Marthas Vineyard to Novascotia Part 1

We leave in misty/foggy conditions with a good breeze pushing us along and navigate the shoals to exit Nantucket sound. The aim is to go north along the west side of Chappaquidick Island ( ring any bells?…Chappaquiddick incident in 1969 involving Senator Ted Kennedy) and then turn right (I mean East!) to leave the sound just south of Cape Cod. We spend the main part of the morning navigating buoy to buoy in the fog with unseen fishing vessels around us. We hail one up by VHF who is on the opposite bearing to let them know we will pass just to the south of them. I hear the engine but see only the smallest glimmer of a shape in the white and we pass each other within a couple of hundred meters. It is difficult to see the navigation boys from more than 200m  

Thankfully we have AIS installed. We would be blind without it in conditions like this. AIS (Automatic Identification System)  allows vessels to automatically share key data like position, bearing, speed, size and vessel name. The signal is relayed vessel to vessel by VHF in the area using a mesh network and ultimately ends up available on the internet. We get a little display of all the vessels equipped with AIS in our vicinity (about 20 miles) and so can see what we are about to collide with or what is about to run us over. Some of the big ships travel at pretty high speed (35mph) and they can be on you very quickly. The down side is that not everybody has AIS…..and rocks, fishing lines and navigation buoys don’t either so you have to keep your eyes peeled. Usually you would use radar to detect these but ours is on the blink and on the to-do list for Halifax.

By 2PM we’re happy to be at the exit of Nantucket sound and give ourselves a little pat on the back. We are free of the worry of running into something fixed to the earths crust for the next few days as we head out into the Gulf of Maine. Floating things are still a risk but visibility steadily improves throughout the day and so we begin to relax and get into the rhythm for the passage to Halifax. We estimate it will take 3 to 4 days depending on the winds. Regular 8 hour sleeps go out the window as we take turns on watch. (Sleep deprivation torture was probably invented by mariners.) I am a solid 8 hours a night guy and this is going to be a challenge. More about that later.

By afternoon, the weather gods start to play games and the misty conditions return and it starts to rain. Proper big fat heavy drops at times which look quite cool out in the North Atlantic but still surprising to see ripples from the drops like on a pond. 

A nice fresh breeze clears the air and we get going again with a lovely sunset but with thunder clouds starting to appear on the horizon in some directions. This is  a bit of a worry as lightning around a boat is pretty, it also cause a degree of tightening of the rear sphincter.

We’re going

Sunday AM and although the wind is still up it should die down by tonight so F judges it time to leave. We have had a tough time deciding when is the right time to go with forecast of high winds but then followed by light/adverse winds afterwards. Nobody wants to risk going out in a gale but if we hand around here, we could lose a whole bunch of time.

It’s warm and wet with light rain and mist, looking forward to puking a lot in my foul weather gear. We haul up the anchor and set out into a misty breezy day and set off. Lots of GPS navigation rather than old fashioned charts and compass bearings. We don’t have the charts and you can’t see very much in the mist anyway

We’ll be out of comms for about 4 days or so and the target is Halifax. I’ll update this when we land.  

Hangin with Martha

 

We arrive with the wind behind us and are glad to chill in Edgartown for a few days. The weather clears and it is now sunny and warm.  Edgartown is a great place to walk round for a while.  There are more places to buy T-shirts, hats, jewlery and some posh beach wear than you can shake a stick at.This is definitely a haven for the well heeled preppy and their very well off elders.  

The houses and streets are groomed to within an inch of their lives by an army of groundsmen. It is like living in a film set  everything is just so neat. The gardens look they have been established for a long time with immaculately groomed lawns and shrubs in flower. We walk past a house where some work was taking place to lay a path only to pass it again the next day and you would think the path had always been there and the planting around it is immaculate. This is the garden of the main historic church being made ready for an outdoor wedding later today.  I have only seen this sort of thing in movies.

There are a few reminders of the whaling history of the town. The heyday for Atlantic whaling from MV was between 1820 and 1860 and after the discovery of oil and the decline of the Atlantic whale stocks, it faded quickly. The town seems pretty keen to show it’s historic sites. 

Mairead leaves us on Friday and then we are to fend for ourselves. She will fly back to JFK for $95! On this island, that’s a steal. We pay $5 per person to get a 200m launch service to and from shore several times per day.  It’s better than swimming I can assure you.  F continues to make a name for himself by resolutely rowing ashore. Apparently we are known as the ‘French boat. There are not many foreign boats around here…and certainly nobody else mad enough to be rowing around the harbour 😜

We take the opportunity to send F up the mast to fix our dodgy VHF antenna and a couple of other items that needed attention. I have been watching the antenna wobbling with the sway of the boat over the past few days and thought it was only a matter of time before that scene from the exorcist movie where the priest is speared by a falling flagpole is reenacted. The errant nut is tightened and the antenna pole is secured….for now. We are briefly the entertainment for passing traffic in the harbour as we are the only boat to fly a live Frenchman instead of the ubiquitous Stars and Stripes.

The weather is not playing ball for our departure from Martha’s to Halifax. It will blow in the right direction all right but unfortunately gust a bit too high for safety with a peak of 40kn.  I am not comfortable having my first night sail with a 22 gusting 40 up my jacksie so my vote is to hold off for a couple of days. F agrees and we are hoping for a change of forecast.  The downside of all this is that when the wind does drop, it will die completely and come round into the nose. This will make for very slow going and threaten the schedule.

Today, I push the boat out further than I ever have and paid $12 for a jam jar of beer at a local brewery.  No dancing girls, no nibbles… just a beer in a jar. It’s a nice beer for sure but a reminder the Martha’s is for the affluent. In a shop in town, I seek some shampoo and was on the way to pay till I saw the $13.99 price sticker. I hightail it out and walked a kilometre from the centre and find an own brand alternative for $3.50 but am also astonished to pay $2.79 for a single red pepper. It’s a whole different world here. 

Off to do my laundry shortly. There are no services in town so I will resort to wearing them in the shower. 

Block Island to Martha’s Vineyard

Today we plan to make the short 60nm hop to Martha’s Vineyard, the holiday home of the east coast rich and famous. There is a forecast of southwesterly winds 17-22 knots gusting 30 and there is a tide window we have to hit to get through the vineyard sound. If we dont get there in time, we could be fighting a 3.5 knot current and that will be a pain. Our skipper decids that we should go and as long as we average at least 6 knots, we can do it.

Beautiful downwind sailing with a little swell to make the boat squirm a little. F decides we should go faster so he ties down the Genoa with a short sheet. This gives us an extra 0.5 knot I guess and we fly along at a little over 7 knots. There is a view that sailing is a relaxing and easy pastime where not much happens. This is not the case today with the boat corkscrewing along on the top of each swell when the wind gusts. All quite exciting. There are not many going out in this breeze and we don’t see a soul all day.

As we approach the sound, a thick mist came up making identification of the navigation buoys difficult. We are quite reliant on GPS to tell us where to look for the markers at times. We have beaten the tide predictions with about 1.5 knot favourable all the way up. 

Then it it all goes a little ‘interesting’. We launch the stay-sail ( a smaller front sail ) inside the Genoa (the bigger front sail) and try to furl the Genoa. The sail and its sheets get all horribly tangled and it starts flapping shaking the whole boat. We suddenly have to run full downwind to ease pressure on the Genoa so F can go forward an apply his masterful sailing skills to fix it. It is all quite tense now. With the wind now gusting to 26 knots and a swell I really struggle to hold the boat full downwind and eventually the boat gybes violently when a swell turns it more than I had allow for. Mairead takes a swipe from the main sheet and hurts her arm and has to go below. Crap.

We struggle on for about 10 minutes before F manages to finally pull the genoa down and tie it to the rail. It’s a big relief to get things under control and after another 45 minutes of sailing on a close reach in murky mist before we finally get onto a mooring buoy in Edgartown harbour. Phew! As we pull in, the guy moored on the buoy next to us calls over “good sailing out there today!” ..with a knowing grin.

We are all quite relieved and a little elated after the day. The excitement of the last hour left me with a bit of a buzz but remind me that the only people who can fix your problems at sea is you. We down a welcome drink, eat dinner and turn in. It is tiring…all that sitting down, holding the tiller and doing nothing! 

It is exciting sailing though the mist (Mairead wants to call it fog ;-) but makes it a bit more tense that I would welcome. I guess that’s going to be a feature of the next month all the way up to Newfoundland. Apparently that where they make fog…. Maireads arm is a bit sore but nothing broken. You will forgive the lack of pictures of the incident but we were all a little busy.

Block Island

Today is a rest day and we are taking the time to explore the island. We were just about to break out the muesli, yogurt and nescafe when I spotted a bakery delivery boat open for business among the moored yachts so we decided to treat ourselves. 3 coffees, 2 pastries and 2 breakfast sandwiches were supplied for the princely sum of $40.  Pricy I thought but then it’s not every day someone gets in a dingy to deliver you a cup of joe. 

I suppose I should mention that we are now living like house cats with a human sized litter tray (complete with pine scented kitty litter!) …..which needs to be emptied…picture what very big cats can do and you are there. No more pumping it overboard like the good old days.  Keeps the water cleaner apparently and with the number of pleasure craft up and down this coast, I can see the point. We needed to go ashore and dispose of our product so the recently renovated dingy was dug out of storage and put to service.

Our dingy was being slightly unwilling. After a little test ride the results were a soggy arse and one more broken plank in the bottom. Confidence  in our ability to safely paddle to shore with our precious cargo was waning so I suggested we try putting the outboard on it to avoid sitting on the wet floor. The engine was also unwilling so we had to paddle to the dock. 

We beached the craft and went for a beer leaving the cargo to fester and and improve in the sun while we worked up the courage to deal. Suitably fortified, we went to work. Unfortunately for me, when I shook the container into the waiting rubbish container, it fell in…crap…I had to go in after and retrieve it. Ugh. 

Mairead and I decided to hire bikes and see the island whilst F had his afternoon nap. It’s a great way to get round this little place as the speed limit is 25mph  so traffic is not a problem. The biggest risk  is probably the crappy brakes on the bike and the crappier driving of the other tourists on rental scooters. On the south of the island, there are some cliffs which have helpful sign telling people that they are dangerous and you shouldn’t go past the barrier but which everyone ignored. Looking at the images from the 360 camera, I probably would agree now.

We came across this old lighthouse which was moved back from the cliffs about 15 years ago. It is a national monument now and a Discovery channel documentary about how they moved it apparently. Not sure how they did it as it is pretty big and made of stone and brick.  

Sadly on the way down from there my insta360 camera bounced out of the bag and became roadkill. No more 360 shots of the boat ….but I’m looking on the bright side. It’s another upgrade opportunity 😜

F joined us in the bar where I tried to be a good pseudo veggie and ordered the black bean burrito where the waitress immediately asked me if I wanted ‘any protein with that?’ I imagined that the idea of making something out of black beans was the point of adding in the protein but not so. They were merely a garnish and my offering was 70% rice. It is pretty tough to avoid meat here. A nice sunset rounded the day off. 

We’re off! Stamford to Block Island

It’s time to go. So following  a final haircut for F, our friendly family Uber driver (Yvets) drops us off at the marina and helps us load the final bits & pieces and then get away safely

At the crack of 3pm on Sunday the 23rd of June in the year of 2024, the good ship Selune casts off from Stamford, Connecticut destination Newfoundland (eventually). 

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The aim is an overnight sail up to Block Island about 90nm away conditions permitting. We exit the mouth of the harbour and turn left (I mean to port!) and are soon cruising along at a good 6 knots helped by another knot of tide. The weather is a little sketchy either side of us with thunder/lightning predicted but we seem to be threading the eye of the needle quite nicely. 

Some striking cloud formations appear and dissipate almost as soon as they form. We have a nice tail wind of about 20 knots which keeps the boat lively and the sea state is only slightly lumpy.

Being the first day out, I am fully expecting to be sick and the short swell of the sound is encouraging me. I stay on deck and keep the wind in my face and the stomach rumbling stays put. I don’t dare go below for long as that is a sure fire way for me to lose my lunch in the first couple of days at sea. My lovely sister Mairead opts to do the catering below and sadly pays the price. She shoots up the steps towards the stern and barely makes it in time. Apparently smoked almonds don’t taste as good second time around. No good deed goes unpunished.  

Exiting the sound in the dark is a little tricky according to F so with sea state and wind being the way they are we opt to take shelter overnight behind a breakwater at Duck Island. This is a GOOD call😎 I am feeling a little sweaty and queasy but holding on to it.  We drop anchor at 1AM and turn in to the sound of the wind and slapping water against the hull.  

Next morning, same wind and sea state but with good visibility and after a semi good night sleep, we are off again. Glorious sunny and breezy downwind or broad reach sailing all day. 

On the way out of the sound, I spot this black stump in the sea and think it must be a lighthouse but there is nothing on the chart….and then it moved. F got the binoculars out and revealed it to the conning tower of a submarine. She stays on the surface ahead of us for about 30 minutes before we lose sight. 

Late afternoon, Block Island hoves into view and we gratefully tie up at a mooring buoy. Nevermind that it is a private one, we resolve to deal with that situation tomorrow and crack open a beer to celebrate. 

This is for medical purposes only you understand. After about the 5th attempt to brain myself on the cabin roof I finally succeed and nurse McCan channelled our mother’s skills and administers first aid. A minor flesh wound but it still smarts.

So far, we have sailed about 90 miles up the coast and left New York waters and are now guests of Rhode Island .  

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Getting Ready

When my sister Mairead told me earlier this year that her husband Francois was planning to sail from their home in Connecticut to Newfoundland and back again by September and there might be a place on the boat for me, I immediately said i was interested and to keep me in the Loop. As I was finishing fulltime work from January, I was pretty sure i would need to fill up my days with something other than DIY.

F is planning to leave mid June and head up through long island sound, via Marthas Vineyard, Halifax-Novascotia, StPierre and Miquelon (French territory) and then to St Johns in Newfoundland where I will depart the boat late July and my place taken be an old sailing buddy of F. I will fly back to my lovely wife Ali and go straight to Egypt for a little well earned  R&R. This retirement life is a tough gig. 

 

Skip forward 6 months, it is mid June and here i am in Connecticut, doing DIY on the boat getting it ready for the trip. Be careful what you wish for…the boat was on a stand about 45 minutes north from home and we commuted each day to work on it. 

Francois has been working all winter to fix some leaks in the internal freshwater tanks which appeared after his trip from Madeira last year. This was a major job as it involved disassembly of some of the internal bulkheads to access the tanks. When i arrived on the scene, all the heavy lifting was done but there was a long list of smaller jobs to do which were not difficult just just time consuming. I was tasked with all the electrical jobs and got to work whilst F handled the structural stuff. Anything that looked like it could be put off went on the list to be handled in Halifax. 

At times, it looked like we would be setting sail with a lot yet to be done. The day came to put the boat in the water again and bring it back 20 miles down the coast nearer to home and shorten the daily commute. 

The boat lifter came and picked Selune up and dropped her in the water where she obliging stayed afloat (crane operator ably assisted by his dalmation apprentice) Having Selune  closer to home would speed things up enormously as we avoid the crappy jams along the I95 each way. A quick day sail down the coast in champagne conditions to a marina in Stamford and we were all set. 

….then the dread Covid struck. I am not sure whether me or Yves arriving by plane brought it but F got the dose and that delayed us a few days. Certainly I was feeling a bit crap for the first 5 days after I arrived so I suspect I might have been the source. I got to drive the family wagon to the new marina each day on my own…I was not super confident of avoiding an accident having seen the quality of the driving in the week to date. Scary is a word I would happily use to describe it. Some very cute geese families would cross the road in front of me most days. 

Two weeks later, we are ready to go. Sure there are a few tasks on the Halifax list but it’s a lot shorter than it was.  I have wined and dined excellently courtesy of my family for two weeks and now I have itchy feet again. Not sure what the nautical equivalent of that expression is but I am ready to set sail. The boat is loaded with food, everything is stowed and we are ready to go.