Well, I promised my friends that I would write in the blog this trip and I don’t want to disappoint them - so here goes.
The first few days of the trip were absolutely miserable ones for me. In spite of taking the meclizine that TLC Pharmasave compounded for us I was sicker than I have ever been during rough crossings on Nelleke. I put that down to a combination of factors - a sour attitude and a high level of anxiety about leaving family and friends for the winter and I was absolutely exhausted from a busy few weeks and many sleepless nights.
I had carefully stowed all of our provisions and supplies following all of the same guidelines built up over many voyages on Nelleke but all of my cunning plans were for naught faced with the nasty conditions we experienced this time. When things started getting tossed around in the cabins we first tried to put things back just to have then tossed again and later on I said just bloody well leave stuff where it is as it will only end up on the floor again anyway. I recall closing my eyes at one point and thinking - please just stop tossing us around for five minutes so I can collect my wits and my heaving stomach. And - this is supposed to be fun - yeah, right!
At one point I was flat on my back, wedged in, on the bunk in our cabin still fully dressed in foul weather gear and deck boots trying to get a grip on my innards when Mike looked in on me and said that my idea of leaving the boat south and travelling to her in the fall was looking pretty good. Well, gloriosky! Thanks for telling me now!

The reward at the end of the crossing was coming in to the lights of Provincetown, MA, and being shown to a mooring by a really friendly and helpful tender operator. Mike has already ranted about the cost but it seems to me that we have to revise our expectations of what travelling by boat costs these days especially when not anchoring. The next morning we were picked up by the same tender operator and we had showers in a well appointed facility - ahhhhhh pure bliss! All that remained of my seasickness by that time were aching muscles slightly relieved by that steamy shower.

I would like to visit Provincetown again - during our short walkabout we saw beautiful tourist accommodations, white wicker furniture on wide porches, splendid fall and Halloween decorations, immaculate gardens and many interesting restaurants and shops. There is a ferry that makes the run to and from Boston four times a day apparently.

I had the inside of boat was pretty much put to rights inside by the time we headed out to make a comfortable run to Onset. I was amazed that nothing inside had been broken. The only fatality was an almost empty jar of a condiment we were introduced to by friends Lynn and Peter - a Asian mixture of crispy chilies in oil (Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp I think it is called - delicious) - when that was rolling around on the galley counter it managed to roll the top right off creating a slick of chili oil under everything else that was loose. “Clean up on aisle 3” required. Thankfully they had also gifted us a full jar that was safely tucked away.

Now about the repair of the jib - if we had to have a mishap like this at least it was during daylight. I had examined the ring and webbing that attaches the sail to the car and it looked fine when we put the sail in place on the roller furling before we left home. All of the pasting we received in the crossing allowed for the webbing to saw through on something and down floated the sail straight into the water. The two of us hauled it on board before anything snagged back around the propeller and then I went below and opened the ceiling hatch in the v berth - Mike stuffed and I hauled down the soaking jib into the berth and there it sits. I had a cursory look at it and it looks like I will be able to fix it. That repair will be a bit of a struggle in a confined area starting with muscling the wet sail from the v berth into the salon where the sewing machine will be set up on the salon table but with Mike’s help and heaps of patience it will get done. We used the Volvo that we have been lent to take a quick run into Marion where we visited the loft of Harding Sails -an interesting operation to see - they had long arm sewing machines set up in depressions in the working loft floor. Wouldn’t I love to have a machine like that but I can’t justify the cost. Sigh! From them we bought 50 feet of 2.5 inch Dacron tape to fix the full length of the leech - not sure how it happened but the leech line ripped through the edge. We also bought a couple of feet for the proper webbing to attach the ring to the top of the sail.

So, a bit about pastimes on board follows.
The crossing from Provincetown to Onset was quite enjoyable - beautiful weather and calm, thank heavens - I spent most of the time in the cockpit with my nose stuck in a book that had been recommended by Lynn and Peter - “Machines Like Me” by Ian McEwan. From the fly leaf “In his subversive new novel, Ian McEwan asks whether a machine can understand the human heart - or whether we are the ones who lack understanding”. It is indeed a thought provoking work of fiction and I can highly recommend it. Meanwhile we were being whisked through the Cape Cod Canal by the tidal current. I admit that I didn’t see much of the passing scenery as I was lost in the pages of the book, LOL.

I have been looking at the FaceBook postings of an event back home that I am really sorry to be missing - the week long Lockie the Lobster Knitting Festival hosted by Becky Williams of Becky’s Knit and Yarn shop in Lockeport - sigh, can’t be in two places at once but I am determined to attend next year. In an attempt to feel slightly connected to my friends at the Festival I have been working on a hat from “Saltwater Classics” - the new book by Christine Legrow and Shirley Scott. These lovely and spirited ladies are teaching at the Festival again this year and I wish I could have them sign my copy of their new book. Last year at the Festival they launched their best-selling book “Saltwater Mittens” and I treasure my signed copy. Both books celebrate the traditional patterns for Newfoundland knits and are bursting with stories and folklore - and fabulous photographs. Can you tell I am a fan? On board I have the trigger finger mittens that I made for myself last winter from the Mittens book - at least my hands were warm while I was seasick...

And that is enough rambling for now. It is really windy tonight and I am grateful to be at a dock rather than at anchor. I sure hope it calms down for tomorrow’s task of hoisting Mike up the main mast to release the jib car - it is definitely NOT the favourite boat job of either of us.