Crew Log for September 20th, 2022
Trip Summary:
Gloucester (Inner Harbor) to Provincetown
Trip Distance of 47.8 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 873.2 NM
Departed at 0800 hours and arrived at 1730 hours
To say I wasn’t anxious about the next two hops in our journey would be a lie. As wonderful a resource the internet can be, it can also create doubt and a lot of unnecessary stress.
We were headed to Provincetown for a brief (12 hour) stopover before heading through the Cape Cod Canal. I had been thinking about the Canal passage for days and was also doubting our ground tackle (anchor) after our experience in Gloucester. Provincetown is a very expensive place to moor or dock and since we were only going to be there overnight, we were hoping to find a secure spot to anchor. The anchorage is exposed from the south west, but fortunately (or because of good planning), the winds while we were there, were expected to be out of the north east and reasonably light. We should have good protection.
We woke early, planning to leave at “first light”, but it was foggy and overcast, so we delayed our departure until 8:00 am. When we did get underway, we had a slight following sea, which meant we had to deal with side swells and a bit of roll. The fog had lifted, but it was cool, so we left the enclosure up most of the day. There was the odd fishing boat close to us from time to time, but I was generally surprised at how little commercial traffic there was. We did spot one tanker, which I assume came out of Boston.
It was, all and all a comfortable broad reach, although it was really nice when we reach the lee shore off Provincetown. The boat scooted along in flat calm water by the miles and miles of sand beaches. We completed the almost 50 nautical mile trip with a single tack.
There is a Nova Scotia boat from Arichat a week or so ahead of us that I have been messaging with off and on since we left. They suggested we anchor on the west side of the harbor, but it was very congested and didn’t offer any more protection than the east side. Our first attempt to anchor was unsuccessful. We were in deep sea weed and uncomfortably close to the rock breakwall. We moved further away from the marina and out in slightly deeper water and got the anchor to bite nicely. It was a nice quiet and comfortable night on anchor.
We have to be at the east entrance of the Cape Cod Canal before 11:00 am tomorrow at the very latest. It was about a 22 nautical mile trip across, which would take us 4 hours or so, so it would be an early morning.
But, more about that, next time.
Comments