Colin
3 July 2006, Onset, MA

Well, it was a late start, but we finally got out of Wickford and left Narraganset Bay behind us. It was a rolly few hours as we crossed Rhode Island Sound with 3-5 foot swells rolling under our beam, but as soon as we turned into Buzzards Bay, the swell dropped away and we had a quiet afternoon motoring up the bay. Considering the sinister reputation of Buzzard's Bay for unpleasant chop, we were very happy to have a relatively calm trip up it's length. The windmill bears testimony to the winds that usually blow up the bay creating the infamous chop, especially when in opposition to the ebb tide rushing out of the canal.

Onset is at the southern end of the Cape Cod Canal, which we intend to transit tomorrow. This saves us a long slog through some treacherous waters which would be necessary if we had to go around Cape Cod. Instead, we just whip through the 10 miles of canal and presto! We'll be north of Cape Cod! The only hitch is that the tidal currents in the canal are quite strong so we have to time our transit carefully. The good news, is that tomorrows favorable tide doesn't begin until 1027 so we'll get to sleep late!

(41 44.299'N 70 38.857'W)

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Colin
1 July 2006, Wickford, RI

We've had a nice week here in Wickford. Between visiting friends, getting the survey, picking strawberries, and waiting for weather windows, it's taken longer than I had hoped to be ready but, at last, we are poised to depart tomorrow. We're still not sure if the weather will or won't allow a direct, offshore passage to Nova Scotia but we'll spend the next couple of days getting to Provincetown and hope that the forecasts will clarify the situation as we get closer to it...Tomorrow, we'll turn in our rental car, fill the diesel tank and head out for Buzzards Bay...

(41 34.651'N 71 26.996'W)

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Colin
28 June 2006, Wickford, RI

Symphony was inspected today, surveyed in the nautical parlance. As part of getting her insured in Canada we needed a current survey so, through a miracle of scheduling (somebody else cancelled their appointment a half-hour before I called) we were able to get the survey done today! The survey was a very complete examination of all the boat's systems and required almost 6 hours and hauling the boat out of the water so the hull and underwater stuff could be inspected, too.

Fortunately, the only urgent thing that turned up on the survey was that a couple of stays needed to be replaced. Consequently, I got to climb the mast to remove them and a local rigging shop was able to make replacements immediately! Also, while the boat was out of the water for the survey, we got the bottom cleaned so we may be a little faster once we get underway again. There's some real advantages to being in an area with a lot of marine services and facilities...

The great event of the day was the arrival of Tahu Le'a! They had been over in Newport but today they returned to Wickford and a happy reunion. We're planning to sail to Nova Scotia together and the prospect of actually doing that seems a lot more real, now.

(41 34.651'N 71 26.996'W)

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Colin
26 June 2006, Wickford, RI

We have, at last, returned to Wickford, Rhode Island which we left at the start of October. Many things have changed since we visited here last, not the least of which is that, instead of being our easternmost excursion into New England, it will now be the starting point for our extreme eastward journey to Nova Scotia!

This was a very long day but, once we got out of Branford Harbor, everything lined up to make it possible to come here in one long day without having to break it up into a couple of shorter hops. Getting out of the harbor was interesting....First, as we were preparing to depart, I noticed that the depth gauge was reading 4.5 feet. That was interesting as we draw 5 feet but, I hoped that the back of the slip where the keel and rudder were was deeper than the front where the depth sounder was. Fortunately, I was right. Then, as we started to motor down the channel, I noticed that the engine temperature was off the top of the scale! After a very fast docking and shutdown, we determined that the freshwater coolant was low (but no noticeable leaks) so we refilled it and got back underway....All this by 0630!

The winds turned out to be stronger than expected (15-20 instead of 5-10) so we motorsailed with them on our beam and thus were able to maintain almost 6 knots against the flood tide that was going the other way at almost 2 knots. This allowed us to reach The Race at slack tide. The Race is a place where all the water in Long Island Sound drains out and the tidal currents there can be ferocious. By arriving within 15 minutes of slack tide, we had a relatively smooth passage. The other advantage was that we had the entire ebb tide gush out of The Race behind us and push us toward our destination: Point Judith. By motorsailing aggressively and getting the current boost, we averaged almost 8 knots for the 25 miles to Point Judith! By 1930, we were tied up at the Wickford Marina and taking showers....Time to get some more sleep, preferably without getting sparkly dolphin stickers placed on me...

(41 34.651'N 71 26.996'W)

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