Scituate, MA - the Satuit Boat Club

Hi it's me Matt. today we left Sandwich around 8:15. I was drawing until we put the sails up(the sail on our boat is the jib and main sail). Then I just stayed in the cockpit for the rest of the time. After our arrival Nana and I worked on a Ship Ahoy pirate ship in a bottle. Its hard to make we are only on step 10 and there is 23 steps in all. More tomorrow on Matt's Blog.

Backing out of our slip at Sandwich with a 20 kt wind on the side was not dull. Our intention was to back out and swing around (a 180) and then go forward to the canal. All was okay for awhile until I discovered that the bow was not turning. It was pinned by the wind, holding it back from turning. As I was headed for the pilings of the docks opposite our slip, I gunned the motor further hoping that the added power would turn the bow. Luckily, it worked - just in time, with inches to spare - to avoid another visit from our fiberglass repairman! Once turned, I put the motor in forward and headed out into the canal without further incident.

Once out in Cape Cod Bay, the wind was out of the southwest at 10 to 15 kts. We sailed for awhile and then motorsailed until the wind increased to 20 kts. I let out everything and was fine for a time until the wind piped up to 25 kts when we reefed. Then it gusted to 30 kts and we reefed the jib beyond the four reef marks and pulled in the main even further. I just love the roller furling main, just pull it in until the boat is comfortable. It gusted further to 33 kts but the southwest wind was off the land so there wasn't much wave action but it was still exciting(!) We came into Scituate as the wind gusted in the 30's and was met once again by the Satuit Boat Club launch ($35/night). They are a very friendly club and I would highly recommend them.

We tried to raise Walter Koch who was headed south from Gloucester to Plymouth into the wind. We never raised him on the VHF but he must have had a wild ride with the waves and wind against him. We heard that he ran into all the thunderstorms from the previous two days that we saw marching east from our vantage point south in Sandwich.

Tonight we were surrounded by fireworks. There were three major displays and several others in the distance. Matthew was thrilled. Tomorrow, his family visits again for an overnight stay and we're all looking forward to that. There's a beach nearby that I'm sure we'll visit and probably pizza that night, should be fun.