I’m living aboard in Vineyard Haven Outer Harbor on the hook, running my inverter to keep this Mac Book Pro charged.  I lovingly call it my “Amp Eater”. I’ll need to fire up the Yanmar soon to keep my aging house bank alive… a cycle that repeats itself daily. The 80 watt panel I bought can keep up with my Isotherm on a sunny day, but the laptop is just too much. I’m researching wind generators, and hope to get one soon… who needs a website?

Despite the broken foot, I got out for a second sail last week when Rosie and Darrah came down for a visit. Rosie soldered my radar cable connector at the mast base for me – he’s good with that sort of thing.  We ordered  a beautiful Amphenol 14 pin connector, that was large enough to work with fairly easily. It’s a Military Spec connector, and looks like something straight out of M*A*S*H*. Four hands makes precision soldering a whole lot easier.

We got out for a glorious sail the next day, in 15 knots and sunny blue skies. Avacado, Havarti and mustard sandwiches, along with Darrah’s homemade pickles filled our bellies with delight. We sailed east past Edgartown and Cape Pogue, towards Nantucket. I decided we should sail until we could see Nantucket, then we’d tack round and head home. Once past Cape Poge, we were in unhindered open ocean, with no land to heat up the breeze. It got chilly and a little swell began to pick us up gently, then lower us down carefully between the small, yet long peaks. As I gazed forward wondering what Nantucket would look like, trying to recall its features, I noticed a patch of tan colored water, and thought — odd… Then suddenly I realized tan water = sandy = shallow! I grabbed the chart and took a look. “FOUR FEET – WHAT THE ?!” Indeed, out past the point in what should be deep ocean water between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket there are shoals-a-plenty that are often in the single digit depths. Well that was close enough for me, “Ready About!”, and homeward bound we set our course. On the way home we sailed by Valora, a daysail schooner, which Teresa captains. We tacked round and took a few pics for their brochure and print ads I’ve been working on. One of their passengers snapped a quick phone-photo of Elizabeth.

Finally back to some sanding and varnishing this past week… boy did that feel good. I missed the old 80 grit, and paint brush routine. Glad to see the coamings begin their journey towards 10 coats. 2 down, 8 to go. I’m using Epifanes Rapid Clear, for quick build up. I might try a top coat or two of Bristol Finish over this…not sure still.

Another finally… the name! It’s official now. Still homeport-less, but that’s OK. It’s slightly crooked and off center, I really have a hard time when there’s no “command-Z”, but I figure it’s just perfect as is. BCC Mommy is alive! Elizabeth is my mom’s middle name. I’m looking forward to sailing down to Stony Brook Harbor soon to put some flowers on her memorial in the rose garden at Knox.

Elizabeth finally  got out for a sail on Sunday. I made my goal of getting out sailing by June… June 28th. Perfect conditions for a shake down: 10-15kts, partly cloudy, 1-2′ seas. We bombed out for a few hours, took a few tacks, a few pics, ate some chips & salsa and sipped on some Vanilla Chai Tea. I was grinning from ear to ear as I finally saw these sails go up and start drawing. My friend Willy came out with me, he has been helping me with some of my recent projects, and was happy to take a break from working on his wooden boat.

Now, I work feverishly to prepare for the sail to Boston and Maine. I need to have the Monitor Windvane rebuilt and installed, the Simrad Tiller Pilot installed and the solar panel mounted securely to the railing so that I can store the dink on the cabin house. Plus a host of other odds and ends. The work never ends!

Forecast: SE 25-35kts with gusts to 45kts. Lets Go!

I kept a close eye on the weather, and found a 36 hr window of light winds, calm seas, and 60º highs nestled in between two New England Autumn Gales. Perfect! Once again Passageweather.com was my main source of weather info and proved to be very accurate.

We had the good intention of leaving Thursday afternoon to get a jump start on the trip. But by the time I discovered the fresh water had been shut off to the docks, had moved the boat to another dock and run out 5 hose extensions, the sun had set, and I decided the first time out on my handicapped boat would be better left for daylight. Our last line came aboard at 0612 on Friday while the kerosene heater melted the frost off the cabin top. We motored out through the crisp 35º mist, as the sun rose above the trees on the eastern shores of the Danvers River. I made the call to the two swing bridges on my handheld VHF “…this is the sailing vessel Elizabeth, uh… well, I don’t actually have a mast up – so I’m not really a sailing vessel”, and heard the reply, “Ok Cap – whatever, just c’mon along behind that fishing boat ahead of you.”

Clear skies, light winds, and a long ocean swell from the previous few days’ strong winds set the stage for a very pleasant ride on our trip to the balmy southern climes of Martha’s Vineyard. I found she settled into a nice groove at about 2400 RPM’s where she made approx. 5.5 kts. The stuffing box was rather drippy, but nothing to cause alarm, at least I had good lubrication of the shaft…which felt good.

We made the Cape Cod Canal entrance at about 1630, 2.5 hrs before the favorable tide change. The Cape Cod Canal current runs at about 4.5 kts, so we anchored just outside the breakwater on the East side and waited for the unfavorable current to decrease. I thought it’d be prudent to try out the anchor during daylight hours, since I knew we wouldn’t get through the canal and find a safe anchorage in Buzzards Bay until well past dark. I found the riding pawl a little cumbersome while dropping the anchor. I’d be curious to learn how others secure their pawl in the up-position for an unhindered “drop”.

The Buzzards Bay side of the canal was typically nasty. The opposing breeze and current always makes for a sloppy exit. We shipped a few steep waves and stuck the end of the mast through a few white caps, but nothing on deck got loose or moved. We found a pleasant anchorage on the Eastern shore of Buzzards Bay in the lee of Scraggy Neck, and settled in for the first night’s sleep aboard Elizabeth. How cozy she seemed to me now, after so long of being nothing more than a storage shed for tools and toxic coatings.

One system I hadn’t sorted out yet on Elizabeth was the head. We used the tried and true “bucket method” for this trip and I was pleasantly surprised at how convenient it really is. I even began to think I might remove the head altogether – so much simpler, and simplicity is where it’s at these days. Teresa is a veteran bucket sailor, having worked for Outward Bound for many summers on the Pulling Boats in Maine.  But that’s enough Potty Talk for now… more on this subject later.

Captain Garth Wells contacted me a few weeks ago, when his mate quit unexpectedly. I agreed to fill in for the last two trips of the season on the Lewis R. French out of Camden, Maine. The LRF is the first boat I ever worked on, and is still my favorite schooner around.

We had a pretty rainy 10 days, but the trips were excellent inspite. My poor little computer arms and hands suffered hard when I had to pull heartily on the throat halyard those first couple of days. How soft we get. The trip was a re-awakening for me, a reminder, a fresh breath of air. The focus on the task at hand and the lack of distractions…the hard physical work, and the cold autumn winds… it all cleared the mind’s clutter. I once again learned that simple living, combined with physical team-work is what humans are built to do. I’m reading “Better Off: Flipping The Switch On Technology” by Eric Brende, a fantastic book about how technology has fragmented our lives and displaced us from our own native capabilities. He illustrates that  less technology actually increases and enriches our leisure time; our physical and emotional health. I was able to draw many similarities between his story about living in a technology free community and sailing aboard a schooner bult in 1871.

On a seperate note, Teresa and I got out for the 24th annual Gloucester Schooner Race this year, and it was fantastic. NW 15-20, clear skies, 1-2′ seas… couldn’t ask for better conditions. Amongst the schooners were two of my alma maters: The Westward, and The Roseway. I’m looking forward to my 10 days aboard the Lewis R. French in a few weeks… and some decent tonnage time always helps with the license renewal.

There were quite a number of smaller schooners racing, but the large schooners represented were: Bluenose II, Virginia, Westward, Lettie G. Howard, Roseway, Alabama, American Eagle, and Liberty Clipper. Virginia won in the end, but not without a good fight from American Eagle who only lost by 26 seconds. All the pics can be seen here.

Well progress has really slowed here on Elizabeth! Damn distractions… At least this latest distraction was sailing related I figure. One good thing about this distraction was that it forced me to get the dink all waxed and the oars leathered. So… I have had a launching of sorts, however it wasn’t all that. I must mention, I’m not thrilled with the Fatty Knees 7′ so far. I think my oars are too long and heavy for one, but overall I find the boat a bit tender, a bit wet in a chop and difficult to row with two people. I did tie up next to an 8′ model in South Freeport, and it is substantially larger and boasts significantly more freeboard and cargo capacity. This is the model the Pardey’s rave about.

The Sail to Maine was typically mellow and just like last year, as soon as we got into Maine waters, the fog settled round us… a fine welcome to Muscle Ridge Channel, yet again. The purpose of this trip to Maine was 3 fold, no wait, 4 fold: My good friend and brothers wedding in Lamoine, a Lyle Hess Rendezvouz, some shopping in Freeport and of course the Maiden Voyage for Daphne, Teresa’s new Nor’sea 27. All missions were successful.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and I’m overwhelmed with work to catch up on, I’ll let the photos do the talking and I’ll refrain from wasting too much time here tapping away. Have a gander at the photo gallery located here. Some teasers…