Debi and Jack sailing on SV Iroquois

The adventure begins...
We set off from Handy Boat at Falmouth Foreside on Thursday June 11 around 9 am local time. We took a few pictures as we were leaving to remember it by. We owe a great debt to all the employees of Handy Boat, Hallett Sails, and Maloney Rigging for all their time and help. I don't think there is a single employee who did not go out of their way at one time or another to help us out. Hopefully they can feel our gratitude from afar.
We should have taken it as an omen that we had to fight our way out of Hussey Sound. The rest of the day didn't improve much and we both ended up pretty seasick. We did find lots of uses for our empty bleach bottle that we had cut open to bale out the dinghy. It made a fine receptacle for both vomit and urine when we were too weak to go forward to the head. Needless to say that the delicious foods we got from Whole Foods deli to get us through the first few days went uneaten. Neither of us could hold anything down or had any appetite. We were feeling weak by evening so decided to heave to over night so we could get some rest. Jack stayed on deck and tried to stay warm under fleece blankets. I went below and snuggled in a toasty warm sleeping bag with all my layers including foul weather gear (it was dry). At first light I got up and started sailing again. The second day was better. We managed to eat some rice cooked in beef broth and drank some water. After we realized we were getting dehydrated I broke out the unicef formula rehydration salts, but Jack preferred plain water. He just didn't get enough--- not enough water, not enough food, not enough rest. That night we were able to maintain a normal watch schedule. Jack took the shift from 20:00-23:00, I was on 23:00-2:00, Jack was back on 2:00-5:00. It got foggy during my shift and in Jack 's second shift a thunderstorm came through. He slept from 5-8 except for the two times I got him up for sail changes. By this time we were both feeling weak and I was still throwing up. The weather forecast we got before leaving called for at least two more days of difficult conditions with passing fronts causing wind changes and confused seas, so we started looking at the Nova Scotia option. We had been to Shelburne last year for a departure point back to Maine. It's about the closest option we had, but the town and yacht club is a few hours inland and based on our time and speed we would arrive in dark. We tried to be reasonable and weigh the pros and cons of stopping there. Pros included rest and recuperation, as well as a few repairs, also preparing better for both of us to be incapacitated at the same time. Cons included having to readjust to being at sea. We called Commanders Weather to see if they were standing by their original forecast and when the next departure window might be. They said we could try again Wednesday and the patterns of front after front will probably continue since that's what happens this time of year. In the end we decided to head for Shelburne and use the Garmin chart plotter to find our way in the dark. Unfortunately we had erased our track from last year, but the waypoints were still there so I was relatively confident I could find our way back even without much visibility. I called to see what our options were for arriving after they closed for the day and was told we could just pick up any mooring. That made it seem easier somehow. We had good sailing all day and night into the next day. We needed to charge the batteries so when we couldn't sail we motor sailed for a few hours. We rounded the point and could see the entrance to the harbor at sunset, and arrived at the entrance buoy around dark, after that we were dependent on the chat plotter, radar and whatever we could see in the moonless night. Jack had readied the anchor in case we got in trouble and taken down the sails before dark. (Unfortunately, all the slides came out of the mainsail when it came down. The gate had not been adequately tightened after the sailmakers adjustments) We decided to deal with that later. Jack went on deck with a spotlight and binoculars and I did my best to follow our previous waypoints. There were a few times Jack said we'll never find it and he found places to anchor on the way in, but perseverance paid off and eventually we saw a boat and some can like things floating in the water. We came up close to one and it was not a mooring float but a little further on we could see a big mooring ball. In the morning I could see that the canlikefloats mark the boundaries of the mooring field and we had picked up the first mooring. I would have simply collapsed into my bunk but Jack had the discipline to take care of the sails and pick up on deck before going to sleep. He even got me to brush my teeth, something I had only done once over the previous three days. We got all the slides put back, flaked and covered the mainsail, bagged up the storm jib and sorted out sheets and lines. I, for one, slept like a rock until it got light, then I woke up with a terrible headache. Jack thinks it was from dehydration. I think that may have contributed, but also had a very sore jaw from clenching my teeth for so long. Since then I've had some excedrine, a few meals and a shower. I'm feeling human but a little dazed. It's like I had a dream and woke up in Nova Scotia.

Yesterday's sailing was excellent. Sailed at or around six knots for most of the day with various sail combinations, and the vane gear steering all the way. We have had difficulty naming the vane gear, I am considering Claire Francis after the first woman to sail solo across the Atlantic, which she did by the way in an Ohlson 38. She did have trouble with her vane steering but managed to repair it, which is why the monitor does not have final name yet.
As for being sea sick and not sleeping there are two conclusions, sleep is highly over rated, eating is sorely missed.
There is always something to fix or maintain, any procrastination becomes a real problem.
The water is really beautiful.
When Debi says arrive after dark that is an understatement, we got here at about 00:30 local time. Canadian border check in is done over the phone, the woman who cleared us in sounded as amused by our situation as a border agent is allowed to get.