2008 Cruising

7/16 to 7/31/2008

This is our log for 2008; the 2007 East Coast and other voyages are now in Prior Voyages.

We plan to post and update at least weekly. We move the older portions of the log to secondary pages accessible at the bottom of the page. Join our voyage!

Updated on 01/28/2011

7/16/08 - Ruthie here - We left for Port Judith RI at 7:30.  Had some rollers come in that were probably caused by the recent hurricane in Bermuda.  We're now on a plug visiting Rich and Carol Wellman from "The Great Catsby".  We've run into them on and off over time and formed an ongoing cruisers' friendship.  They were kind enough to take all of our mail deliveries for numerous items we had ordered and  we have the use of a vehicle to go to West Marine (our 2nd home) and to provision.  Had dinner with the Wellman's and another couple that is staying with them. Tony & Judy are checking out a 42' Catalina that they want to purchase that sat for 2 years with no maintenance.  They're wonderful people from New Foundland.  Oh yah, the sailing stories were flowing last night.  We pooped out around 10 and slept in real beds in a house.  First time Barry has slept anywhere other than the boat for 14 months.  He soon realized he missed his bed being rocked.  I smiled when he told me as I had the same experience at home while I was selling the house and furniture 7/17/08 - Ruthie again - Another day in the mid 80's.  Barry is installing new navigations lights as Barry wiped the port light off on a fuel dock piling in Oriental.  He's also going up Rich & Carol's mast top to troubleshoot a problem they are having.  Ruthie is pounding away on her computer trying to make some money for our cruising kitty as the fuel prices are a killer right now.  We are definitely going to sail more to save $$$$.  We're looking at buying one more solar panel to "up" our replacement capabilities for charging the batteries.  (That old energy management again).  We also need to reseat the cutlass winch base as it's leaking a little and we want to catch it before it becomes a problem.  Another wonderful meal at Wellman's house and another sleepover too. 7/18/08 - After a great French toast and bacon breakfast, headed down to the harbor with Rich to mess around on boats. We removed AA's masthead wind transponder so we can send it in for repair. Then we went to work on Great Catsby. Task one was to remove the masthead wind indicator and mount a new one... piece of cake, I went up the mast, swapped out the parts and the system was up and running correctly. Task two was to get the anchor light working properly. Up the mast again to test voltage and ground. We had 13.22 volts but no light. Removed the old light and almost lost the feed wire down the mast as it had no anchor point at the top. Next step, up the mast to build an anchor... after 5 trips up and down the mast we had a new anchor light installed and working - mission accomplished. We joined Rich, Carol, Tony and Judy for mussels and hamburgers. ending the evening with good-byes all around as Rich took us back to AA for an early departure to Falmouth, Mass. 7/19/08 - Sunrise revealed light fog so we waited until 7:30am to leave our mooring. We had a mid rising tide on our way out which meant we were fighting the current but if we grounded Mother Nature would get us off. The run out to Point Judith was beautiful in the early light of day. We motored most of 46 mile run to Falmouth MA, sailing the last hour and a half. It's that issue of keeping a schedule again and we wanted time to clean up the boat before Amy, Tom and Lofton arrived. It sure was nice to shut down the engine and continue to Falmouth under our headsail. Falmouth Town Marina found us a position on the bulkhead at the entrance to the harbor. Not a place I'd want to be in bad weather but Bertha is north of us and the Celeste-storm is off the Carolinas. We need to keep an eye on these storms in the event they become hurricanes and stumble up the coast. Not really sure what we'd do as transients... I'm too old to put my head between my legs and kiss....  Okay, we talk to the locals and try to identify places we can anchor, moor, tie the boat and hope she's there when we come back. Ruth cut my hair today, about time - I was feeling an urge to try on dresses. She says I look nice now - I'll take her word for it. 7/20/08 - Amy, Tom and Lofton arrived around 10pm, United had cancelled their flight so they arrived Northwestern, actually got here about 2 hours earlier than their original flights. Great to see them again! Lofton has gotten so much taller! We're looking forward to our few days with them. Today is foggy; not the worse we've seen, but foggy enough that many folks are staying in the harbor. The kids took us to breakfast and grocery shopping, provisioning for their visit. Their friend Sue and kids were visiting her folks in Falmouth so they joined us and the whole gang went to a beach about 200 yards from our slip - handy. The fog kept rising and dropping all day long... usually about 1/4 mile visibility. 7/21/08 - Partly cloudy with a little haze. By 11 our 6 new guest joined Amy, Tom and Lofton for a sail to Martha's Vineyard. We selected Vineyard Haven as a place to anchor. After anchoring we found that the aft head was plugged... ohhh joy! We call the pump out boat, learning we'd have to go to the municipal dock to get pumped out so we could clear the blockage. Big tip to you boaters, don't put wet strength tissues in a marine toilet. Long story short, pumping out didn't work. Time to tear out the system and replace the hose... tomorrow. Our Falmouth guests took the ferry back home after a day of sailing leaving Amy, Tom, Lofton and Joe as our guests for the night. We took the dinghy into the Black Dog Tavern for dinner as Amy & Tom's guests. Fantastic meal! Back to the boat for a night cap and a good night. 7/22/08 - A little fog during the night, pretty clear morning, some overcast. Miles called, his inverter didn't arrive... still waiting. Our gang went ashore to buy hose for the head and to explore the island. While they explored Ruth and I returned to the boat and tore out the plumbing for the rear head. We started installing the new hose as our guests returned. With Tom's help we had it back together by 2pm. Up came the anchor and we sailed to Falmouth so Joe could drive home for a job interview. From Falmouth we sailed to Wood's Hole, anchoring for the night. Very nice to have family aboard and sail leisurely into new destinations. It's great having them aboard... it's the whole reason we bought the larger boat! 7/23/08 - Awoke to fog that quickly lifted. Took the gang to shore for some beach glassing. It was a stony beach, not good for swimming but fair for glassing. It quickly bored Lofton, but it was a long swim to the boat so he hung in there. We motored the half hour trip to Falmouth where we took a slip so Tom could leave early tomorrow for his flight. Once docked and fed the gang headed for the beach and a chance to get together with Sue and her kids. Tonight was to be a girls night out, Amy, Sue and Ruth... Ruth decided she didn't feel girlish tonight and stayed to child sit with Tom and I. We'll have a child apiece to watch. Tom is a gem, he's a real pied piper with kids - they played with him all evening. It was fun to listen to the stories, games and tricks as he entertained three youngsters. We received an e-mail from Summersault wondering if they could catch up. That would be way cool. Hope it works out. 7/24/08 - I got up at 5am to wish Tom well on his trip back to Appleton. Hated to see him leave, it's was great having him aboard. We took advantage of having a slip to fill our water tanks, do some shopping and do the wash - Ruth, Amy and Lofton took a walk to the laundromat. High winds and rain kept us in the slip all day knowing we'd would lose our place if all the expected vessels arrived. Waiting and not knowing was hard. The storms passed through regularly with heavy rain and strong winds (30's to 40's). I found myself wishing we were at anchor in a secure harbor rather than in this crowded one with no room for anchorage. If displaced we'll have to run the 5 miles to Martha's Vineyard again - not  a big task for Ruth, Buddy and I, but not something we want to do with guests aboard. It rained into the evening, watching the weather radar it appeared that Ariel was getting hit a lot worse than we were. Ruth made spaghetti and meatballs for supper - great choice for a windy wet night. By 8pm the marina office closed and we felt secure with our slip for the night. We celebrated with a movie night, watching Fluke with Lofton... doggone good story. 7/25/08 - The sun came out, holy moley... there is a tomorrow. We took advantage of the change and ran to Nantucket, another first time destination for us. Four hours under the iron genoa brought us to the entrance. Interesting welcome with two half mile breakwaters that are under water half the time. We quickly anchored and went to the beach. Very nice sand flats. A rising tide gave us a great opportunity to show Lofton the effects of global warming. As the tide came in the beach and a series of small sand islands disappeared... pretty awesome to watch - particularly if you think in terms of the projected effect of warming on the Keys, Florida, New York, a significant portion of China and the far east. We are anchored next to a large sailboat, at least 2.5 times our length. The professional crew is washing and waxing, keeping her ready for when the owners visit. This is the spawning ground for big and bigger. In an e-mail exchange with Brad Abbott I learned that wife Alice was in Nantucket visiting her brother. Small world! For those of you following Ariel's website, here's the latest.  Miles and Laureen departed Narragansett Bay this morning for Cuddy Hunk, about 20 miles behind us. They got the replacement battery charger/inverter installed and are ready to go again. We'll likely catch up with each other near the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal. (This update brought to you by the good folks on Another Adventure.) 7/26/08 - After all the clouds and rain for the past few days we had a beautiful morning, nice change, not a cloud in the sky or on radar. We took the dinghy to town and spent the morning in the picturesque town of Nantucket. I really enjoyed the streets of field stone with brick crosswalks though the constant bumper to bumper traffic was a distraction. The buildings definitely had a seaport look and feel, crowded tightly together as if bracing each other against the ravages of winter storms. We returned to Martha's Vineyard, to the port of Oak Bluff so Amy and Lofton could catch a fast ferry to Providence Sunday afternoon. Getting a rental car for Sunday/Monday turned out not to be doable, even if we returned to Falmouth for the third time. The ferry should be an exciting experience for Lofton. Our 26 mile sail to Oak Bluff was an exhilarating 8 knot close reach... it doesn't get any better than that. The narrow gap of a harbor entrance was cleverly hidden among arriving boats but we found it. The harbor was small, full of moorings. The harbor master advised us to find a mooring with 3 or fewer boats our size and raft off them. The first raft we approached was commanded by Captain Prick who refused our lines declaring if we rafted he couldn't get his dinghy off his foredeck. Rather than explain the rules to him we moved on to another group from Boston who made us feel right at home - taking our lines and snuggling us into their raft. We elected to grille brats, filling the harbor with that rich Lambeau Field aroma... announcing the cheese-heads were in port. 7/27/08 - High overcast this morning with balmy temperatures. Talked to Miles and they have leap-frogged us and will be at the west end of the Cape Cod Canal tonight. After breakfast our raft disassembled as boats headed for home. As Seascape of Boston separated from us their anchor snagged one of our lifeline stanchions, breaking it... such is life. The hardest part is locating and receiving a new one. We walked the Oak Bluffs downtown area and visited the beach. Then back to town for a waterside luncheon overlooking the harbor. On our way back to the dinghy we passed Cottage City, a camp of small Victorians... complete with overdone gingerbread trim. Talking to Brad Abbot, Ames Point Boatworks, his wife Alice was also in Martha's Vineyard today with the twins visiting her sister - very small world! Even smaller considering that Brad and his father laid a hardwood floor in one of the cottages. At 3pm we took Amy and Lofton to the ferry and watched them head home. They'll cover the 56 miles to Providence in about an hour and a half... it'd take us 8-10 hours. We'll miss having them aboard. Lofton has grown up a lot since I last saw him - he's fun to be with though he's pretty sure Grandpa Barry is nuts. Forecasted T-storms and strong winds made us decide to stay in the harbor another night rather than chance hitting Wood's Hole in heavy rain. Amy called from the ferry to tell us we'd made a good decision staying in there. She and Lofton were running thru a squall on the ferry... winds, heavy rain and building seas; no problem for a ferry but not fun on a small boat. 7/28/08 - Buddy kept watching the forward cabin, waiting for Lofton to come out and sing him a morning song. No joy, Lofton is gone. We slipped our mooring and headed out for a rendezvous with Ariel. Enroute I made several phone calls looking for a replacement for our broken lifeline stanchion. The receptionist for the local dealer noted they didn't stock them, but would have the parts guy call me. After calling them the third time I gave up and called Jeanneau. They will have one here from France Friday or Monday. $39 for the stanchion, $40 for freight. We motored to and thru Wood's Hole, then had a gentle sail to Red Brook. We anchored off the mooring field that Miles and Laureen had declared home a day or two ago. They came out to visit and have a drink. Ruthie mixed a bomb for both of them. Bad Ruthie! After they headed home Ruthie and I had dinner, pulled pork barbeque... very good! 7/29/08 - A beautiful clear morning with just a zephyr toying with the surface of the bay. Amy isn't going to believe my weather reporting after the rain they experienced.  After taking on fuel and water at the Kingman Yachting Center and learning our parts hadn't arrived yet we headed for the Cape Cod Canal. The wind was light and we slowly sailed against the tide waiting for the current to switch and flush us thru. Ariel passed us and we started the journey to Cape Cod. Once out of the canal we set our autopilot for Provincetown. It was going to be a motorboat ride, no wind. About 3 miles out we came across a Coast Guard helicopter low above a cutter. After watching them for a while we decided it was training. The chopper would trail a line to the cutter, then lower a basket and retrieve it. It was cool to watch them repeat the maneuver several times until it went smoothly. Meanwhile, with a half mile of them there was a vessel in distress - no power. While the two coast guard assets trained the radio repeatedly asked boaters to assist a 24' white vessel in the area that needed assistance... no name, no lat/long, no help from the teams training. Nuff said. We looked for the VID (vessel in distress) to no avail. Hey, the Coasties told us it was white and in the bay... with no name there wasn't much we could do as the bay was pimpled with white vessels. It was out there, somewhere, drifting along until it became a disaster that qualified for Coastie response. We went on to P-town, anchoring behind the lighthouse on the tip of the curl that creates the harbor. Ruthie went beaching while I read... Ariel went into the harbor to pick up a mooring and do the town. We thawed a rack of Lloyd's rib for dinner. With potatoes and a veggie it doesn't get much better. E-mails from Kenny G indicated that business and pesky reality had reared their ugly heads and he wouldn't be able to sail with us this weekend. Leslie, leave Kenny home and join us. Sorry Kenny, pesky reality. 7/30/08 - Another beautiful morning... no wind with light mares tails floating high against a blue sky. We are in Provincetown at the tip to Cape Cod, anchored off an inviting sand beach. Ruth went glassing for a couple of hours yesterday evening - she returned pretty much empty handed. Ruth worked on the internet most of the morning. She was trying to create some business opportunities and researching prices on solar components. We are trying to determine if another panel or two would make us basically energy self sufficient without running the diesel to recharge. At noon we moved closer to P-town and anchored so we could visit the town. P-town is a tourist attraction,  a haven for artists and a large gay community. We met Miles & Laureen, did a little sight seeing and some shopping (food, liquor, hardware), returning to the boat late afternoon. M & L joined us for a sundowner later giving us a chance to catch up on the last few days. They related they'd climbed the tower that commemorates the Mayflower's landing here. The pilgrims spent about 90 days at P-town decided this wasn't home and went on to Plymouth. Both claimed the long climb was rewarded by a spectacular view, both declined to climb it again tomorrow. We hung two pictures Ruth had brought aboard. The critical one was her favorite of her mom as a young woman, sitting on the dock at Bailey's Harbor with a group of friends. Helen is the second from the right. As the sun set I grilled a packet of Lloyd's barbecued ribs for Supper for supper, Ruth added mashed red potatoes and peas. Goooood grub. 7/31/08 - Fog horns bleating in the pre-dawn twilight told the story. We awoke to light fog with a distant sun trying to burn its way through - by 9 it had succeeded and a beautiful day resulted. After lunch aboard we went into town. Ruth got her hair cut, looks really nice. New first mate aboard! While she was doing that I walked the P-town main drag (no pun intended). Raymarine called, their testing showed the masthead wind indicator to be okay. I was afraid of that as it does work okay... some of the time. The tech acknowledged they'd seen that before. We elected to get a newer unit and not mess with the old one any further. The unit is shipping to Peaks Island general delivery. Ruth did a little beaching, had a couple of finds, then back to the boat... dinner time and a wild night of reading until 8pm when we both crashed.

Click on the photos for an 8" x 10" view. Use Back to return to the site. Amy, Lofton & Tom sacked out on AA Falmouth in the fog Ahh, there's land Finally we can sea again Beach time at Martha's Lofton ran out of gas... Dinghy trip to the Black Dog photo by Tom Putzer Dinner at the Black Dog photo by Tom Three generations doing the Dog  photo by Tom Lofton looking for Nantucket Shy guy... Amy, Ruth & Lofton shopping Nantucket West Main Street, Nantucket Oak Bluff swingers The chopper approaches the cutter A basket transfer is almost complete Parts is parts... P-town local heading for shopping? you're stylin' man! Ruth's mom finally joins us aboard

Visit earlier portions of our 2008 voyage...

Boca Raton to Miami, FL - Jan 1 to 15, 2008	Miami to Key West, FL - Jan 16 to 31, 2008
Key West to Marathon, FL - Feb 1 to 15, 2008	Marathon, FL to Nassau, Bahamas - Feb 16 - 29, 2008
Norman Cay to Georgetown, Bahamas - March 1 - 15, 2008	Georgetown to Royal Island - March 16 - 31, 2008
Royal Island to Green Turtle Cay - April 1 - 15, 2008	Green Turtle Cay to Fort Pierce - April 16 - 20, 2008
Fort Pierce, FL to Savannah, GA - May 1 - 15, 2008	Savannah, GA to Norfolk, VA - May 16 - 31, 2008
Norfolk, VA to Deltaville, VA - June 1 - 15, 2008	Deltaville, VA to Cape May, NJ - June 16 - 30, 2008
Cape May to Point Judith, RI - July 1 - 15, 2008