Slow Going

At Sea, N 40 34.50 W 72 30.20

Five days ago, when we were planning this trip, the forecast called for 16 foot seas and winds 20-25 knots with gusts to 30. It hasn't been like that. Six times in the past day the winds died to zero and boat speed through the water dropped to zero also. We verified that by watching jellyfish in the water beside us. They would sit at the same place minute after minute. Libby is a real trooper though and when she has the helm she valiantly moves it back and forth and tries to adjust the sails to make us go. I have a hard time convincing her that if the boat speed is zero it doesn't matter where the tiller is.

Our progress for the first 24 hours was only 65 miles out of 220 for the voyage. Now, 30 hours in our total progress is only 83 miles. For much of the time we've been making 3 knots in 6 knots of wind or 4 knots in 9 knots of wind -- very good performance for a heavy boat but nevertheless not very exciting.

On the positive side, it is sunny and warm and the seas are flat so the boat isn't rolling around. In fact it has been downright pleasant. We staged a four player scrabble game in the cockpit this afternoon and it was great fun. We never did anything like that before while at sea. As a matter of fact, having three watches completely changed the dynamics of fatigue while sailing as hoped. That's great and I hope that we can entice more friends to sail with us on other offshore passages. I expect to sail offshore passages from Cape Fear, NC to Jacksonville FL in November and from Fort Pierce FL to Marathon in the FL Keys in December. Hint hint.

Most of the other boats we see out here are recreational sport fishermen. It must cost hundreds of dollars in fuel cost alone to roar out here 30-40 miles offshore in the morning and to return in the evening. Of course they seem never to navigate those passages at anything less than full throttle.

Carmello and Trinity (Diane) have been wonderful sailing companions. We're very glad they came. I just hope that before we get to Cape May that we get some brisk winds so that they can see what Tarwathie really can do.

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Camello and Diane

At Sea, N 41 11 W 71 38

This is a new experience for us. We're offshore, making passage for Cape May NJ, and we have other people onboard. Carmello and Diane joined us for the passage. Carmello is an old friend from PTI days. In fact, he is still a PTI employee. They live in Scotia, and they've done inland and coastal sailing for many years, sort of like Libby and me.

Yesterday it rained the whole day. Libby and I pulled in to a marina. We did laundry, and showers, and WiFi for most of the day, then we went out to dinner at a seafood restaurant. It made a nice break from our onboard routine.

The weather forecast was for rain ending this afternoon and winds NE 20-25 with gusts at 30. When I woke up this morning, I looked out and saw bright blue sky. Uh oh. It turned into a wonderful sunny day, which is fine, but one with very little wind. Carmello and Diane arrived around noon and we left right away.

We're making very slow progress. Block Island has been in sight for the the last 6 hours, and it may be another 6 before we put it below the horizon. The wind blows a little bit, and we make three knots for a half hour or so, then the wind dies and we make only 0.5 knots for an hour.

Anyhow, it will be interesting to see how different life at sea feels with 3 watches instead of 2. There is certainly more time for conversation and that's fun.

Carmello's son Chris is learning to be an officer on a submarine. He's doing simulator training right now. That's very interesting. I wish I had more time with him to ask about his experiences with simulator training. Years ago that would have been impossible because Admiral Rickover hated simulators. The story was that a simulator was built in the early 1960s for the NS Savannah, the one and only nuclear powered merchant freighter ship. We saw the NS Savannah at anchor in the James River last summer. Anyhow, the computers in the early 1960s were inadequate for the job and the simulator was terrible. Admiral Rickover took one look at that batched job and declared dislike for computers and especially simulators forevermore. That put the Navy sub training programs behind the eight ball until the Admiral died.

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How We Came To The Sea of Galilee.

Port Judith Pond, Rhode Island, N 41 24.291 W 71 30.346

Today we set out to go to Newport, sailing capitol of the east. (Actually one of the capitals. Annapolis, Elizabeth City, and someplace in Florida also claim to be the sailing capitol of the east.) We looked forward to seeing the sights. Our friend Andre said that there is a free dock at Fort Adams that one can use when there is no regatta. Along the way we could see the truly impressive Vanberbilt and Rockerfeller estates as well as numerous others that go way beyond ostentatious.

I was reading the guide book about Newport when we were within three miles when I came across the phrase, "Mid September Boat Show" Uh oh. A phone call to the harbor master confirmed it. This is the weekend of the famous Newport Boat Show. Newport will be mobbed with boats and crowds. We quickly changed our plans.

Instead we are in Port Judith Pond. This is close to the place where we will meet with Carmello and Diane in a couple of days to sail to Cape May. It's also a pretty nice place. At first we anchored up near the entrance between Galilee and Jerusalem Yes, those are the names of the villages on either shore. No, this pond is not really called the Sea Of Galilee, I just thought that would make a snappy blog title.

Anyhow, there is a very impressive commercial fishing fleet in Galilee. However, we decided to move up into the pond more because there was too much traffic near the entrance. In our new anchorage the scene it much more rural and peaceful. This is a very secure place to anchor.

I don't know if we'll get much chance to explore locally. We face two days of rain ahead of us. Right now it's raining and chilly; not very pleasant.

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Anchor Troubles

Sachuset RI, N 41 29.406 W 71 14.615

We had unusual troubles today. We hauled in the danforth anchor and motored away from Cuttyhunk. However, somehow the anchor got stuck on Tarwathie's bow. It had one fluke on the port side, one to starboard, and the shank was hung up on the bobstay. We had to return to the harbor, moor, lower the dinghy, and from the dinghy I was able to yank the anchor enough to free it, then raise the dinghy, cast off and sail away.

At the end of the day when we go to this cove, we tried twice to anchor with the plow, no dice. We tried twice to anchor with the danforth. No dice. We could not even get a little bite hooking the bottom. We gave up and moored to somebody's private but unoccupied mooring; something that we are usually loath to do.

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Cuttyhunk

Cuttyhunk Island, N 41 25.585 W 70 55.434

Yesterday we remained at anchor all day as the wind howled. Our project for the day was to work on the teak to make it look good.

Today the wind slackened some so we set sail for Cuttyhunk. That meant a relatively short sail of only 22 miles. It was a fast ride. We used only a double reefed mainsail with no jib and we still did 6 knots most of the time. There were almost no other boats out on Buzzards Bay. That was pretty remarkable considering that it was sunny and breezy and that we could see thousands of masts of moored sailboats in the harbors and coves lining the bay.

Cuttyhunk itself offers little attraction except for the opportunity to get out and walk around. Perhaps we'll do that in the morning.

I have a great suggestion for George Bush. If he wants to assure the Republicans victory in the coming election he should order restoration of the 55 mph speed limit citing energy conservation as the reason. The price of oil on the global market would halve overnight, and a few days later the price of gasoline for the American consumers would fall similarly. That is something he could do with an executive order not requiring cooperation from congress. It would be a brilliant political move.

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