Relax Lah!

You know the drill – up early and motor endless hours in either no wind or wind on the nose watching for lobster pots….  Two exciting things did happen.  First (we think) we saw a sun fish; one of those huge floating flat disks that often cause keels or masts to fall off on Sydney to Hobart’s.  It was nosing about, munching on jellies no doubt, when we came close by.  It wasn’t fussed and kept on about its business, huge dorsal fin bobbing about in our wake long after we had left.  The next exciting thing was doing 9.8kts through the Cape Cod Canal.  Talk about a roller coaster ride – we had, at fastest & with a strong current, been doing 6.6kts along the coast!  Wahooeeeee!

Zipping along Cape Cod Canal

All this speed meant we reached Woods Hole in time to hear the Coast Guard announce a small boat alert and more storms.  Great!  We managed to secure a spot deeper into Hadleys than last time, much to the annoyance of a big blue power boat who came in on our tail.  Despite those warnings, we woke in the early morning to a mill pond, the other occupants of which did not appreciate our early (Saturday) morning engine noise and clanking 100 feet of rusty chain.  GS didn’t have to shout rude remarks to a deaf Cap’n as she hauled up the anchor, so at least they were spared that.

Passing Traffic on the Cape Cod Canal

We noticed that the sea water was changing back to a nice tobacco brown shade, the sun was warming and we were back to t-shirts & shorts.  A nice big swell was rolling in courtesy of Hurricane Igor, busy pummelling Bermuda, as we crossed sacred waters (America’s Cup battleground) out of Newport, Rhode Island and said a few quiet Hail Mary’s.  Perhaps one day the competition would come back to planet earth and sailing; money, ego and power, wouldn’t be the important things at stake.

River-side viewing from our cafe on Mystic River

The Motleys set their sights on Mystic Seaport and I think it might be safe to say that we actually did some sailing.  We surfed past Watch Hill into Fishers Island Sound along with a catamaran named “Breaking Wind” imagining their VHF radio conversations with officialdom.  This kept us amused for a good couple of hours until we pulled into Noank Village Boatyard, up a lazy Mystic River.  The Boatyard has the best hot showers!  Let me tell you, there is something special about free-flowing hot water in a generously sized cubicle that is reviving.  That and a nice cold beer set us up.  Just what the doctor ordered!

From: Scituate, MA  Lat/Long: 42 12N  70 43W  Date/Time: 18/9/10: 0620

To: Mystic, CT  Lat/Long: 41 19N  71 58W  Date/Time: 19/9/10: 1635
Time Taken: 113nm (17.5hrs)  Distance (this year): 1191nm (216.5hrs)
Distance Total (since 2008): 4831nm (915.5hrs)   Fastest Speed: 9.8kts**
Weather: Winds turning SW 10-15kts; Seas 3-5ft; Rhode Island Sound seas 4 -7ft
(**Cape Cod Canal of course!; then back to 6.6kts)