Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Cuttyhunk - Wing on Wing



Winds were predicted to be out of the northeast at 20 kts most of the day. Since we were headed in the exact opposite direction, we set out with the tide behind us at 9:00. We ran at 12 kts per the GPS for quite awhile! With current and wind in the same direction, there wasn’t a build up of waves action at the mouth of the canal. I imagine that later in the day when the current reversed it was quite exciting to enter the canal from the west! We’ve seen that result in the past, the waves break over the bow of the boats since the waves are tall and short due to the opposing current. We passed by the entrance to Onset but we would never attempt the entrance in such current. You have to go between the two green markers shown in the photo. It’s actually much narrower than it appears in the photo. You pass the red buoy to starboard that you see in the corner of the photo.

We continued on, wing on wing towards Cuttyhunk. After a bit we just set the autopilot to maintain a constant angle to the wind and it managed to do that without a mishap for the next three hours, wing on wing all the way. Along the way Ann snapped several pictures of clouds; they will find their way into her paintings later in the year.

Entering Cuttyhunk, we picked up a mooring due to the prediction of high winds throughout the night (it’s blowing 25 kts now!) and with the sun out and our cockpit closure, it was warm in the afternoon. The trip in for Hoolie relief was a blast with the wind and wave action. Cuttyhunk is protected 360 degrees but with 25 kt winds, the waves still built up enough to bounce a dink around. Meanwhile, I was finally able to get the raw water pump on the genset to pump water so now the genset is functional again.

The weather prediction is not good, too much wind and waves. We have a potential window tomorrow morning but not likely and after that the next window for us to go west will be on Sunday. Most likely we’ll be in Cuttyhunk for the next three days. With a working genset, a freezer full of food, an internet connection and a working cellphone, that’s like being at home. On a boat, you travel when the weather permits.

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