Wrong. Wrong Again. It's OK

Monument Beach, Cape Cod, Mass, N 41 43.181 W 70 37.173

Sunday, September 10, 2005

I told my sister Nancy that the weather might not be nice Saturday morning, and therefore we should not go sailing with Marilyn. Wrong. It was a lovely morning. We met anyhow, onshore in downtown Marblehead for lunch and for a walk around the town. That was very nice. While we were waiting to meet Nancy, Libby and I watched the crews of two ocean racing sailboats prepare to leave. The boats were part of something called Challenge Cup 2006. There were two identical boats, both perhaps 70 feet long, both with crews of about 25 people each. All the people in the crews seemed very young, very athletic, very fit and experienced about the boat and the equipment. That must make for formidable racing. I'll post pictures.

I told the dock master that thunderstorms were forecast for Saturday afternoon. He doubted me and looked up his own forecast which said no. I was wrong. The afternoon was lovely.

We left Marblehead around 1600 and set sail for the Cape Cod canal expecting fair weather and light winds overnight. The winds were brisk. Around 2000, outside of Boston, we were hit by thunderstorms, and had to scramble to put the electronics in the oven.

The Cape Cod Canal has very strong currents, and I determined that the current would switch in our direction around noon on Sunday. I timed our departure to arrive at the canal entrance about then. Wrong. The wind was brisker than I thought, and by 2 AM we figured out that we would arrive there about 6 AM; just as the current would turn *against* us. When we figured that out, we were near Plymouth Mass (where Plymouth Rock is). I normally would not attempt to enter a strange harbor at night, but looking at the chart I could see that we could anchor just behind Duxbury Light without complicated maneuvering. We also had clear sky and a nearly full moon to light things up. So we did put in and anchor in Duxbury Bay for a little nap. That worked out well.

In the morning the weather appeared to be cold and stormy. The forecast said 20-25 knot winds with gusts to 30. In addition, our GPS went crazy. It insisted that the currents in the canal would be 25 knots! A week before and a week after it said 4 knots current, but this week 25 knots. That's crazy. Anyhow, I had visions of entering the canal with a 30 know wind behind us, the motor running and with a 25 knot current. That would have pushed us through at 40 miles per hour.

The reality was, that as we entered the canal, the current was 0.25 knots, the sun came out, and we were sheltered from the wind. With the combined effects of wind, motor and current, we traveled at 4.8 knots. A girl on roller blades on the bike path next to the canal was going faster than we were and passed us. Wrong wrong wrong.

We didn't mind being wrong so many times, we had a lovely day sailing. It was really fun watching the people on the bike path, walking, running, riding, and catching big fish. By the time we got to the end of the canal, the current picked up and we were moving 8.8 knots.

Now we're anchored in a nice sheltered little cove, just on the Buzzard's Bay side of the canal. We plan to stay here all day tomorrow, waiting out the bad weather on the fringes of hurricane Florence.

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