home again / Marathon Sail

I'm sitting on the mooring in Salem Harbor, having poured myself a heavy-handed Captain and Coke to celebrate the end of a successful cruise. Let's recap the events since my last post.

We were last in Hyannis, after a rough crossing of Vineyard Sound from Edgartown. Saturday morning was a treat; after waking up late at about 8:00 I ventured into town in search of coffee for Deb and I. I got back to the boat with two large coffees, one black for me and one regular for Deb, and everyone was just waking up. I was going to cook breakfast, but we decided instead to go out and have a real sit-down diner deal. Deb passed on the idea,wanting to have a relaxed morning, so the kids and I headed out. We were goiing to take a courtesy car downtown, but someone had grabbed the last car, so we hoofed it back into town, about a ten minute walk, to Percy's on Main Street. Perry's claim to have the largest menu in New England, and having seen the menu, I won't dispute it. We got a nice table outside on the second floor deck, overlooking Main Street. I had the chipped corned beef on toast, remembering how Nana used to make it for us when we were kids, and it was very good. Baked beans and home fries too... who could ask for more?. After breakfast, the kids went for a swim at the marina's pool, while Deb and I did a load of laundry. We still had some wet towels and clothes from the previous day's events.

Charlie showed up with Deb's car, and his sister and her kids in tow. They got a tour of the boat (took all of five minutes) and then headed to Charlie's house in Centerville to get ready for Grace's big tenthe birthday party. We showered and changed, and then headed to Charlie & Cheryl's house, with a pit-stop in between. I dropped Deb and the kids off on Main Street, to find some stuff for Grace's birthday, then proceeded to Star Market for some boat supplies.

We arrived at Charlies at around 3:30, and the festivities began. There was a water slide set up, along with the camper in the front yard, and plenty of burgers and beer for all. Kris and Mitch, with their baby Sam, and a whole contingent of New Jersey folks, and Josh and Chanda with their two-year-old Colten, and our friend Sue with her son Noah and many other "regulars" that Deb and I have met before. were there already, and having a ball.

It was great to see friends from NJ, who we hadn't seen since Christmas, but after I kicked Sue's ass at ping-pong (she'll deny it), and eleven o-clock rolled around, it was time to go. Mitch and his dog Frank gave Doug, Trevor and I ride back to the boat. We gave him a quick tour of the boat, and said good night. Deb, paige and Jacqueline stayed over at Charlie and Cheryl's house and drove back on Sunday.

I was up (miracuously) at 4:30 on Sunday morning, and got ready for an 0500 departure. We had to leave early in order to make the tide at the canal. I let the buys sleep in as we made our way out of Hyannis harbor. The fog had settled in nicely overnight, and visibility was under 1/4 mile as I headed out, with the laptop fired up and connected to the GPS, so I could fight my way out the channel. As we were headed out I noticed that the engine was throwing some white smoke...

... And as soon as I had passed the red #4 nun, the engine started to surge a few times and then died. I popped the jib right away, as the kids stuck their head out of their bunks, because of the change of sounds. I knew (and in fact had anticipated) that the rough crossing of Vineyard sound had stirred up all the shit (pardon the language) in the bottom of the fuel tank, which had the clogged the Racor fuel filter. We put up the mainsail, and after a few m inutes were steady on a course towards Falmouth Harbor and Woods Hole. I left the kids in charge, with a handheld horn and instructions to sound it if they heard any engine (or other) sounds, and went to work on the engine.

(Pause while I mix another drink)

I pulled the Racor filter and the tried to start the "mill", but of course having drained the filter, the engine was air-bound. I tried the manual fuel pump (isn't Perkins great) but no-dice. The old girl was being finicky. I had some hose onboard, but it was too big for the fuel-tank opening. Time to put on my MacGiver hat... so I took an old tube-worm fishing jig I had, and some rigging tape, and fashioned a tube so I could suck the fuel from the tank in order to top-off the Racor. Once I had filled it and put the cover back on (complete with new gaskets), we cranked the old girl and she fired right up. We let her run for a few minutes just to be sure that all was well, then shut her down and continued sailing towards Woods Hole.



The tide was against us as we hit Woods Hole, but we had the wind in our favor and with some help from the engine, made it through without incident. except that the Scituate Yacht Club arrived at the same time as us. We got through, along with the wakes of about 15 sport-fishing boats... but you can't plan for everything. Once outside, we were wing-and-wing on a southwest wind with the spinnaker pole keeping the jib in check. We made the canal on the fair tide as planned, and were at the east end at about 12:45.


We had planned to stop at Plymouth to pick up my friend Chuck McCauley for the last leg on Monday, but as it turned out, he wasn't able to make it. After about 30 seconds of consideration, the boys decide that instead of stopping, we should push for home. The wind was favorable for the trip, so I agreed. We made for a straight-shot to Marblehead, and the boys pretty much went to sleep, counting on me to make it happen.


Needless to say, we made it. As it turned out, we were going to miss the last launch so I dropped the buys off at State Street in Marblehead to Trevor's mom Jean, who drove them home. I then rounded Naugus Head and picked up Perelandra"s home-port mooring, and here I sit, contemplating another Captain/Coke, while trying to stay awake after an 18-hour day.If you have any comments, please put them uo ,quickly sind I'm nearly done with this blog, ands franlkly, am almost asleep after such a long day on the water...


So here I sit, alone and on the boat, cranking the Grateful Dead and ready for bed... Maybe one more Captain & Coke just to take the edge off....


Thanks for stopping by!