Well we have a lot of water under our keel since the last installment! We left Deltaville in late May and set sail for Salt Ponds Marina near Hampton to stage for our first real blue water passage offshore to Long Island...about 350 miles. Before leaving we had a wonderful evening with Mosby and Mandy West and saw their lovely home in Irvington. Hopefully we can spend more time with them on the Bay this fall.
As we were pulling in the marina after a calm sail we saw a boat named Mahina Aka pulling out and waved and I had the feeling I knew that boat. Sure enough, it was Jim and Marjie Favors of Nautech who had led the offshore cruising course we had taken a year ago in Baltimore. They were finishing up their round Delmarva cruising rally and getting set to lead the New England 600 in a few weeks taking a bunch of boats on the inside passage up north to Camden Maine.
With a good long range weather forecast in hand we left the next day figuring on a 3 day passage with luck. I had an intestinal bug that I thought would go away but alas it laid me low for much of the first two days... I couldn't sleep in the wallowing seas and was feeling pretty miserable by day 2 but at least the weather was benign and Jan was able to take the lion's share of the steering duties. We were making excellent time, motor sailing in light winds and making about 150 miles a day. Jan loved the passage but I didn't notice much except the miles under the keel. On our second night out the wind piped up from the North instead of the West as predicted and we dipped the rail into the sea under mainsail alone...time to reef! As I went forward to reef I pulled on the jiffy reefing line to lower and tie down the sail and it came away in my hand...now it would be a struggle to get the reef in. The wind was blowing at about 30 knots in 6 foot seas and the partially lowered sail was flogging itself to death as I made my way to the back of the boom to pull the sail in. As I went aft, the wind generator was screaming and the one of the wires from our Dutchman sail handling system let loose and threatened to entangle itself in the generator. I dropped the boom and went to the stern to sort things out before damage was done. Thankfully I was able to shut down the vane and capture the Dutchman wire. Getting back to the sail, I spent another 10 minutes getting the reef in and fell into the cockpit exhausted from the strength it took.
Regular readers of this log will be thinking that in high winds and seas it should be about time for my fuel system to fail again. It did! I replaced another filter and fuel pump and now thoroughly sick with deisel fumes made my way to the cockpit where Jan steered us for a few hours while I slept the sleep of the dead. The rest of the trip was uneventful and as dawn rose we spotted Long Island, rounded Montauk Point and sailed into Greenport Harbor. I was never so happy to stand on land and it felt good to have a testing offshore passage under our belts. I think we'll return the easy way in September though!
From Greenport we sailed around Orient Point to Port Jefferson & met with daughter Noelle & had dinner with friends Phil & Cheryl, then it was on to Northport Harbor where we took a mooring for 3 weeks as we caught up with chores and visited with friends and family. We had a great time seeing everyone, enjoying the NY food and watching the World Cup and we had at family reunion at my brother's house. It was great to have everyone together even if just for a day.
We left Northport on June 24th and decided to make time up the coast to maximize our time in Maine. The first night we jumped back to Port Jefferson then headed across LI sound to Fisher's Island off of Mystic. We had a lovely anchorage and pushed on the next day to Newport RI which was a zoo in the harbor even on a weekday. We once again ran into Jim & Marjie Favors group (New England 600) while in port as they had passed us while we were in NY. They were laying over for 3 days there but we decided to push on despite a brisk forecast. The trip to Cuttyhunk in Buzzards Bay was uneventful but we were sideways to large ocean swells that made the passage extremely uncomfortable. Jan was happy to make it into Cuttyhunk Pond. We would have liked to explore a bit but the winds were so high that we couldn't even get the dinghy off the boat so we just stayed at the mooring and rode it out.
The next day we sailed up Buzzards Bay with the tide into Marion and averaged about 8 knots over the ground. The harbor and town were lovely and we'll definitely want to stop back here on the way back south but we needed to get through the Cape Cod Canal and north so we pushed on the next AM leaving at 7AM with the tide.
The navigation in the CCC is quite simple but the currents can be wicked and I'd hate to try to fight them. Camaraderie set a new speed record going through, hitting 10.6 knots at one point!! The trouble began after the canal in Massachusetts Bay when the fuel filters/pump did their thing again. I had us back and running in short order but we still had 25 miles to go to Scituate Harbor in a nasty chop (with no more spare pumps!) so we both breathed a sigh of relief when we cleared the entrance buoy.
Scituate is just below Boston and we loved it there. A local sailor gave me a lift to the local NAPA parts store where I replenished my supply of fuel pumps (Thanks!!!) and we had a great seafood dinner ashore that was delicious, reasonably priced and huge! I can't ever remember taking a doggy bag home from a seafood place but Jan got lunch the next day out of what was left over on our plates! Yummy!
At about 7:30 the fog just rolled into the harbor and within minutes, bright sunshine had turned into an impenetrable mist. We felt like we were in a cocoon on our mooring and were glad of the full cockpit enclosure I had purchased while in Deltaville as we watched late returning boaters struggle to find their marks and not the rocks at the harbor jetty.
The next morning the mist cleared in the harbor so we set sail for the 25 mile jaunt to Salem. As soon as we left Scituate Harbor the fog rolled over us and visibility dropped to about 50 yards. We figured we'd better get used to it so continued to make way for Salem. The radar and GPS were invaluable tools that warned of other vessels (in the Boston shipping lanes) and kept us on course. The fog certainly gives you respect for the mariners of not too many years ago who navigated these waters with just a compass and a horn!

We're now sitting in Salem harbor where we will spend a week before moving on to Maine. We plan to meet up with friends Luciano and Joanne on their vacation here tomorrow and hopefully will connect with other Boston area friends as well before moving on. Jan will get her fill of history and Halloween while I have a stack of books to keep me busy and content. There have been very few cruising sailors along the way but we are looking forward to finding some cruising friends in Maine. After the hard push to get here quickly, it's nice to relax a bit! //GB

Update...7/8/02....Enjoyed Salem and spent some great time with Luciano, Joanne and family, had a birds eye view of the 4th fireworks in Salem Harbor and even got to see son Rog & wife Re for a bit on Saturday. Left Salem on Sunday and made Portsmouth NH in a 50 mile run and did another one today to arrive safely in Portland ME. Jan is hunting real lobsters as I write this (the pre-cooked variety!). More soon.....