10/21/2011, Booth Bay Harbor, ME
I can hardly believe we are still awaiting our weather window to the Cape Cod Canal! It IS tougher leaving Maine, than we thought!!! We knew that once we lost the window on Monday, that Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday into Thursday would be not so pretty, but while Thursday brought calmer waters here in the harbor the fog rolled, it was pretty misty and raw and by about 3pm the winds picked back up and we were pretty much rocking and rolling all night. Forecasted Friday winds (on NOAA and SSB reports) were still showing SW 15-20 Gusts to 25 and seas 8-10ft...diminishing to 7-9 ft. In my opinion...NOT MUCH OF AN IMPROVEMENT! We decided to just hang in there, do a few "deferred boat chores", walked up town (kind of deserted this time of year) and picked up some Chinese Take- out for dinner and went back to Triple Stars to watch a double feature of National Treasure...just like the old days!!! Saturday the winds are predicted out of the W and 10-15 with seas 3-5...and improving over the day and into Sunday. Ahhhhh, that sounds much better! Today...Friday, while the skies are sunny even the harbor is still pretty rocky and winds are steadily in the upper teens...of course from the SW!
Leaving Saturday, 1st light and with favorable winds and not so steep seas, we should make our 5 knots and make it to the mouth of the Canal on Sunday, early afternoon. Already have a slip waiting for us at the Sandwich Marina and since the Canal tide would be totally against us in the afternoon we will head thru on Monday morning and get into Newport sometime late day.
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10/18/2011, Booth Bay Harbor, Maine
It's TUESDAY...after 3 days of weather delays, the winds FINALLY died down last night and the seas, while a little high (5-8ft) this was our weather window to drop that tether to mooring #2398 and head SW to Boston, then on to Newport after the rain storm predicted for New England Wednesday pm & Thursday...
We finally left P.C. under sunny, skies, 56 degrees, waving a teary yet excited adios to John & Jane D, we were pleased with only 1-2ft swells but breezy winds...where you ask? ...yep...18-20 mph on our nose...but the "iron jenny" was humming. Once we got out of Hupper Island eye shot, the seas picked up to be pretty lumpy and we were going only about 2.5 knots!!!!! It almost felt like the Hupper Spirit wasn't quite ready for us to leave. We took the sails in (main was already reefed) as straight on the nose, they really weren't helping... It took us almost 2 hours just to get to Monhegan as the seas were now easily 6-8ft with an occasional BIG one that just slapped us right on the port side of the nose! Getting past the red can by Monhegan, Rob was increasingly concerned of the smoky exhaust and thought...hmmm bad impeller, as well as the line holding the boom slipped and it "bounced" on the solar panel...so we secured the boom to deal with it at a later time. After about an hour, we decided to head to Booth Bay, as our speed was still only holding at 2.5 knots...HALF OF WHAT WE HAD PLANNED...and needed to get to Boston by noon on Wed, before the really heavy rain was forecasted.
We arrived here at Booth Bay about 2:15, an hour and a half longer than it normally would have taken...BUMPY! Miracle worker and cracker jack mechanic, Captain Rob, discovered a HUGE blockage in the intake thru hull, which took care of the engine issue, he put a better knot in the tie off for the boom, so that should be fine and the alternator, well now it's working!!! Unfortunately it is now 4:15 and NO WAY are we leaving tonight, and by Thursday noon it "should be blowing like stink" (in the words of the Island Packet Yacht sales owner here, whom we had met at the Rockland boat shows and a rendezvous back in 2009. SO we will sit here for yet another weather window...with any luck it will be Friday?!?!?! So NO BOSTON... and it's 20 hours (at 5 knots) just to the mouth of the Canal from here.
We have now poured ourselves a cold one and will have our soup for dinner and turn in early tonight, we are both beat.
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10/15/2011, Hupper Island
I just can't believe it's mid October 2011!!! So much as been accomplished, yet there is much to do. So many people we have enjoyed spending time with here on Hupper, yet so many people yet to meet. We truly love Hupper Island and have spent the past 2 years and 4 months enjoying life, friends, happy hours, parties and the very special feeling of being independent, calm and living with nature on an island. "Once you've slept on an island you'll never be quite the same!" This holds so true once you've slept and spent some time on Hupper.
We are preparing Triple Stars for our trek south to Rhode Island, joining the NARC rally to Bermuda, continuing to St. Martin. Ahhhhh, if there's one thing better (or at least just as beautiful) than the 1st new snowfall in December on Hupper, it must be the 1st white sand beach you set foot on in the BVI's in December! The rain and 30+mph winds and 6-9ft seas have delayed our departure until at least Monday. BUT still plenty of time to make our stop in Boston and head to Newport by the 24th.
We are very proud of the work we have done and definitely look forward to the next phase of projects when we return. Rob's vision and plans have come to reality and with the help many...Dana Meklin, contractor; Jon Gallagher, plumber; Cory & Jimmy of Carney Electric; Alan Willbergh, friend & carpenter; Steve Thomas & Terry Eifert, fellow Hupper friends and most of all Jerry & Joanne, spending EVERY vacation day here on Hupper with their sleeves rolled up, work gloves on and Aleve close at hand.
Here's to a well deserved change of scenery and a safe and exciting new chapter in the Andersons' Cruising Adventures.
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