when I can catch it. In its 7:15
report it’s predicting showers and a chance of thunderstorms especially
this morning and later this afternoon as well. Wind is out of the NE at
5-15 knots; seas 3-4 feet.
On the edge of doable, but
four foot seas on the nose aren’t too inviting. Showers and
thunderstorms are seemingly part of every forecast lately – usually with
some degree of accuracy. And this assumes that the fog clears.
Tomorrow, NWS radio is
predicting, the wind turns to out of the East with seas still 2-4 feet.
No mention of precipitation, but from other AM radio weather forecasts
it sound like clear if not sunny.
On my second cup of tea-bag
coffee I’m considering a third. Usually while in Scituate I’d walk up to
the nearby Dunkin Donuts and bring back a couple large cups and
something for breakfast – but it looks like it can rain on a moment’s
notice. Bite my tongue – it’s begun, heavy drizzle.
I’m going nowhere today,
again. Fire up the stove for that third cup. Boy, am I ever glad I
decided to set up the pup tent.
At least I’m now on the right
side of the bay, only 23 miles from home, five or six hours away – if I
can get just that short window.
My “long weekend” has now run
into Day 8.
Oh well, at least I’ve got
shore power, the batteries are charged, so – I might as well bloody my
head some more fighting the Wifi situation.
—
10:45 pm
The sky remained overcast all
day with a few showers moving in and out. The fog eventually dissipated
by around 10:00 this morning. I gave up with the Wifi situation, brought
in the 5MileWife antenna and stowed it away. Then I read for a while
before taking a nap.
Everything below seems to be
just getting damper, even what clean clothes remain packed away in the
canvas backpack. I hung the sweatshirt and foul-weather jacket out in
the cockpit hoping to at least air them out if not dry them, along with
a few hand towels and wash cloths. This didn’t accomplish much.
I’ve discovered that the
walls of the boat above the waterline “weep,” apparently from
condensation. Things on the cabin shelves are damp-to-wet, as the
condensation wells up in the selves. I’ve never noticed this phenomenon
before.
When the morning showers
stopped, I walked over to the local supermarket for another box of
coffee bags, a box or two of “Mini
Moos” half-and-half (no refrigeration needed) creamer singles, and
bottled water. They didn’t have the creamer so I’ll settle with
Coffeemate. On the way back I stopped at Dunkin Donuts, grabbed a large
cup of coffee, a couple donuts, and a sandwich for later.
Tomorrow’s weather sounds
good, with high pressure moving in tonight. The 5-10 mph wind should be
coming from the NE turning E in the afternoon, with seas running 2-3
feet. It’s supposed to be in the mid- to high-70s under a partly sunny
sky, once the expected fog lifts.
My plan is to depart here at
around 9:00 am, stop by the gas dock to top off the tank, then head for
home. If all goes well, I expect to be back in Marblehead on Chip Ahoy’s
mooring around 3:00 pm.
Monday, July 30, 2012; 5:50 am
Scituate Harbor Marina at a slip
A brilliant sunrise under a
cloudless, clear blue sky and no noticeable wind yet, so it looks like a
great day for heading home. According to the NWS just now, the wind out
of the N at 5-10 knots becoming SE in the afternoon, seas 2-3 feet.
Perfect. Reports of fog continue, but I don’t see any from here in the
harbor, and it there’s any out there it’ll burn off by the time I pull
out.
I’m on my first cup of
tea-bag coffee with another ahead, and then it’s time to start breaking
camp, reorganizing the boat. I was tempted to walk up to Dunkin Donuts
for a couple cups of coffee and something for breakfast, but the stove
is still out in the cockpit ready to go, I refilled the water jugs from
the dock hose yesterday – and I don’t want to break my concentration or
lose time. I'm too close now, almost home.
Once I’m done with the stove
I’ll stow it away. Then, once it dries out, I’ve got to take down, fold
and stow the pup tent as well as disconnect the battery charger,
disconnect and coil the shore power cord. I’ll empty the ice chest and
throw in a fresh bag of cubes once the harbormaster’s office opens,
while I dump the bag of trash up there. But the first step is to end
this and put the laptop away. I'm going home at last!
Monday, July 30, 2012; 8:00 pm
Home at last in Marblehead
This Cruise's Theme Song
LISTEN HERE
After departing the town
marina this morning and topping off the gas tank at Mill Wharf Marina
next door, Chip Ahoy and I were on our way home at 9:15 am. Passing out
through the Scituate breakwater the seas began to roll in at a good
three feet and grew a bit more as I headed East out toward the sea buoy.
The wind was out of the North as forecast – coming right at me after
hoisting the sails and getting on course. The big rollers bounced Chip
Ahoy around for a while but by the Minot Light sea buoy about four miles
offshore they became more comfortable.
Crossing Massachusetts Bay
and the Boston shipping channel, the rollers had dissipated, the sea
became undulating flat, and the wind began to shift east then southeast.
The boom stop must have slipped again as getting the main sail tight up
the mast was again impossible – I need to find a better fix before I
sail again. I’ll try rigging some sort of boom downhaul next.
It was sure good to see the
Salem Power Plant smokestacks on the distant horizon, then Marblehead
Light. Entering Salem Sound put the wind at my back so I did some
wing-to-wing until it was time to drop sails and motor into Salem
Harbor. Though I usually pick it up with one shot, grabbing Chip Ahoy’s
mooring took three runs in the crazy “wind tunnel effect” inside the
harbor. I had arrived at 3:15 pm.
I spent another hour and a
half aboard straightening up the boat and packing gear to take home. I
decided to make it two trips bringing things ashore – take my sea bag,
the laptop bag, and Barbara’s gift; come back for the rest in a day or
two.
It’s great
to be home again, and will be even better in a day or two when the
ground stops rolling.
Chip Faulkner, a
friend who works with us, came up with the best concept of this cruise
while joking with Barbara
—
that of the SS Minnow of
Gilligan's Island fame:
Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
The Skipper brave and sure,
Five passengers set sail that day,
For a three hour tour,
A three hour tour.
The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Minnow would be lost.
The Minnow would be lost.
If I had to rename Chip Ahoy, it'd
become the SS Minnow! |
