Tropical storm, paddle boarding and Martha’s Vineyard

This post is being composed on ‘the morning after’ - not after a heavy night out celebrating I don’t know what, no, but after coming through a tropical storm whilst attached to a mooring in Oak Bluffs Harbour, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Quite an experience, yes, and one I would not want to experience whilst out at sea. Fortunately the weather forecasting now is so accurate, we knew what to expect. See below a screenshot taken this morning after the storm had passed us (our position shown by blue dot) showing how close Hurricane Dorian had passed (courtesy Deborah).

On Friday 6 September: we had 25-35 knot winds with up to 50kt gusts, with at least 2” heavy rainfall, as forecast. Skipper had taken many precautions over the preceding couple of days, including: attaching boat to mooring with a stainless shackle plus two extra lines, removal of all items on deck that might catch the wind, wrapping of lines around the foresail, the mainsail bonnet and the bimini cover, covering the deck-mounted navpod, and removal of all items and outboard motor from the dinghy. 

As we were finishing our supper aboard yesterday evening, we felt the boat begin to roll; at 19:30 the wind was 20-25kt, maximum gust 33.4kt. At 22:40, with the boat swerving back and forth, straining at the mooring, we prepared to retire; wind now 25-35kt, max seen 36.6kt. However, sleep was slow to come, and was at best shallow when it did - it’s hard to get comfortable when the boat is shifting about so much, side to side and up and down - reminiscent of our Atlantic crossing almost 4 years ago - and there is an intermittent graunching noise, with the occasional sudden jerk, all night long. Eventually, about 02:30, when one felt the storm had reached its peak, sleep arrived. At 06:00 the wind had turned to the north and calmer conditions prevailed; the max wind gust during the night had been 41.9kt or force 9, classified as ‘severe gale’. Thank goodness we had not been out at sea for this!

Prior to this tropical storm experience, we had enjoyed 3 days of lovely weather. On Tuesday 3 September we had sailed up Vineyard Sound from Cuttyhunk island where we had anchored overnight following our passage west through the Cape Cod canal 2 days earlier. Timing our arrival in Oak Bluffs Harbour on Martha’s Vineyard for the day after Labour Day, there were plenty of moorings available. Fortunately for us, our good friends Lee and Deborah who are also here on their yacht North Star V, know this Island very well and were able to ‘show us the ropes’. This included swimming off the beach - a girls only activity - and paddle-boarding. Deborah demonstrated how it was done and encouraged First Mate to try it.

First we used it as a kayak just to get the feel of it, then it was time to go solo. Kneeling on the board was fine but trying to stand up? 

Well, the most inelegant of postures were required in the effort ... the knees shake uncontrollably and just turn to jelly as soon as you try to stand on your feet. Take it from me: it’s not easy! The first three attempts resulted in a ducking. On the fourth attempt a standing position was achieved for a few seconds with a couple of strokes of the paddle but the end result was the same: another ducking. Never mind - at least I had managed to stand. I can imagine it would be a fun activity but... more practice required!

Once the storm had passed, everything settled down. Follyfin’s crew was treated to a tour of the island by Lee in a car kindly loaned by a friend of his. Menemshah, on SW corner of this triangular Island is lovely but the docks there were still showing evidence of the tidal surge following the storm.

Next stop was Edgartown on the SE corner of the island. From here the tiny ‘Chappy’ ferry plies the channel to Chappaquidick Island.

Apart from the notoriety associated with that name (editor’s note: quiz question for our younger readers), Edgartown itself became very wealthy on the back of the whaling industry in the 19th century - as shown by the opulent residences all over the town.

All in all, it’s a beautiful island. We leave today, Sunday 8 September, heading west back into Long Island Sound towards New York.

Not just the sailing capital of the world, and...

A fish! Yes, we finally caught one yesterday, Wednesday 12 June, on passage from Newport, Rhode Island to Hadley Harbour where we are now sitting out yet another band of rain and high winds. It was a beautiful Bluefish (aka Snapper) weighing in at about 3.5lb:

and it made tasty eating with plenty for another meal too...Skipper didn’t find it as flavourful as First Mate though.

Newport, Rhode Island (RI) claims to be the sailing capital of the world. It is indeed home to some of the most beautiful classic yachts we have ever seen. We were last here just over a year ago to witness the start of Leg 9 of the Volvo Ocean Race (see blog post ‘Racing Boats of the Giant Variety’ published 23 May, 2018) but IMHO, those modern boats are built only for speed, not beauty and elegance. But as I was saying, whilst ashore exploring Newport, we came across another claim for Newport being an even more (?) sacred place, i.e. where the US Open Tennis tournament all began a long time ago, before it became so big and had to move to Forest Hills. As tennis is second only to sailing in my list of active sports, this blogger just had to have a photo...of the famous court too. Reminiscent of Wimbledon Centre Court about 60 years ago?

There was also time for us to complete a large portion of the famous Cliff Walk, along the SE corner of RI. From here glimpses can be caught of the many large mansions which were built by wealthy Americans during the boom years of the early-mid 1800s. One could be forgiven for thinking oneself in the Loire valley in France when viewing some of them. Over the succeeding couple of centuries many fell into disrepair, were renovated or remodelled and sold on several times, some into public ownership and a few to form the Salve Regina University. Some of course are still in private ownership, though the mind boggles at the cost of upkeep - modern mogul millionaires required!

Well, having popped out from Newport yesterday morning in full sunshine and light winds, we motor-sailed north-east into Buzzards Bay on the way to the Cape Cod Canal. The weather forecast for the next two days (today Thursday and Friday) was not encouraging so we opted to stop in this wonderful sheltered little harbour on the east side of the bay in the Elizabeth Islands. The entrance is a little tricky but once inside there are several free moorings, so no worries about anchor dragging in the forecast high winds. The Bosun also had a time-consuming job to perform on the rig and First Mate wanted a swim - the first of the season - so this was the ideal place. And now we are hunkered down, waiting for the gale to pass. Hoping to go through the Canal tomorrow, Friday, weather permitting. The only downside to this place is that the mobile signal is very weak and the Community WiFi (kindly provided by local home owners) is also too weak for me to publish this post at the moment. So will just have to wait until we find a stronger WiFi somewhere else. 

On passage headed East

Follyfin has at last had wind in her sails. We said au revoir to Lee and Deborah on Friday - sad to part but happy to be sailing again. There’s a lovely high pressure weather system over here at the moment meaning sunshine, gentle breezes and calm seas. Ideal for our first passage of 37nm to Duck Island anchorage. A pretty passenger helped to crew for us...

Sundowners on arrival were accompanied appropriately by a magnificent sunset

Yesterday (Saturday) a dawn start was required since the huge body of water that is Long Island Sound sets up strong currents and races on the ebb. Follyfin obviously prefers to go with the current rather than against, especially as an extra couple of knots over the ground eats up the distance faster. Whilst sailing on a broad reach - a very comfortable point of sail for Follyfin - the cry went up from the Skipper: “is it a fish?” First Mate was doubtful...

Indeed, the ‘catch’ proved a disappointment...

Never mind! We arrived at beautiful Fishers Island in excellent time for breakfast - not fresh fish alas but wholesome porridge instead. After a nap, the dinghy was commissioned and we went ashore to explore. A very quiet island is Fishers, the site of many multi-million dollar summer homes, most of which looked unoccupied at this time of year. It is definitely a holiday Island. You can just spot Follyfin in the photo below, happily moored to a free mooring buoy, the blue-hulled sailing yacht second from the left.

Today, Sunday, another dawn start was in order to cross out of Long Island Sound and into Block Island Sound, which is where we are now anchored in Great Salt Pond - a huge body of water enclosed on three sides by land. This island is a small speck of land, a U-shaped island midway between the E end of Long Island and Martha’s Vineyard. Many more facilities for holidaymakers here, unlike Fishers, as well as free WiFi outside the Library from where I will upload this post. But again, a definite holiday feel to this place. Nice - our proper holiday has begun!

Boston

A bracing sail brought us to the centre of Boston. What a view of downtown...

Now Follyfin is tucked up nicely in Admiral’s Hill Marina in Chelsea, about 2.5 miles from the centre of town. Follyfin is being left here for 6 weeks whilst we return to UK for some family events. So now we have 4 days to put away most of the things that we spent a long time getting out when we returned to the boat in mid-April - and as temporary crew have previously observed on more than one occasion, this is what sailing is all about! When we return in July we look forward to warmer, sunnier days cruising north towards Maine, exploring its beautiful coastline and islands.

Racing boats of the giant variety

It rained again on Saturday but the day was brightened considerably for us by Ami and Bob, the OCC port officers for this area. We enjoyed a nice time with them over brunch with nautical tales exchanged - one of theirs was horrific, but this is not the place to relate the details...important thing is they survived!

An early start from Stonington on Sunday 20 May was needed if we were to see anything of the Volvo racing boats taking part in leg 9 of the Volvo Ocean Race, starting from Newport - some 35nm east of Stonington. After heavy rain during the night, thick fog blanketed the area. Had we not had a purpose to our planned passage, we might well have stayed put but with RADAR and AIS, and a forecast of SW winds we decided to face up to the challenge. It paid off as Newport Harbour was reached by 12:30 but as mentioned before, sailing in fog is extremely tiring so we were a little wilted by the time we arrived. At times there was less than a quarter mile visibility.

The race started at 14:00. Every boat owner in the vicinity, not to mention a couple of ferries, seemed to be on the water to watch the event, and this energised Follyfin’s crew. Helmsman had to be constantly ‘on the ball’ to make sure no accidents occurred. Indeed, the race marshalls faced a big challenge just making sure none of the spectators strayed into the race course, let alone shifting the starting line buoys several times to take account of the changing weather conditions. Follyfin has never faced such a crowd before so it was somewhat disconcerting for her crew, especially after the tiring passage to get there. 

Below are two photos of our plotter taken about an hour apart. All the little triangles are other boats near Follyfin, shown as the bigger black boat icon. The ones outlined in red are deemed to be at collision risk with Follyfin!

It was worth it though. Luckily the fog cleared in time so we had a grandstand view (albeit occasionally blocked) of the seven competitors  - very large racing maxi yachts with massive colourful sails. The racers first sailed North up the east passage and under Newport bridge, turned and then tacked back down Narragansett Bay and out into Rhode Island Sound, thus passing us spectators twice. 

Next stop for them is Cardiff, UK - 3300nm in about 8 days time, so that’s an average of 17kn. Now that is travelling - Follyfin is lucky to average over 5kn, on a good day 5.5kn and maximum this season is 5.7. But as everyone knows, we are not racers...

This blog post is being composed as we motor sail from Newport into,Buzzards Bay towards Woods Hole on Cape Cod. Glorious sunshine today with a favourable but gentle wind - what a contrast to yesterday. It’s even quite warm for a change. [Kevin - if you are reading this, you made a good call to join us in July rather than May!] Plan to anchor overnight and then head through the Cape Cod Canal tomorrow, all being well.

Blogger’s note

Text above is now outdated...poor internet connection between then and now meant this post could not be uploaded promptly. In the meantime Follyfin has travelled up Buzzards Bay, anchoring overnight twice in Hadley Harbour and Onset Bay, has today traversed the Cape Cod Canal and is now safely moored on a buoy in Scituate. Excellent WiFi and showers provided courtesy of the very friendly Satuit Boat. Tomorrow, Thursday 24th May, we sail into Boston harbour, our final destination for this leg of the journey to Maine - until July.