Our friend Phil joined me (Bob) for the trip which started at 12:20 AM Saturday morning. Just to be responsible adults, we brought Phil's fancy offshore lifefraft from his boat over to Fujin. In the process, I almost inflated it as we pulled it out of the locker. That would have been an expensive trip-ending catastrophe!
Anyway, our intention was to get through the Cape Cod Canal before noon when the current switches against us. Phil and I raised the sails as soon as we passed Boston Light at about 1:30 AM and could turn a little to the south. We had a moderate but very steady wind and rode a fantastic close reach all the way to the canal. We rarely fell below 6 kts all night. We were dropping the sails to enter the canal at 8:30. Fantastic!
Other than being really quite chilly, you couldn't ask for a nicer night sail.
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| Sunrise nearing Sandwich, MA |
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| Clouds lit by sunrise over the canal |
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| Provincetown monument to the North East |
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| The first 103 miles |
Flying through the canal
At 9am, the canal was at peak current. With low revs on the engine we were making around 10kts. We were at the railroad bridge in about 40 minutes. I took the time to play galley whench and make us some breakfast. It was awful* I should never be allowed to cook breakfast again.
*my attempt to avoid cooking in the future
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| Taking photos in the canal while cooking breakfast |
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| Birding in the Canal |
Forcast says...
Great wind from... exactly the wrong direction. This was destined to be one of those arduous Buzzards Bay passages. We sailed a bit as we left the canal but as soon as we turned westward toward Newport, we had wind right on our noses.
We motored for a while and attempted sailing (with lots of tacking) a few times, but generally the last 30 miles down Buzzards Bay was pretty awful. Strong wind in our face and big breaking waves coming right at us. With the engine cranked, we were making maybe 3.5kts. I started not feeling so great. Phil "iron-stomach" sat calmly eating peanuts as Fujin got slammed in the waves. These last few hours before turning into Newport seemed to take as long as the previous 12.
Enjoy some Buzzard Bay sunset photos
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| To the eye, this looked like a painting on canvas |
Tricky entrance to Newport in the dark
It seemed to take forever but we were eventually able to make the turn north into Newport. It was about 6:30p and getting dark fast. Linda was already at (nice warm) restaurant at Bannister Wharf waiting for us. She helped us find where to go via cell phone. It's very hard to see anything in the harbor as you approach the town because everything is so lit up on shore your eyes don't adjust to the dark. Phil went to the bow with his powerful LED searchlight and kept shouting back collision avoidance instructions to me "port... port! PORT!!! HARD PORT!!!!"
Eventually we found Bannister amidst all the marinas and could see Linda standing on the fuel dock. I backed into the slip and felt a lot of relief.
Guest accommodations provided by...
Linda's friends Lori and Todd who live in Newport graciously put us up for the night. They were very concerned for our comfort but Phil and I probably could have slept on barbed wire that night. Next day, after a fantastic breakfast (way better than I could ever make**), conversation, and photo ops, Phil and I and our new crew addition Greg, boarded Fujin and headed north toward Bristol
**let's stick with that
The forecast was for light winds from the North. Bummer. We only had 13 miles or so to go so we figured we would sail whenever we could even if it was slow.
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| About to motor under the Newport bridge heading north to Bristol |
Fantastic Finish
As we passed the last island before Bristol Harbor, the winds picked up and turned westerly and we flew! At first we were thrilled to see 4kts on the display. Then we went for 5 and got it. Could we get 6? yes we got it. 7? Yes! we had a peak of 7.3kts. Rail was almost in the water. It was awesome to return into Fujin's birth-port under sail
Click here to see the whole photo album
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| 2011-oct-fujin-bristol |
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Fujin
With full sails on a light wind day near Boston Light
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