Or maybe “Well That Wasn’t so Bad After All”.
Although I’d taken Evenstar off shore and out of sight of land when she came home from Florida that was done with seven other friends, several of whom had off shore delivery experience. Back then I didn’t know the boat and how to handle her as well as I do now, but having others around that seem like they know what they are doing is a big confidence builder. While we were well over 100 miles off shore on that trip we’d not likely go more than 30 miles offshore on this one – but out of sight of land it looks the same wither way.
After throwing around ideas for getting Evenstar to Maine early to maximize our cruising time there we decided that it would be best if we brought her ourselves. We certainly could use the experience and logistically it was becoming quite difficult to get my act together to have the boat ready to go a week earlier for delivery with everything else that was going on. The call was made to take her ourselves, stopping in Provincetown on route to break the trip up.
Due to a commitment on the Friday before departure we weren’t able to leave until Saturday morning, which as it turned out worked out better with the Cape Code Canal currents. Getting to Provincetown was an uneventful, almost dull trip under power. Light winds either in our face or nonexistent the whole way there. We’d invited our parents to meet us there for dinner at the Lobster Pot, which in spite of the exterior that screams “Tourist Trap” in huge red neon cooks one of the best bake stuffed lobsters I’ve ever had in a restaurant and I knew my father had to try it.
After a nice brunch with my parents on Sunday they left for home and we headed back to the boat. Our plan was to leave around 2:00 (1400 in non-lubber time) in order that we arrive at mid morning. Coming into a completely unfamiliar harbor after a long trip in the dark was not something we had any desire to do. The winds were picking up throughout the day, and a storm was predicted to come through Provincetown that night so we were happy to leave.
With predicted 15 knot winds from the East that were supposed to turn more Northerly towards morning we hoped to be reaching for most of the trip. The stay sail was rigged and ready on deck as we headed around the tip of P-Town. For the non sailing readers – the staysail is a smaller sail that goes inside the large head sail on the front. It is very useful when heading across the wind, but not too useful heading down wind and can actually be quite a hindrance when trying to sail up wind as it does not let you sail as close to the wind.
As we rounded Provincetown and got on our course for Maine the wind was perfect, an easy 15 knots with some stronger gusts right on the beam of the boat. With all sails set we took off and were easily able to maintain eight knots of speed or more across the Stellwagon Bank.
We were fortunate to see at least half a dozen Humpback Whales as we were crossing Stellwagon, but they were pretty far off in the distance. The children were thrilled though and kept a sharp lookout for hours for any sign of whales and dolphins. Although Humpbacks are known to be curious and friendly this time they just weren’t interested in checking us out.
The breeze held nicely as night fell, and the adults began switching off who was on “watch” although neither of us really left the cockpit. There is a distinct advantage to sharing an overnight passage with an Obstetrician – unlike me she’s used to being functional all night. As the night progressed the wind began to build, we reduced some sail and still were flying along averaging eight knots through the moonless night. Throughout the night the wind did vary in strength, sometimes causing us to shorten sail other times dropping our speed and making us let out more sail area. One really nice thing about Evenstar’s setup is with a furling main and a furling jib reefing (make the sails smaller) is something really easy to do without leaving the cockpit so you think nothing of it. The only sail we’d need to leave the cockpit to deal with was the staysail.
As the night wore on we saw very little traffic, a few commercial ships but nothing ever close. The most interesting was playing ring-around-the-rosy with a fishing boat. This particular boat visible for miles with it’s bright lights, so much so that we thought for a while it was a private signal buoy we expected to see out in the middle of nowhere. As we got closer the buoy kept…moving. Steering a boat straight under sail in the dark on a moonless night with 4-6 foot waves is not as easy as it sounds, and in the dark the autopilot is generally better at it than I am since it doesn’t have to keep looking at the compass. With no frame of reference it’s easy to get disoriented. So when you CAN see something like a buoy you get very excited because you can look at it and use it to check your course.
Unless that buoy is actively setting and retrieving nets.
As we got within a couple of miles we began to suspect this wasn’t a buoy so we started taking evasive action. And he kept turning at, making “crazy Ivan” turns back and forth. Of course this is normal fishing behavior that I saw on the trip back from Florida, but it doesn’t make it any less disconcerting at 2:00 in the morning!
About 5:00 in the morning the wind finally started to veer North. It was at this point that the staysail became a problem. We’d entered into the area where the North Atlantic and the outflow from Penobscot Bay were starting to mix together and turning into a very confused sea state. With the wind swinging North, for the first time we could no longer hold our course and maintain sail. The problem was they staysail – with it up you lose some of your “point”, the ability to sail close to the wind efficiently. So just when we need to point we couldn’t do it so well and we were losing speed. With an hour and a half or so to go until the sun came up it just didn’t make sense to go out on the foredeck an pull the sail down on the dark, pitching deck. So we sailed as best we could until the sun came up then ventured up to the spray and foam covered foredeck to douse the staysail and secure it.
The wind still continued to head us (swing the wrong way!), so with about an hour and half left to go we dropped the sails and pointed the boat dead upwind under power. With all the chop and slop it wasn’t fast, but we were close enough and had sailed 90% of the way.
Then the lobster pots started. This was our first experience with Maine lobster parts. We have pots around here, and they’ve always seemed a nuisance. After two weeks in Maine I have to force myself to remember that we even have pots here in Rhode Island. Based on the density of lobster pots in the Maine waters one can only conclude that there must be spots where the entire bottom of the ocean is just a crawling and scuttling carpet of lobsters on the march.
Eventually we worked it out, four pairs of eyes make it a lot easier to see them and they are sort of in lines you can thread your way between. Sort of.
We finally pulled in to Tenant’s Harbor around 9:30 a.m., pretty much as predicted, and picked up a mooring, grabbed some breakfast and settled in for a nice long nap.
Overall – a fun, fast trip with minimal fuss.
