"Trust Me enough to let things happen without striving to predict or control them. Relax, and refresh yourself in the Light of My everlasting Love...Rather than fearing your inadequacy, rejoice in My abundant supply. Train your mind to seek My help continually..." Jesus Calling from today Oct 10th

Our stay in Scituate has been an exercise in Trust and an opportunity for God's abundant supply. But today we were planning on leaving town and heading south! Such promise and excitement, so many updates to post and wonderful weather to enjoy...perfect weather in fact for a sail to Cape Cod. But God had other plans!

Our rebuilt starter was late in arriving. Our 26 nm journey to the Canal was supposed to start at promptly 10:00 a.m. (according to our plans) and now it was in jeopardy.

Then a funny thing happened on the way back from the showers. While waiting for Jami to finish up, I met someone new. A mom and her adult daughter entered the office and the mom and I struck up a conversation. They were from Maine and the daughter was heading south to Florida and the Bahamas all alone before entering college in a year! We got talking about the canal, both of our next stops, and it appeared as though one of us had our times wrong for the best time to move through it from East to West. I had a hunch it was me. After getting back to the boat, Dan and I realized that in fact my take on Eldridge's tide book was backwards. This mother/daughter sailing duo had it right all along. By now, I was convinced that this was the reason we were delayed. As morning ebbed away, the only possible window for us to travel the canal today would be midnight...making it not possible at all.

Time for Plan B...Why not leave right after lunch and get to Plymouth Harbor a mere 15 nm away, leaving early for the canal Saturday. A noon entry would be ideal to allow the flooding waters to carry us through to the other side. All we needed was the starter in place and a running engine. But God had other plans! The engine, now complete with new impellers, fresh fuel filters, clean oil, added antifreeze and even a new starter...wouldn't start. Dan tried everything he could to get it running and absolutely NOTHING worked. By 4:00, we were out of options and I called the kids around the table to pray for Dad and our engine and guess what happened...it started right up! Perhaps it was the hour of charging Dan gave it that did the trick, but I prefer to think of it as God at work on the spot to teach my kids that prayer makes a difference in our physical world.

Time for Plan C...It was now nearing 5:00 p.m. and so another overnight stay in Scituate was at hand. You might think that our adventures ended there, but they were really just beginning! With a boat that now turned on, we could motor over to the pumpout and water station on the town docks and be ready to leave in the morning for a marathon motorsail to the Canal. The kids all "helped" filling our water tanks but when it came to pumping out our holding tank...they were nowhere to be seen. As we navigated away from the docks around 6:00 p.m., we'd completely failed to realize that the tide had gone out and there was now only a few feet of water left beneath us. We had essentially run aground feet from the town docks. Our only option was to wait for the tide to turn and lift us out of the mud. (This might be the first of many times we scrape bottom on the ICW further south, so I'm counting it as training).

Time for Plan D...A little after 9:00 p.m., we finally floated off the mud and discovered that was all we could do...drift. While I was moving the throttle and the gear shifter, we both noticed that we were making absolutely no forward momentum. The bow was slowly turning and drifting back in toward the dock. So, daring Dan, threw out a fender and leapt from the boat to the dock to pull us back in, preventing us from drifting into the other boats all nestled snug in their slips. And so, it's here that we'll stay for the night alongside the pump out station but with the Harbormaster's blessing.

As you can see, while many issues are being resolved, we're quickly finding we don't have all the answers. I'm thankful for the reminder today that relaxing and trusting in Him is what this journey's all about. Tomorrow, the training continues!

It's amazing the number of accounts in the Bible where great storms and shipwrecks were turning points in the history of the subjects they were written about. From Jonah on his way to Tarshish, the disciples near death in their fishing boats the night following one of Jesus' most miraculous signs of feeding the 5,000, to the 3 shipwrecks the apostle Paul endured through his life and the positive changes in the crew and his future readers that occurred. Why the sea? This is the subject of beautifully painted landscapes. Everybody wants a home by the ocean. Beaches are littered with vacationers throughout the summer from all over the nation. It's the subject of romances, it has a draw for us, but for some, it is also the reminder of death and turmoil.

Twenty-five years ago I was experiencing the first violent sailing day of my young sailing life. We were near the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine which just happens to be the location of the worst recorded shipwreck in Maine. The seas were 10 feet, the flute of the anchor got washed off the rail of the deck and was proceeding to pound into the hull of the schooner. The young deck hand on board pulled the wrong end of the jib sheet (which should have had a stopper knot) and now the jib sail was fiercely snapping freely in the wind out of reach. You know what I like to do when I'm overwhelmed? Take a nap! I learned a lesson on that day that has stuck with me; you can't take a time out when you're in the midst of a storm. If I was on a family vacation and the minivan got a flat, we would just pull over out of danger and deal with it. Sure, if the spare was flat we would have an inconvenient day but generally we would be out of harm's way. The sea, this alluring body of water that captivates all of us, isn't as forgiving.

n Tuesday September 30th, the Nicols family spent what started to be a good sailing day with favorable winds out of Boston Harbor. Our destination was Scituate Harbor on the south shore where we could receive some repair parts to our engine and other necessary hardware for our sailboat. The seas soon picked up and gave us an unexpected ride that was well documented by my three children. We decided to cut our journey short and stay the night in Cohasset Harbor. Cohasset is a picture perfect little harbor that you could just imagine spending a peaceful week of summer enjoying the ocean from your front porch. On this day the wind was blowing northeast and just funneled into the narrow harbor that would have been protected by any other wind. There was a small breakwater constructed that sheltered us from the large waves but does nothing to stop the wind. Kim was at the helm with the boat screaming on a downwind tack masterfully staying within the narrow channel markers and dodging all the other boats as she entered the harbor. She proceeded to turn into the wind so I could frantically take down the sails and pick up a mooring before the wind blew us into one of our new neighbors. There is nothing like the feeling of being tied on a mooring ball in a safe harbor after a day on the unforgiving sea.

After cleaning up on deck and tidying up below everything that wasn't stowed properly our hope for a celebratory meal out was squashed when we found out any restaurants close by or supply stores were closed for the season. We had plans to catch the ebb tide out early the next day (anything to help our limping engine) but when 6:00 AM arrived our boat was still being jerked around on the mooring with the same winds we left the day before. Today was to be a day of rest as we caught up on some school work, inside projects, and games.

The next day, Thursday October 2nd didn't "sound" much better but the weatherman declared there would be clearing skies in the afternoon and while the winds would be around 15 knots the seas would be about 2 feet. Once we got out of Cohasset Harbor and dodged all the ledges in the outer harbor it should be a decent sail on a broad reach tack. Our destination was only Scituate Harbor, a short 2 hour sail, where we could get our necessary engine parts and other supplies before taking the longer journey to and through the Cape Cod Canal on towards our next safe harbor.

We decided to leave later in the morning, still piggybacking on an ebbing tide, but getting closer to fair weather. We knew fairly soon that the weatherman wasn't on the coast of the south shore when he gave his report. Immediately we were faced with high seas once again but felt that once we got past the ledges and out of the channel things would be more manageable. The crashing of the waters over the rocks was intense and majestic. This time the boys were hooting and hollering in response to the ride. I chalked it up to a forced positive defense mechanism. Jami's expression wasn't quite the same as her siblings - maybe she was more realistic. We were hitting the waves head on, experiencing the tide ebbing one way and the waves rolling the opposite. In our case the waves were winning this fight of force. As a result we were going nowhere fast, this was not in our plans. The work done this morning on the engine in preparation of our short voyage seem to have little effect on the engine overheating. Putting sails up in these conditions would be a dangerous venture so the engine was our only life line which was not very comforting at this point. I was waiting for the favorable weather report but the seas were rolling in 10 to 15 feet and when I looked at the wind indicator I saw a consistent 25 knots. We shouldn't be here, but the question now was where to go; backwards through the mess we just came from where there were no services, or forward riding out the weather and the seas to a safe harbor where we can prepare for the next leg of our journey. Either decision would be declared foolish so we opted for the more positive one and ventured on.

Kim has detailed the account of our journey so I will spare you the particulars. As father, husband, provider, and protector of this beautiful and precious family I was responsible and vowed, if I can help it, to never put us through a day like this again. We were doing our best in the situation at hand but when you are victim of the sea you don't have full control, and there are no timeouts. Your only natural option is to turn your thoughts heavenward and submit to the God of creation and His mercy. The apostle Paul says to "pray without ceasing". I never fully understood that verse but today that's what I was doing. My hope was that the sea would immediately turn calm as it did for the disciples.

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm." ~Mark 4:38, 39

Unfortunately, our experience didn't end the same way as that biblical account. I can honestly say it wasn't the lack of faith because during our experience we saw power that was way beyond any of us. When you see power like that and you know the Lord God was the creator of the earth and all that is in it, your belief in Him is stronger than your trust in yourself.

Our engine didn't fail us and when we set our course to Scituate Harbor we were quickly moving forward, though the ride was still a bumpy one. Rounding into the second narrow channel in three days, Kim again expertly handled the helm as she literally road the surf in on her 39 foot boogie board. We found safe harbor once again and minutes later the fear any one of us had was quickly dissolved in bouts of laughter.

Why do we face trials and tribulations in life when a calm sea and a favorable tailwind seems like such a better option? James, the brother of Jesus, must have pondered the same question and addressed it in his letter to "tribes scattered among the nations":

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ~James 1:2-4

The goal is to be mature and complete, not lacking anything - how great is that! But the journey to that goal is the testing of our faith. Sometimes that testing needs to be forced, where our self-sufficient pride has to be put aside and we need to rely on the One who is bigger than ourselves. Today we all felt very small but I believe that our faith grew just a little bit larger.

As the saying goes..."Hindsight is 20/20"! Had we known what we were in for, we would have stayed home. But "home" is a tricky thing for us to define right now.

The marine forecast (for the day and the entire week to come) said 15-20 knot winds with gusts up to 25 knots with 2-3 ft seas. That sounded doable to Dan and I this past Thursday morning. There was an ebbing tide out of the harbor and a flooding tide into Scituate harbor and a favorable weather window that included sun in the afternoon. Who wouldn't want to go out in that? More pressing, however, was the lure of a safer, more secure anchorage in Scituate's inner harbor sheltered from the incessant NNE winds and services that met our needs. We decided together to leave Cohasset Cove at 10:00 a.m. and head to Scituate "just" 7 nm away.

While the wind and the waves were intense leaving the harbor, things got worse as we ventured further out (26 knts on the wind meter and 10-15 ft to the naked eye). The real trouble started about a ½ mile from Minot's Ledge Light. I'll digress here a bit for some background. Upon its completion in 1860, Minot's was the most expensive one ever built in the U.S. mainly because of how difficult it was to build and the enormity of the granite stones needed to make its foundation sure. The first lighthouse here fell into the sea and resulted in the death of both lighthouse keepers. Minot's was clearly built to saves lives since many have been lost over the years from shipwrecks and harsh storms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot's_Ledge_Light

Our journey through Cohasset's East Channel in the shadow of this life saving beacon and past the aptly named Willes Ledges, was becoming a little scary. Both Dan and I were thinking of turning around and heading back. It was at this point that everything changed, however. Joshua cried out..."THE DINGHY!!!" All five of us turned around and watched helplessly as our dinghy floated away on the waves. I was behind the wheel and reached out for the dinghy's tow line pulling up only the metal rings just ripped from the bow of our plastic inflatable. She was gone and we were paralyzed...for a minute...then pure adrenaline kicked in. We ordered the children to all get under the table so that Dan and I could more freely move about the cockpit for our impromptu "man overboard drill". Dan took the boat hook, extending it out to its max length and as Trustworthy and I circled the dingy, Dan made attempts to hook a loop or a line on her bow and sides. He managed to scoop up the front seat and storage bag but it was too routh for him to get a good handle on her. Our final try ended with the boat hook being ripped out of his hands as the dinghy pulled away from us and they both floated off on the next big wave toward East Willes Ledge.

By this point, we were fried and we'd been out only about an hour! I stopped circling the boat and straightened her out and headed for Scituate. I was going to get my family safely to shore and could tell from the chartplotter that we were only a few buoys away and were almost there...or at least that was what I needed to think . Looking back, I'm amazed that we were able to circle the dinghy for so long getting as close as we did in such high seas.

How anyone sails in rough weather without faith in God or trusting in the power of prayer is beyond me. I couldn't have functioned without the kind of peace that passes understanding from my merciful heavenly Father...all five of us prayed our way over to Scituate. But our journey wasn't over. As we approached the channel, we could see the waves crashing over the breakwater. Motoring in and through the first set of cans and buoys was like surfing on a boogie board at Hampton Beach after a storm! The cresting white waves were carrying us in and knocking us about at over 4 knots so I had to back off on the already overheated motor. What a relief to finally reach calm waters, shut everything down and bow our heads in thanksgiving...wondering if that's how the pilgrims might have felt too!

EPILOGUE: Without our dinghy last night, we were at the mercy of the harbor launch service. But they knew just where we could find pizza and ice cream to make good on our parental promises from the day before!

My Sailing Day Out of Boston Harbor

by Jeremiah. C. Nicols

It was terrible. The waves were huge. I was scared so much. Jami puked. She knew she was going to. I thought Dad was going to fall off the boat because the boom was going to hit him when Mom jibed by mistake. I was under the table in the cockpit most of the time. I thought it was the safest place because you can’t fall off the boat under there. It was raining the whole time. Jami was cranky like always. So was everyone else. The butter dish fell over so did a lot of other things. And that’s my sailing day out of Boston harbor into Cohasset.

The End!

My Last Day on Earth

By Joshua D. Nicols

The Nicols family left Boston Harbor on September 30th and we were sailing towards the south shore of Boston. As we were sailing I was down below playing on my tablet. When the battery ran out, I was forced to do school work. I started to get tired so I tried to go to sleep but I couldn’t because of the swells. Swells are big waves and in this case they felt like 10 foot swells. When sleeping didn’t work, my dad forced me to come on deck because he “said” it would make me feel better. So, I got my life jacket on and foul weather gear jacket on and went up on deck and huddled in the cockpit.

I started out feeling sick then started feeling better, then Jami puked and I didn’t feel good anymore. After 3 hours, we headed toward land and we moored in Cohasset and I got to live another day.

Stupid Boat

By Jami Nicols

Today, September 30th, we sailed from Boston to Cohasset Harbor and it was terrible. It felt like the waves were swelling twenty feet and I thought we were all gonna die. It didn’t feel good below deck. Joshua was shrieking louder than all of us because he hit his knee and felt sick. Once everybody was on deck in the cockpit, it felt a little better but now we could see the waves. I could see land, but it didn’t look like we were moving and I started to feel depressed because I just wanted to get off the boat and go home!

Most of the way, Jere's eyes were wide open and his face was one of sheer terror. I was staring into a bucket just hoping to throw up…it finally came. After some retching into my bucket, I felt a little better. It also helped that Mom and Dad promised me an ice cream sundae, which I’m still waiting for.

It was also the coldest day ever. I had shorts on which didn't help because the rain hurt when it came down on my legs, even though it was only sprinkling. I was screaming a lot of the way because I was scared, but who wouldn't be when they are on a very stupid and annoying boat. Well, we are all here now in one piece so that is good news.