County Girl Delivery

We helped friends Bill and Annette Newberry deliver their new Beneteau 36.7, "County Girl" from Harwich MA (southern Cape Cod) to Falmouth on Saturday / Sunday April 28/29. I wasn't looking forward to the trip because the weather can be so cold and miserable this time of year. It was a little less cold than I expected and nowhere near as miserable, even though there wasn't a lot of sunshine. We got in some great sailing.

I had my Blackberry with me and was able to give a running email logbook for Dad. Below are some excerpts.

2:50 PM. 41 39"N 70 41"W. Just south of Cape Cod Canal. Heading 035 @ 7 knots under power.

Overcast. Areas of patchy fog. SSW winds 5-8 knots.

Had sails up earlier but wind has lightened and its dead aft right now. Expect to be in the canal in about an hour. Once out of the canal there's still over 100 NM to go. Falmouth ETA Sunday mid-PM.

Had to stop at mouth of canal while train bridge came down. Now back up and we are proceeding. 3:49PM. 10.9 kts heading 075.

3:35PM. Entering canal. Under power. 7.5 kts thru water. 10+ knots over the ground. Tide coming in flows S to N.


4:30PM. Thru the canal. New heading 023 degrees. 106 NM to the next mark off Cape Elizabeth. Land is falling away to the NW as we travel NE. We'll come within 13.5 NM of Cape Ann but that's as close as we'll get to any until Cape Elizabeth.

Winds 0-5 kts SE. Hazy sun. Visibility 5 miles.

Water temp south of the Cape and in the Canal +/- 55F. Expect it to drop to low 40s by the time the trip is over.

12:05AM. Just got off 3 hour watch.

Wind came up from S after dinner and just before sunset just N of Plymouth. We set main and genoa and killed engine. After about 15 minutes we set spinnaker for first time. Wind built to about 16kts. We were making 7.5-9.0kts. Took spinnaker down at 11:30 as wind came ahead to SE. Still making same speed. We are E of Gloucester approaching Cape Ann. Light fog limiting visibility. Doubt deck watch will see Thatcher I light.

Not too cold as wind has mostly been behind us. A little chillier now that it has come abeam. 3/4+ moon gave us some bright light for a while and saw a few stars. Moon, stars obscured now but still not a particularly dark night.

8AM.

Got up at 5:30. We were just off Boon I (Kennebunk). Motorsailing. Went on watch @ 6. Turned off engine and rolled out headsail at 6:30. Now about 5NM from mark off Cape Elizabeth.

Wind E 15kts. Overcast, but 10NM visibility.

Should be at mooring before noon.

10:50AM. Docking at PYC.

Vacation at Chez Suzie

Had a great April vacation week at Susan's. The kids spent a lot of time lounging around her pool as evidenced by the picture below . . .



OOPS . . . wrong picture. Here are the kids.



In addition to pool lounging, we went to the beach two days, went to Busch Gardens and ate and ate and ate . . . Thanks Susie!

April 4/5 Snowstorm

It is not entirely evident from the accompanying photo --showing the foot of snow that fell last night -- that sailing season is just around the corner. It's about a month until the docks go in at PYC and 45 days until the 24s launch.

This is my least favorite time of year in Maine. By the end of this month, there will be leaves on the trees 200 miles south in CT and NY and very nearly so 100 miles south in MA. Not in Maine; we'll have to wait another 2 or 3 weeks, well into May, before the arrival of Spring is evidenced by the emergence of greenery.

Right now the water temperature in Casco Bay is about 38 degrees. It will be well into June before it reaches 60 degrees. That means that even though we'll have leaves on the trees on land, when you're on the water, it is still going to be darn cold.

Ahhh . . . but summer makes it all worth it.