Perelandra Summer Cruise

Hello all,

I'm writing from aboard our sailboat, Perelandra, as we sit on a mooring in Cataumet Harbor, in the rain. We've had an adventurous couple of days so far on this our first real cruise onboard. We did a weekend to Scituate last year, but that didn't really count.

After spending the weekend getting gear on (and off) the boat, at Dion's Yacht Yard over the weekend (thanks Todd!), Dougie, Trevor and I took the launch out on Sunday at about 7:30 or8:00. The kids watched a movie on Trevor's Mac-book while I duffed around until about 11:00. Then to the bunk for an early start.
The sun was just up at about 5:00 am, so I fired up the engine and headed out of the harbor. One quick diversion to pick up the chart-kit off of the Elizabeth M (thanks Ump) and away we went. Of course, Doug and Trevor had no idea we'd left. They stayed in their bunks until I called them out at maybe 8:30 or so. We were passing through the outside anchorage, and there were a few ships there; an LNG and a container ship, and a small tanker, that finally got them out of bed.

There was no wind at all. We had the jib up for a few minutes, but it was just slatting around, so we rolled it up again and continued on the "iron Main" right through to Plymouth, arriving at about 1:00.

Deb, Paige and Jacqueline arrived at about 3:00, with Cheryl and Grace, who were dropping them off. Before they left, I had Cheyl run me down to the local package store for "supplies". Doug and Trevor took off on the kayak and the dinghy, while paige and Jacqueline got their gear stowed and they settled in.

The boys had taken a walk around Plymouth earlier, and had seen "Plymouth Pebble" as Trevor called it. The girls decided to stick around onboard. After a quick dinner of sandwiches and Macaroni salad, we left all four of them and headed into town for some milk for the morning, and then to the restaurant at the marina for a cocktail. Then back to the boat for a game of cribbage (Deb won, nearly skunked me) while the four crewmembers played Bulls__t, (except that they call it baloney sandwich) until lights-out.

This morning I was up at about 6:00, and checking the weather report. Deb had asked what the outlook was fot Tuesday, and I told her there was a chance of rain. Of course I forgot to mention that it was a 90% chance of rain... It wasn't much of a surprise in any event. The rain started early and was on and off all day. The folks at at Brewer Plymouth Marina didn't realize that the Clampetts had come for a visit!

The kids went to breakfast while Deb and I got ready to go. Lines let go at about 9:00 and we started steaming out. There was a pretty strong east wind and 4' -5' seas. After making the turn south outside of Plymouth harbor, we put up the jib and motor sailed all the way to the Cape Cod Canal. The ride was a lot of fun, but everyone was very glad to reach the canal, and to be out of the waves. Everyone was soaked through by that time, so once in the canal, it was time to go below for a change of clothes and some food, and the summer reading books came out!

Despite our late start from Plymouth, we made the canal with a fair tide, and were doing 9 knots the whole way through, which made for a quick trip. Once on the west side and past MMA, everyone went below and fell asleep, while I motored into Cataumet. We came through Pocasset Harbor, where the local kids were taking sailing lessons in the pouring rain, and by the time we arrived at Kingman Yachting Center, I was soaked through and cold. We picked up our assigned mooring, and here I sit, while the crew is either sleeping, reading or listening to their I-pods. We're headed in soon, for dinner ashore and some laundry already, since everything we have is wet!

More tomorrow... we went ashore at Cataumet for a bite to eat, and the laundry and then back aboard for a well earned rest and another full day tomorrow!