2009 Log
9/1 to 9/15/2009
This is the current period of our log for 2009. At the bottom of the page are links to this year's pass weeks; our earlier voyages are in Prior Voyages.
The Google Custom Search box immediately below is an internet search tool for more information on subjects and locations mentioned in our site. We hope you find it useful.
Updated on 09/20/2009
|
9/1/09 - We're sitting under a large high that's producing cool nights, low 50's, and clear days. We're trying to put together an itinerary for September/October. We need to haul AA for bottom paint and a wax job sometime in the next month or two. We motored for 2 hours, arriving at Snow Island by a little after 10am. Ruth was trying hard to work but our internet and cellular were both both very unreliable; in fact very frustrating. My day didn't go any better. I replaced a fogged panel in Miles' dodger finding that I didn't have the type of zipper I needed and that most of the stitching in the two year old panel was rotten. I'll be ordering new materials and sewing him one with tenera (Gortex) thread so moisture won't rot it. We brought a pork tenderloin and corn on the cob to Ariel and Miles grilled it with theirs. Renee provided an excellent salad and a blueberry cake desert. We have to start swimming laps. Back on AA we started the furnace as it's going to be a cold one tonight (okay, we'll admit we've become a little wimpy but we're only looking out for Buddy). 9/2/09 - Another beautiful morning. No wind though so we motored to the NW corner of Great Chebeague Island, anchoring off a small resort. I used the remainder of morning to refit the experimental cover we have on the front of our dinghy. Ruth worked on a paper deal she's been herding along for the past week. After lunch Miles came by wanting to do some exploring. Ruth and I joined him for a walk around 3/4 of the island. We had wanted to stop by the grocery store but it was only open 11am to 2pm on Wednesdays and we were late. We left Ruth on the beach, she called a couple of hours later for a pick-up, having exhausted the glassing potential of the small area. Miles & Renee went to the resort for dinner. Before they left I suggested they do a piece on dining in Maine... kind of a summary of their culinary experiences as we cruised this area. Miles said that's easy. Eat only in Portland and Boston; anywhere else is just passable. Now I know why Ruth and I eat aboard. 9/3/09 - Our high remains with us and Ericka (the tropical storm) is fizzling out in the Caribbean - life is good. We move 5 miles to Peaks Island so Miles could go to Portland and pick up drugs. Ruth worked on paper sales and did some beach glassing. Miles and Laureen entertained a couple they'd met through Kevin (a boater we met in Vero Beach). We had a quiet night as Ruth was still decompressing from a day of stress and disappointment. He business in doubly hard as much of it is controlled by forces she has no power over... like overnight delivery services that still had not delivered by 5pm. 9/4/09 - Awoke to a bright sunny day with light stratus clouds. Ariel headed to Portsmouth at dawn while we stayed behind as we could not risk poor phone connections until Ruth has completed her sale. We'll likely catch up with Ariel in a week, after Laureen's girlfriends had met them in Martha's Vineyard. Ruth's deal went south, she's trying to put together another application but won't have answers until Tuesday so we can travel. For me it was a computer maintenance afternoon... defragging the hard drive, virus scans of all the files; not hard work, just takes a lot of time. Ruth went beaching, saddened by finding a small dead seal on the beach. Ariel is in Kittery for the night, then on to P-town. We'll head for Kittery/Portsmouth tomorrow, then Gloucester, then Scituate. An interesting side note on Portsmouth; during WWII a German sub snuck undetected up the river and laid off the naval yards, mapping them. After the war the US military was shocked to find the detailed maps in German archives. The things we didn't learn in history class. 9/5/09 - Another beautiful day courtesy of the high pressure area over New England. That said a settled high usually brings light wind. We hoisted anchor at 7:15am and motored toward Kittery. The winds were light and from the north most of the morning, increasing to 9 - 10 knots. We sailed the last hour. We passed Kittery having decided to visit the Isle of Shoals (see sidebar), a destination we'd passed several times but had not visited as it sounded foreboding. We anchored deep in the Gosport harbor at this intriguing archipelago. The guide warned about the rock and kelp harbor floor. They were right and we dragged the anchor a couple of hundred feet before it hooked. The harbor had about 3 dozen vessels in it, about half of them on moorings. 9/6/09 - Long night, the wind backed 30 degrees and built into the low 20's (double the forecast). Our anchor alarm went off about 10:30pm. I reset it as it appeared we had just turned about 180 degrees and stretched our chain out. At 11pm I got up on hearing 5 horn blasts, the danger signal. We were still holding but at least half dozen other boats weren't. After that I stayed up on anchor watch listening to horns around the harbor as boats dragged. At 6am I went to bed for an hour. We SAILED downwind to Gloucester in 10 - 15 knot winds and 4 - 6 foot seas. It actually was a nice ride until a rogue wave dumped Ruth off her cockpit seat. I was afraid she'd been knocked out but she was quickly scrambling up... major bruise time though. At Gloucester we found a new anchorage about half way between the breakwater and the harbor. They were having a schooner regatta so we got to see a few dozen schooners enter the harbor as they finished the race. Watching these elegant boats gliding across the harbor made us feel like we'd been swept a couple hundred years back in time. 9/7/09 - Woke up to a clear sunny morning after sleeping like a log last night. When we arrived here yesterday I was zonked and took an hour nap. Looks like we have at least 3 days of good weather ahead of us. We'd hoped to get to Nova Scotia this year but ran out of time. For a great guided tour read the log of the Mary T. Amy is an excellent writer and photographer. She's doing a video documentary of their travels. We took a down day, watching schooners and a small sailboat regatta as well as reading a lot. 9/8/09 - After Ruth made a series of phone calls and e-mails for business we took a 10am departure for Scituate, 23 miles away. We'd decided to make the run today as the forecast called for a Nor'easter moving up the coast late afternoon and lasting about 3 days. We motored to Scituate as what little wind we had was from behind us. By 2pm we were tied to a mooring and on our way to town on the boat club launch. We picked up a few supplies just in case we ended up moor in a wet storm. 9/9/09 - The wind piped up about midnight - no surprise there. By dawn it was blowing out of the NE at 10 to 15 knots; not a storm but enough to have the harbor rolling. We could see the waves breaking against the outside of the breakwater. Kenny G sent an e-mail that our packages had arrived and he'd drop them off later. Miles texted that he'd rescheduled Ariel's haul-out until the 28th and was in Newport with Silver Girl. Kenny G came on board to deliver packages to us after his return flight from China. He is a totally animated being and we enjoy him tremendously! He told us stories about China that would make you laugh until you almost cried as he gets in character with his customers and his comments. Way too funny! He is coming over tomorrow night to dinner for spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread. I'm sure there might be a little vino and lots of fun as we always enjoy his company! Think Saturday Night Live in your cabin! He's great! 9/10/09 - Another sunny windy chilly morning. We worked and read until 11:30, then took the launch to town to pick up a few things at the grocery store. By then it was overcast, making it seem even cooler. Two of our buddies are ahead of us, Ariel and Aurora, while two are behind, Sampatecho II and Mary T. We called St Brendan's Isle asking that our mail be forwarded to Pt. Judith. Back at the boat we cleaned the saloon in preparation for dinner guests. Ruth brewed up a pot of spaghetti. Whoops, Kenny got called out of town... looks like we'll have a lot of leftovers. 9/11/09 - The wind continued all night. By dawn the wave were crashing over the breakwater and the harbor remained bouncy. Sullen grey skies promised rain. Ruth decided we'd stay another day. That's okay with me, she has prospects she needs to follow up on and we need to take on fuel before we deal with high waves so we don't have a problem with air in the diesel. We took a moment to remember that attack that destroyed the lives of so many in New York; remembering our somber visit to the site of the twin towers. Lunch was meatball sandwiches; last night's spaghetti sauce. Mmmmumh! Sometimes I think we should just make the meatballs and sauce for sandwiches! 9/12/09 - We woke to wind and heavy rain. We were still rocking and rolling in the harbor. A quick look at Weather Underground confirmed that we'd be sitting in Scituate until Sunday. Miles texted that he was in the same situation in Newport. Brad, Aurora, has kept moving along Long Island Sound... I expect he'll be in the New Jersey tomorrow. No matter what the weather is tomorrow we need to get moving! Though we've had winds in the 15-20 knot range our power consumption and lack of sunshine dictate that we generate on days like this. We fueled yesterday but couldn't get water so we'll be watching our supply over the next couple of days; our large tank is empty and we are working on the smaller one. After lunch we had the first of a steady stream of thunderstorms. It poured, flashed and pounded all afternoon. We haven't had a position report from Sampatecho II in 3 days... getting a little worried. Finally got through to them on their cell phone around 9pm. they were in Provincetown, heading for Sandwich tomorrow to clear customs. We'll meet them there. 9/13/09 - Woke to fog, visibility 1/8 to 1/4 mile. At 8am I slipped our mooring and headed for the canal while Ruthie got some additional beauty rest. The wind was light and behind us so it was a motorboat ride all the way. About 10 miles from the canal I picked up a boat on radar that I figured was Sampatecho II... a radio call confirmed it. We met at the entrance to the canal, We were so focused on Sampatecho II that I was shocked to see a tug and petroleum barge 100 yards ahead of us, crossing our bow. I didn't realize we had wandered into the canal traffic lane. We didn't see the barge approach as the breakwater had hidden it. We checked in with canal control and entered against the current. Bradd & Maeve had to clear customs at Sandwich so we forged ahead to Onset against the current as the fog cleared and the sun came out. I wanted to dive and clear our knot meter as it had quit working at Scituate. At Onset I found that fine grasses had grown on the ring around the knot meter paddles and were fouling them. A few minutes in 69 degree water and we were clean again. The water actually felt nice for a change. We motored the roughly 30 miles to the canal as the wind was behind us. Enroute Ruth saw a large whale roll over on the surface. Bradd & Maeve entered the bay just as I was getting out of the water. They had been advised that Sandwich was not a port of entry today, Onset was. So they also powered against the current to get here in time to meet a Customs & Immigration guy and clear in from Canada. Maeve invited us to dinner so we took the dinghy to their boat for wine, good conversation and a great pot roast. It sure was wonderful to see them again and catch up with some of their summer adventures. 9/14/09 - A beautiful sunny morning with light winds. Strange to see the new Sampatecho II anchored near us. We did business until about 10am, then sailed out of the harbor enroute to Cuddy Hunk. The wind came from the west earlier than forecast and stronger than forecast so we ducked into Hadley Harbor by Woods Hole. Dinner was on AA after an hour of catching up with Maeve & Bradd on their summer of boat rehab and cruising. 9/15/09 - Another sunny morning, very nice! We left Hadley for Newport, motoring as the wind was 10-12 knots right on the nose. It was a bumpy ride in short 3' chop. Arriving in Newport at 2pm we took an Old Port mooring near Sampatecho II and went into town with Bradd & Maeve. We were lucky to get moorings as the harbor was busy setting up for the Newport International Boat Show the end of this week. Patrick and Lara arrived around 6pm and we all gathered on Sampatecho II for dinner. It was Patrick's first visit to the new boat. He was surprised with the amount of space inside compared with their original boat. |
Google searches Use the custom Google search at the top of the page to look for boating, sailing and cruising information related to any subject you'd like to learn more about. At the bottom of the page is a custom search box that looks specifically at our site for reference to the subject you enter.
Coastal observations towers from WWII
Peak Island homes
Appledore Island, Maine, Isle of Shoals
Star Island, New Hampshire, Isle of Shoals
Town of Gosport, Star Island, Isle of Shoals
Isle of Shoals We'd bypassed these islands several times as their description in the guides made them sound more trouble than they were worth. First there is the name which makes one think of shallow water and rocks. The first part is true, they are all rock. The name however comes from schools of cod that surrounded the island. This was a major English source of the fish before the revolution. The original settlers were on Appledore Island, Maine... when the colony of Maine put onerous taxes on the fish in 1680 the colonists moved a few hundred yards to Star Island, New Hampshire and continued their successful fishery for a couple hundred years. During the American Revolution the islands were deserted. Later to be re-inhabited, reportedly by "a lazy and slovenly type". The Oceania Hotel was built in 1872 as a high class resort facility. In 1915 the island was sold to to an association of Unitarians and Congregationalists as a conference center. It now belongs to the Star Island Corporation and operates as a resort and conference center.
Oceania, once a Star Island resort, now a conference center, This is an all frame building!
Memorial Day race at Gloucester
Ruth & Buddy at work? Looks like parrot play to me.
Sampatecho emerges from the Cape Cod fog
The footpaths along the Cape Cod Canal were filled with walkers for a charity event
Great to see the new Sampatecho anchoring near us at Onset, MA
A fellow looper was at Green Turtle Cove Marina a couple of days ago (we stayed there a couple nights when we did the loop). As this 25' powerboat backed away from the fuel dock they heard the engine stutter and a loud pop. They watched the man go down below to see what was wrong, leaving his girlfriend at the helm. A loud whoosh followed as the boat exploded. The woman jump in the water, her clothes on fire. Other boaters in dinghies rescued her (she died later in the hospital). The man was lost, he disappeared in the boat. Before the boat burned to the waterline a sea-doo, a runabout and the BoatUS towboat were destroyed. Additionally a large houseboat's aft end was severely burned.
Quick reaction by several loopers and other bystanders saved the other boats and the marina. As one looper noted, several things went wrong, compounding the situation - leaking fire hoses, the experienced towboat operator wasn't on site, the fire department couldn't reach the fires... yet the marina and other boats were saved by the marina staff and a lot of folks doing the right thing. Makes one wonder what they'd do in a similar situation. Worth discussing with your mate or captain. Pictures and information from Looper Bob DeGroot
|
Use this Google Custom Search for finding subjects on our site:
View our 2009 Logs