Bristol Channel Cutter Elizabeth

I always wanted to mount it this way. Makes it easier to walk on the boomkin to get to the  vane changes and removal. Plus I think it looks alot better, it hides alot of the SS tubing. One thing about the Monitor, it’s not the prettiest contraption on a BCC in my opinion. I’d love to have a Freehand Vane, they are  visually slick, and don’t disrupt the beautiful lines of the BCC quite like the Monitor does. However, my plan is to install a wind generator pole on the boomkin, which would inhibit a Freehand vane from spinning fully.

I solved my slipping gear issue on the Monitor by hammering the bronze gears closer together, as recommended by Scanmar. Looks like it will do the job.

The new head hose arrived, I can now complete the head & holding tank refresh…from which I’m currently taking a break to pen this post.

We spent 5 (five, fife, fiver) days in Atlantic City, NJ holed up in our boats, waiting out 2 low pressure systems that rolled through back-to-back, producing relentless winds of 25-35kts and steady driving rain. I managed to keep busy with work and barely minded the downtime. As my fresh food supplies dwindled, I began using my reserves… the food in the back of the cubbards I never ever touch, because, well, It’s really not my favorite, or I don’t really know what to do with it. Lentils fall into this category. But I managed to heat some split orange lentils and enjoy them tremendously, quite surprisingly. Our other big discovery in Atlantic City was Redbox, the one dollar video rental vending machine - rather convenient for rainy days aboard a 28′ boat.

With the first break in wind and rain, and we made plans to run for Cape May. That morning was spent grocery shopping while we let the seas settle down a bit. Anchors were aboard by noon and we were back out in the Atlantic by 1300 and bound for our last stop in NJ, after 8 days in the Garden State. Glorious sail under perma-reef main and jib, steered flawlessly by the Monitor.

Arriving at Cape May in the dark with plans to leave at 0600 the next morning, we didn’t bother rafting up or launching the dink for a post-sail-visit. We anchored, on the east side of the USCG station in 12′ and went to bed promptly.

The Delaware Bay has always been a motorboat ride and this trip up, was more of the same. We caught the AM tide and ran with it as long as we could. The tide changes later and later the further up the bay you get, so you just have to keep ahead of the change in tide and you maintain a favorable current the entire way through to the C&D canal… not hard, as long as you maintain about 6 knots! We had no wind but were able to make 6 knots underpower with the help of the current.

The C&D canal… well, I used to love it. The first time I transited it, on the HMS Rose in ‘95, I thought it was great. Warm smells of industry, blossoms, orange lights… I don’t know why, but it seemed really neat at the time, must have been all the pine tar I was smokin’.  It’s a 2.5 hr trip on this boat - rather long, and well, almost boring. Too bad there wasn’t any large vessel traffic, that always keeps it exciting. The sunset over the canal’s west end was lovely however.

Jersey… I’ve always sailed right on by; a long, monotonous coastline. Like the Jersey turnpike, you just count down the exits till its over. Of course, Jersey does have one thing going for it: Symphony X. But this trip has forced us to spend some time here, starting with Sandy Hook. We enjoyed a glorious run down the East River as the sun began to set. Not knowing where to go with a NW wind blowing 15kts, and some waves building in Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook didn’t seem like the best choice for anchorage. But after some fun sailing-reconnaissance in the dark under reefed main and jib I found a breakwater on the south shore of Raritan Bay, with plenty of room to anchor behind its lee… in thick black mud we discovered the next morning, as our gloves, deck and chain locker got covered in it.

With limited knowledge of the NJ coastline, I decided to pull out a publication our friends Lynne and Brian lent us. They made the East Coast trip last winter on their boat Three Sheets. In a bit of a panic for a place to anchor for the night, Skipper Bob put my mind at ease. Next stop: Manasquan Inlet I declared with a smile. Skipper Bob indicated a sweet little anchorage in a mysterious place called “The Glimmer Glass”…sounded cool to me. Only one caveat,  “The bascule bridge is a very tight fit for sailboats, as it doesn’t open very far.” That’s OK I thought, I was used to the Lagoon Pond bridge in Vineyard Haven, can’t be much smaller then that. Well when we arrived, we found an old rickety little bridge that indeed didn’t open very much at all! I was a little nervous, and didn’t dare look up at the mast while going through. But once inside, what a little oasis. Thanks Skipper Bob! We took all his advice and rowed the dink ashore to the beach by the railroad trestle, found town, and even fit in a movie - for the bargain price of $6 no less! No complaints about Manasquan, NJ.

Two days later, we hauled back our anchors and left the Glimmer Glass bound for Abescon Inlet, better known as Atlantic City; an ambitious run for us of 55 nautical miles. Winds were NE at 10 kts, but forecasted to diminish by afternoon…which is exactly what they did. But I did get in a chance to sail with the Monitor, which I must say has been steering rather poorly this whole trip. Something is still not right… another item on my long list of things that need attention.

Once again Skipper Bob steered us right with our anchorage in Atlantic City, from where I write now. Inside a narrow, twisty and shoaly cut between the reeds, north of the city lies a medium sized basin of 12-15′ of water with room for 10 or so boats. It’s a nice view of Atlantic City (which never goes dark) from here, but we’re surrounded by an insulating wall of Spartina. There are 6 of us here now riding out this gale. Last evening I set my second anchor, I call it my sleeping pill. This AM the gale persists and another low is following in its footsteps. We might be here for 2 more days as it blows 30kts+ from the North. But we’re snug as a bug… heater’s going, pancakes & bacon on our plates, hot tea in our mugs, and a chance to catch up on some work.

I knew it would happen someday. You always hope it’ll be a soft landing when it does. Thankfully this time was a soft, muddy landing at anchor in Setauket Harbor, NY. Nobody got hurt. But I’m a little more cautious now, and the lead-line and I have become better acquainted since.

We’re making progress, slowly but surely. And we found clams in Stonybrook Harbor, the harbor that I grew up on. It’s a hi-tide only entry into the harbor and we timed it perfect. Lots of people to see at Knox, the boarding school my father was headmaster at for 29 years… and it was quite the homecoming for me — litererally. I spent my summers clamming commercially here and they are of course some of my best memories. We also stopped to smell the roses at my mom’s Memorial Rose Garden… All in all a fantastic time at my old home beside the shore.

Yesterday we hunkered down in Cuttyhunk, while it blew 20kts from the West. We got ashore and explored. Took a walk to the highpoint on the island, snapped a few pics, enjoyed the view of the Vineyard, Buzzards Bay, and the expanse of water to the West. We stopped to smell some roses while we waited for the store to open. Great idea to only open the store 2 hrs a day, 1 hr in the AM, one in the PM. It makes shopping a social gathering. The island is home to 30 year round residents… pretty cool place.

Today we sailed. It was a lovely day for it, 10kts from the SW, with clear skies — most of the day. We find that it takes us an hour to get underway in the AM: from alarm clock to anchors aboard. Having to haul my dink and do last nights dishes doesn’t help.

Currently anchored in Pt. Judith Harbor Of Refuge… not a lovely spot, more like the Motel 6 of sailing. You stop here only because it’s convenient. But you know in the back of your mind, you should wear all your clothes to bed, because the mattress is really gross. The wind has piped up and will continue to do so tonight. Teresa and I are staying on our respective boats tonight, since it’s late and windy. Tomorrow we hope to make good headway with strong winds on our quarter finally. Too bad it’ll be raining.

Here’s some video from today’s sail…

Winds have been West with a hint of North in them. They’ve been strong: 15-20 w/ gusts to 25kts. Westward Ho! is good in theory, but in practice, it sucks. Day 1 proved to be a 25-30kt shakedown sail. I took out my storm jib, and tucked in a double reef, Teresa did the same. We rounded West Chop, and BAM! In our face 25kts and 3′ seas. We bailed out that day when Teresa called to say her tiller pilot had broke and was now in two pieces! To rough to tack, we gybed back to Vineyard Haven in case we needed to get parts or place an order. That evening, after a lovely corn chowder dinner, on a mooring in the outer harbor, the Tiller pilot proved to be nothing more than a simple fix of screwing the arm back onto the drive gears… we hoped.

Yesterday, day 2, looked promising at 0600. We slipped our moorings… and then due to my poor connection the rest of this post got deleted…oi vey.

On my list there has been something called outboard bracket. Not sure what that means, but I knew I had to make one. This is what I came up with. Aluminum 3″ Angle, and some teak scraps I glues together. Seems to work. Why the guy who made this list wants to carry that crappy outboard around with him is beyond me. The thing never runs right and is too big for his little dink.

With only 5 days until departure from my current home port, the pace has quickened and the stress level risen. There’s plenty of boat work to do to get a boat ready for a trip, even just a coastal trip, but for this trip, we’re prepping TWO boats. That’s right! …twice the time, twice the money, twice the worry, twice the fuel, the water, the spares, the this, the that… everything x2. Noah would be proud.

I’m sailing in company with Daphne, a Nor’sea 27. The plan is to tie a 200′ 1/2″ nylon rope between the boats so we can’t get too far from each other, in case of emergency¹. But for now, we’re mounting Monitor Windvanes, installing LEDs, making outboard motor brackets, checking rig tensions, diving on props, building cockpit fillers (yoga platforms), and trying to just get enough things crossed off our lists to feel like we’re “Ready”. It’s a VERY relative term. I could go now of course…the boat is ready enough, but the list of things I’d “like” to have accomplished is long and lingering. I’ve resorted to the tactic of picking a departure date out of my LRF cap, and sticking to it… whether the list is crossed out completely, partially, or not at all. As one [not so] famous cruising couple [of loose cannons] once said, “GO SMALL, SCREW THE LIST, GO NOW!”

Seems my clients are also worried about my departure date, and they all want everything done before I leave. All of them; Everything! Why I’m wasting time here on this blog is beyond me… there’s so much work to do, and money to be made (aka spent). But, I plan to work along the way. This has been le plan grand since day one. Work while I cruise: have laptop, have dataplan, have work, have stress. I’m not independently wealthy, no trust fund or financial backer, I’m just a guy who knows how to use Photoshop well enough to make an interpretive living with it… a portable living. My goal is a seem-less transition from living aboard in one location, to living aboard in a new location each week. If all goes well, no one will know the difference.

Seeing as I’ve been helping to install the Monitor on Daphne all week, my list is rather light on “cross-offs”. All I can report today is that I have installed (and by install I mean placed) cockpit cushions and glued down some treadmaster, neither of which were actually on “the list”.

Notes:

1. Not actually doing that.

The radar on the BCC Elizabeth was installed such a way, that it only swung out 90º - leaving me to peer in from the cockpit side towards the starboard beam. Inconvenient to say the least. Better than having to go below for sure…but the install left me feeling like they got a phone call half way through the job, then when they hung up, they moved onto some other project. I do that all the time. I used some aluminum angle, since I had some laying around for my outboard motor mount project. Pretty darn beefy for a radar display, but works like a Chimpanzee.

One of the best birthday presents ever… maybe the best, hard to quantify those sorts of things was this flag I got, with an E on it in my colors.  I think it’s supposed to stand for Extrasmelly. I fly it all the time.

It’s cold here already. I’m going south soon. Lots to do. My feet are cold. Fried my batteries, by leaving the reefer on while I went away for 5 days. I thought my 80w panel would keep up with it. We had clear sunny skies everyday. Not so much. I got back to a house bank at 10.7 volts. NG. I reckon either my Isotherm needs some maintenance or my icebox insulation is rotten/waterlogged. I’m trying to resuscitate my batteries now by running the Yanmar alot. Loud.

Plans are shaping up for a late September departure from Vineyard Haven. I have a a bunch of friends I’d like to see along the way… along the East Coast. So it’ll be a bunch of short hops, with rest and work in between. And of course dodging autumn gales and hurricanes.

First stop will be in Stony Brook Harbor to see Mom’s Memorial at the Rose Garden of the Knox School… my alma mater, and home for the first 21 years of my life. While there, Devia has planned a reunion. After that… well I can’t plan that far ahead, so I’ll just have to wing it. Sailing, planning and schedules just don’t play well together.

Here’s some potential stops along the way to the unknown destination of the winter… if there is any destination at all.