Crew Log for September 18th, 2022
Trip Summary:
Portsmouth Yacht Club to Gloucester (Inner Harbor)
Trip Distance of 38.4 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 825.4 NM
Departed at 0830 hours and arrived at 1600 hours
Things That Go “Bump in the Night”
Gloucester is major center for the commercial fishery and is also a very popular summer tourist destination. The inner harbor is a busy working harbour, which is surrounded by beautiful old New England homes and buildings. There is a thriving arts community in Gloucester and the city has been the site of over a dozen movies including: Manchester By The Sea; Perfect Storm; and more recently Coda.
Any of you who follow our “real time” updates on Instagram and Facebook will know that we did an unusual maneuver crossing from Portsmouth to Gloucester. We got a number of really interesting comments speculating what might have happened, but it is time to clear up the mystery. And yes, rest assured we are both still on board and neither of us fell overboard.
We carry our dinghy on a davit system off the back of the boat which also holds 2 of our solar panels and has a crane and mount for our outboard. Offshore sailors all agree that travelling with the dinghy on the davits is risky, since a rogue wave could flood the dinghy, add unwanted extra weight to the rear of the boat, which could then cause instability.
We are “coastal hopping”, and while we do venture well off shore at times, we are generally not at risk of having unexpected weather systems suddenly hit us. That said, we are always mindful that things can change quickly.
Since we arrived in Maine, we have gotten lazy taking the motor off the dinghy before we hoist it up on the davits. While the weight of the dinghy and the motor is the same regardless of whether they are separated or attached, leaving the motor on the dinghy puts the weight of the motor further out, away from the boat, which puts more stress on the structure. Think of it as sitting midway between the pivot point and the end of a teetertotter vs sitting at the very end of the teetertotter. (And yes, I have thought about this since I am a slightly overweight grandparent with very light grandchildren who occasional like to go on teetertotters).
We had a nice westerly wind, 10 – 15 knots, which was perfect for heading to Gloucester. We made quick progress despite having short choppy conditions, not unlike what we experience in the Northumberland Strait on a normal day. Judy is convinced the boat talks to me.
The boat was hobby horsing a bit in the swells and I noticed it was making weird sounds. The weight of the engine on the dinghy was putting additional stress on the davit system and increased the yawing or hobby horse motion of the boat. If you look closely at our track, you will notice that halfway between Portsmouth and Gloucester, we did our maneuver that we asked you to comment on.
We have become huge fans of knowing how to “Hove To”. Regardless of how hard it is blowing, you can basically use the counteracting forces of the sails and the rudder to stop the boat and allow the boat to drift. It is an amazingly peaceful feeling. The boat suddenly “relaxes” and drifts quietly. I’ve know solo sailors who have hove to and gone below to get some rest. We have used it a number of times to fix something, or more often than not, like on this day, take the outboard off the dinghy.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a bit of stress hanging over the back of the boat in 275 feet of water, loosening the motor from the dinghy and hoisting it up over the water onto the motor mount. I have mentioned it a few times in previous crew logs, but it warrants repeating here again. I am blessed to have a crew mate who maintains calmness and level headedness in difficult situations. We talk about what needs to be done, we go over how we are going to do it, and we communicate with each other through the entire process. We sort things out and move on. No drama.
As soon as Elizabeth M was underway again, she felt completely different. Moving the 60 pound outboard 3 feet closer to the boat reduced the yawing motion and our boat speed increased significantly. We averaged about 6 knots on a direct course. Lesson learned.
Once we reached the north eastern tip of Gloucester, it was a difficult up wind sail up the southern coast. We tacked our way to harbor entrance and made our way to the Inner Harbor. We decided to drop the anchor just outside of the mooring field since we were told that the holding was good. We did struggle to either get a good anchor set or find a spot we were happy with, that had adequate swing room. (It was a small anchorage between two very busy commercial channels and there were already 2 boats there on anchor). Once we were hooked, we broke out the snacks and watched the Patriots get their first win against the Steelers on anchor, in Gloucester, MASS.
We went to bed early and I was just about to fall asleep when the boat spoke to me again. A squall rolled in and something didn’t feel right. I quickly got up on deck just as we swung around and “gently” bumped in sv Parbleu, a Landfall 38 from Quebec, who was also anchored. It still isn’t clear whether we dragged anchor or we had different lengths of scope out. In any case, we quickly sorted it out, lifted the anchor and we decided to grab a mooring ball. Neither one of us got much sleep in Portsmouth so we weren’t in the mood to try to re-anchor in the dark.
The next morning we went over to properly introduce ourselves to the crew of Parbleu. And what a crew, a young husband and wife couple with 4 kids, all under the age of 14. They were headed to the Bahamas. Dad is a computer programmer working from the boat and Mom was home schooling the kids. They had sailed from Port LaTour, Nova Scotia to Gloucester non stop the week before, and had been in Gloucester since then while they upgraded their solar power system.
On our stroll around town we found this really neat Italian grocery market. In addition to every kind of pasta you could imagine, they also sold Italian cookies. By the pound. We bought a “small” box, which turned out to be a lot of cookies and made up a gift bag for the crew of Parbleu.
We also bought the best fish we have ever eaten at a drive up seafood market. I never understood why we couldn’t buy good, fresh seafood in Nova Scotia. We also bought mussels which admittedly were not near as good as what we can get at home. However, the haddock from Gloucester was right up there with the cod were bought in Salvage, Nfld. several years ago. I never forget good fish.
While I grumbled at the cost of the mooring initially ($50 / night), it turned out that they had the nicest, cleanest (and newest) Mariners Lounge and washroom facilities we’ve been at yet. All the reviews online commenting on the lack of facilities, but apparently the town made a big investment in upgrading the facilities this year. They were excellent and we would definitely come back. They also had a launch service, but this time of year it only operated on the weekends.
As an aside, they have a great ‘app” all the marinas use down here called Dockwa. You can search for facilities, get a full description of what is included, look up the cost for either a dock or mooring and book it online. They send you check-in details and your dock or mooring assignment along with any other relevant information. Since I discovered it a couple of weeks ago we use it along with anchoring reviews from Navionics to help us decide where we are going to stay. I only wish I had discovered it months ago when I was doing our trip planning.
We are off to Provincetown in the morning to prepare for our trip through the Cape Cod Canal. But, more about that, next time.
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