of Maine. With our daughter 19 and son 18, the three of us took Christmas down to Cape Cod. A reason to sail south, we would sail them back to school. Our daughter, for her sophomore year at St. Andrews in Scotland, and our son for his first year at Savannah college of Art and Design(SCAD). Ok, it was a little tongue in cheek as we in fact sailed them to Logan Airport in Boston.
But our kids like to sail so I suggested this time(we'd done this previously, twice), instead of making it a 24 to 30 hour motor sail to windward (winds were as usual, southerly), we take our time, allow ourselves say 36 hours, and sail down, to windward. They were all for it.
So we shut down the engine off Monhegan Island at about 8 am, and on a starboard tack, we pointed our bow in the vicinty of P-town on the end of the Cape. Wind and waves were light to moderate for that first tack. We never tried to pinch too high instead cracking off a bit for the best combination of speed and comfort. Winds would increase overnight as would seas from a passing Hurricane(forgot the name, the one before Earl)
After something like 60 NM on that tack, at dusk, we tacked onto port and headed the bow into the setting sun, and toward the Isles of Shoals off New Hampshire then about 60 nm to the West. By then, winds were in the 15 knot and above vicinity, and mostly due south. Waves had built to 3 or 4 feet.
On this port tack, which would end up being the second of just three, we did motor sail for about 2 hours to charge the batteries for the long night ahead. The AP (an Autohelm 4000 wheelpilot) would steer the entire trip quite well.
And so it went through the night. The winds just never seemed to clock to the SW/Westerly direction NOAA called for over the 20 or so hour period. As conditions strengthened, we kept heading off for the most comfortable motion. It was actually pretty good considering our speed at times was well over 6 knots, and the waves were nicely taken on by our direction. It was wet but with the AP doing the work and our dodger for protection, we stayed very comfortable.
With Face book out of range,....the kids read books. They stood watches while I cooked and even slept a bit.
About 10 NM off the Isles of Shoals, we put Christmas back onto starboard. I watched our direction on the GPS heading more for Nantucket than Provincetown. Still, I stayed with speed and comfort thinking, eventually, NOAA would be correct.
Then it did. In the wee hours, as the wind came more onto our starboard, our course began to move more to the west. Soon P-town was right on GPS course. A bit later we moved onto a beam reach, full steam ahead. As the sun rose off our port we rolled into Cape Cod Bay the next morning to join a pod of whales.
It was an amazing sail. 31 hours after leaving Tenants Harbor at the crack of dawn, we lowered our sails and headed into the Cape Cod Canal. We'd sailed many more miles than 2 previous trips that were under power. But we got there significantly faster than either, and had a more enjoyable time.
We met Mary Ann with the car loaded with luggage for the kids in Onset mid day. The next day we anchored in Cuttyhunk for a couple of days to relax in the anchorage. There always seems to be room here for our boat in the shallows.
But our kids like to sail so I suggested this time(we'd done this previously, twice), instead of making it a 24 to 30 hour motor sail to windward (winds were as usual, southerly), we take our time, allow ourselves say 36 hours, and sail down, to windward. They were all for it.
So we shut down the engine off Monhegan Island at about 8 am, and on a starboard tack, we pointed our bow in the vicinty of P-town on the end of the Cape. Wind and waves were light to moderate for that first tack. We never tried to pinch too high instead cracking off a bit for the best combination of speed and comfort. Winds would increase overnight as would seas from a passing Hurricane(forgot the name, the one before Earl)
After something like 60 NM on that tack, at dusk, we tacked onto port and headed the bow into the setting sun, and toward the Isles of Shoals off New Hampshire then about 60 nm to the West. By then, winds were in the 15 knot and above vicinity, and mostly due south. Waves had built to 3 or 4 feet.
On this port tack, which would end up being the second of just three, we did motor sail for about 2 hours to charge the batteries for the long night ahead. The AP (an Autohelm 4000 wheelpilot) would steer the entire trip quite well.
And so it went through the night. The winds just never seemed to clock to the SW/Westerly direction NOAA called for over the 20 or so hour period. As conditions strengthened, we kept heading off for the most comfortable motion. It was actually pretty good considering our speed at times was well over 6 knots, and the waves were nicely taken on by our direction. It was wet but with the AP doing the work and our dodger for protection, we stayed very comfortable.
With Face book out of range,....the kids read books. They stood watches while I cooked and even slept a bit.
About 10 NM off the Isles of Shoals, we put Christmas back onto starboard. I watched our direction on the GPS heading more for Nantucket than Provincetown. Still, I stayed with speed and comfort thinking, eventually, NOAA would be correct.
Then it did. In the wee hours, as the wind came more onto our starboard, our course began to move more to the west. Soon P-town was right on GPS course. A bit later we moved onto a beam reach, full steam ahead. As the sun rose off our port we rolled into Cape Cod Bay the next morning to join a pod of whales.
It was an amazing sail. 31 hours after leaving Tenants Harbor at the crack of dawn, we lowered our sails and headed into the Cape Cod Canal. We'd sailed many more miles than 2 previous trips that were under power. But we got there significantly faster than either, and had a more enjoyable time.
We met Mary Ann with the car loaded with luggage for the kids in Onset mid day. The next day we anchored in Cuttyhunk for a couple of days to relax in the anchorage. There always seems to be room here for our boat in the shallows.
