A Wild Ride

New Bedford, Mass
N 41 38.667 W 70.54.742

First, I learned that our friends in Texas moved their boat, Raven, to Corpus Chrisi and put it up on land well before the arrival of Ike. Then they are hiding out in San Antonio. They should be OK.

We spent Thursday night in very surprising peace anchored off the beach on the north side of Cape Cod. It was calmer than we have tied up inside a marina. I can't remember ever anchoring off a shore exposed to the sea and having it so calm before.

In the morning we set off for the nearby Cape Cod Canal. We timed it just right for the current, and zipped through with big current boost. Top speed, 8.99 knots. Nancy really liked it.

When we exited the canal, it was a different story. The strong SW winds that we hoped to avoid on Saturday actually came on Friday. It was blowing 20-25 right against us and against the current as we exited the canal. Those are the classic conditions for dangerous waves. Conditions were terrible. Tarwathie resonated with the choppy waves pitching up and down. With each swing the propeller would come out of the water. We could only average 1.2 knots, and the interference region at the canal
exit was 2-3 miles long. Every other boat, big and small, passed us and went faster because they didn't pitch.

As soon as possible we left the channel into calmer waters and hoisted the sails. That is the cure to pitching and rolling because the sails stabilize us against the waves. Then we spent the next 6 hours beating up wind. The ride was fast, about 5 knots, but our progress was slow, speed made good was only 2 knots. Nancy really liked it. It was a wild ride.

Finally we rounded the point and headed downwind to New Bedford, passed in through the hurricane barrier, under the Poole's Island Bridge, and to our anchorage. When we got here, Surprise! We anchored right next to Aruba II with our cruising friend Andre on board. We haven't seen Andre in 18 months.

Today we're leaving Tarwathie and we'll head up to Nancy's house north of Boston for a day. It should be fun.