fetchinketch

The weather has had us running faster than we can update our blog, but not to worry, we are in good places.

On leaving Cuttyhunk, we came up through the Cape Cod Canal, and tucked into Barnstable Harbor for a couple days. We’ll have more on that later, but it for now it is enough to say it is a great place to hide for everything–except a northeast blow. When a northeast wind up to 30 knots was forecast, we ran north to Provincetown, which has excellent protection from the North and Northeast. We grabbed a mooring here for a few days, which also gives us shelter from the local effects of Hurricane Erin.

But we have a day or two until Erin passes by, so tomorrow we are going to go out whale watching and tuna fishing.

One of the downsides of today’s media is the need to attract attention to generate revenue. The way to generate attention is with “clickbait” headlines. This is especially true when talking about a topic as mundane as the weather. the headlines make everything appear a lot worse than it will be. We watch the official forecasts closely, and avoid social media for our weather information. We expect to see winds of up to 30 knots or so on Thursday night and Friday morning. Not weather we want to be sailing in, but not really an issue in a protected harbor we secured.

Hopefully, tomorrow we will have whales and other sea stories to tell!

Having a close encounter with tropical storm Chantal wasn’t all bad. In her wake she left a strong and steady southeasterly flow of wind in the mid 20’s across the ocean This was exactly what we needed to make good time north to New York.

For a couple of years now, we have been using Saillogger as our online tracking tool. It’s a bit geeky to set up, but many boats have the hardware already in place, so it’s an inexpensive install compared to some alternatives. If you’re interested, drop me a line, and I can discuss further. One of the features is a daily email while you are underway that gives you your statistics for the last 24 hours.

For most medium-sized cruising boats, a 24-hour run of 140 to 150 miles is about average. Everybody likes to think their boat can go faster, but we tend to remember the fast days and dismiss the slow ones. The “magic number” that everybody hopes to get to is a 24-hour run of 200 miles. Two-hundred-mile days are rare but not unheard of aboard Harmonie. Our first day out of Fort Lauderdale, we did 211.

But yesterday….

We have never had a 250-mile day, so covering 264 miles in 24 hours is quite likely the fastest we will ever cover ground on this boat.

Of course, we could never cover ground that fast without the help of the Gulf Stream pushing at speeds of 4 knots or more. Well, now it is time to step off that conveyor belt and head in toward NY Harbor. We will be arriving tomorrow in the afternoon and likely anchoring unless we are very lucky with our timing of the tides.

But let’s not do it again!

We were supposed to be well west of a small low pressure system, but instead, rapidly shifting forecasts left us in the middle of Tropical Storm Chantel.

Overall, it wasn’t terrible, but certainly wasn’t what we’d choose to do. Maximum winds we saw were 40, gusting to 45, and waves to about 12 feet. We plotted a course that had us sailing on a deep broad reach with only a highly reefed jib out. Sailing was fast, but well controlled. Occasionally smacked around by an errant wave.

The boat and her systems did fine. While it wasn’t comfortable, at no point did we feel we were in “survival conditions” either. We were hailed on the radio by a large cargo ship passing nearby checking if we were ok, or needed assistance. I can imagine we were the subject of a bridge discussion about crazy people on little boats.

Now (Afternoon, Sunday, July 6) we are back near the axis of the Gulf Stream off Cape Hatteras sailing in a comfortable 20 knots of SSE wind. With a current push of 3.5 knots, we have been occasionally breaking 12 knots over ground. The wind is forecast to lighten over then next two days, and we expect to arrive at the entrance to New York Harbor late Tuesday afternoon.

Yesterday morning we left from Hall of Fame Marina in Fort Lauderdale, filled our fuel tank, and jumped out onto the northbound conveyor belt that is the Gulf Stream.

Since departing, we have been running fast on a broad reach with steady winds of 12 to 20 knots. Combined with a current of 3 to 4 knots, we have been running 10 to 11 knots over the ground. The weather has been overcast with widely scattered showers.

There is the possibility of a low pressure system developing along our route, but so far it looks like that will have little impact on us.

Our target destination is the north shore of Long Island, New York. We’ll be working with another Amel owner to install a replacement C-drive in his Super Maramu, and then spending a few weeks there visiting and exploring. We expect a fast trip, with favorable winds almost all the way. Our routing program predicts our arrival on Wednesday, July 9th.

Tied up in the tiny harbor basin in Matthewtown, Inagua was this wooden hulled sailboat, with an interesting story. It comes here from Haiti to trade. I am guessing it is not at all an accident that they are here while the store’s shelves are bare several weeks after a supply boat run. They bring bananas and mangoes from Haiti and sell them here.

According to the locals there are only four mango tres on the island, and none of them are reliable fruiters, so the market is here for the tasty tropical fruit.

The boat appears to be well cared for, but in a very rustic way. Looking closer at the rigging, we see that the mast and other spars are, well, sticks fresh from the tree. The bark stripped off, a coat of paint applied, and off they go… The boat’s bilge pump is made of wood, and worked by pulling on a rope.

It’s rough and tumble way of making a few honest dollars, but these days a few dollars probably goes a long way in Haiti.

Last night we dropped anchor off Matthewtown on Great Inagua Island. These days this is the port of entry for the Bahamas that is farthest east and south, so the most convenient for boat traveling in the direction we are. The over all trip was 866 miles, over 5-1/2 days. An average speed of 6.6 knots. No engine use at all except for anchor maneuvering at the beginning and end.

Overall the trip was easy and smooth. Winds were favorable, so much so we spent almost two days with the twin-headsail downwind rig up. The highlight of the trip was having a 10lb blackfin tuna accept our invitation to dinner.

Karen has checked us into the Bahamas at the local customs office. She and Keven then walked down to the general store and found the shelves totally bare. Apparently the last supply boat was here two weeks ago, and the next one is not due until Saturday. We’ll be digging into the frozen and canned stock for our veggies for the next two weeks.

Our plan for tomorrow is to start an 18 hour sail to West Plana Cay, one of our favorite uninhabited islands. We’ll explore, fish, and comb the beaches for treasure, for a week(?) then head to Fort Lauderdale where we’ll take care of some doctor appointments, and we also say goodbye to Kevan who has been a great crew for this whole trip. Splitting watches 3 ways instead of two makes passages a lot easier! He will be missed.