What I learned yesterday!
11 September 2007 | Plymouth, Mass
Jim Lea
Well, for one thing, I learned that we can motor, only slightly, into 35 knot winds, but not at all when they reach 40 knots. Then the bow just blows around. But more about yesterday later. On Monday, we left Biddeford Pool and motor-sailed down to the Isles of Shoals. It wasn't the most exciting day we have ever put in, since the coast line is not very interesting, and by sailing straight, we were about 10 miles off, so couldn't see much of it anyway. We arrived at the Isles of Shoals about 5 pm and were surprised to see two other cruising boats there. There are moorings put out by the Portsmouth Yacht Club that are available to non-members if no members are using them, and on a rainy Monday night in mid-September, there were no members in sight, so we picked one up. We had planned to go ashore to look around but with the dreary rain, we lost interest, and went below to cook Spaghetti Bolognese, a favorite for poor weather. By dark, three other cruising boats were moored, and next morning when we left, another had come in, for 7 of us in total... quite amazing for the time of year. Yesterday's sail across Stellwagen Bank, takes us through the feeding ground of whales, and, as we have whenever we crossed it before, we saw lots of them. But no mater how many we see, we are still fascinated by their huge size. We left Isles of Shoals early so that we could make maximum use of the north-easterly winds, and had a great sail across to Cape Anne. By noon, the wind began to veer earlier than forecast, and we realized that we couldn't reach Provincetown, our destination, without a lot of windward sailing, so we changed course for Plymouth, giving us a close reach in the now south-east wind. And we nearly made it! The forecast was for the wind to continue to veer in the evening, settling into the west at 20-25 knots. That actually made Plymouth a better choice, as we could then just run down the shore in the lee of the land to the Cape Cod Canal the next day if we wanted, rather than plow to windward for 25 miles from Provincetown. But that is all just theory, because the wind went into the west earlier than forecast, and as it did so, when we were still 5 miles off the entrance to Plymouth harbor, a squall blew through with the winds gusting as high as 42 knots. And with the wind was the heaviest rain I have ever experienced. Blowing across the water, it looked more like a snow storm than a rain storm. It had been raining heavily for most of the afternoon, but now it was unbelievable. We saw the squall approaching, so had the sails down, and were close enough to shore that the waves weren't too big, but we had no choice but to just motor into it and wait it out. So when we finally motored into Plymouth, we were ready to go below to dry out and have a quiet evening. Coming in, we passed the replica of the Mayflower, built in England and sailed across the Atlantic a few years ago. It certainly doesn't look like anything I'd cross the Atlantic in. We've decided to spend the day here, and wait out the strong westerlies, do some grocery shopping and see the sights. Then tomorrow we'll go through the Cape Cod Canal into Buzzards Bay and to the Newport Boat show on the weekend.