To windward .... Thursday 13th September 2012
It was another early start today. Some of us (guess who) were not really ready to jump out of bed at 5:15 am. It wasn’t even six o’clock and I had already disgraced myself. Reluctant as I was, I got up and made coffee. We hoisted the anchor at about 6:10 and set off. The sun rose as we made our way out of Duxbury harbor. Two and a half hours of motoring put us close to the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal. At this point we could see lots of smoke near the entrance markers. We turned on the VHF radio to see if this was some emergency. As we got closer we could see lots of people on the beach setting off flares. Apparently this was some kind of coast guard training class. We had been having visions of being turned back from entering the Canal (déjà vu). The passage through the canal was speedy, helped by 2-3 knots of current. At the far end we experienced the notorious wind over tide. The southwest breeze was kicking up some nasty waves. Nearing East Cleveland ledge lighthouse, we put up the sails and beat to windward toward Cuttyhunk Island. It was around about this point that I disgraced myself again by using the R-word. Yes, I admit it; I suggested that we should REEF the sail. This suggestion was not well received. We did not reef and sailed for about five hours to arrive at Cuttyhunk. According to the GPS we had taken 9 tacks and 28 miles to cover the 16 miles of distance (as the seagull flies). Despite what I might be tempted to claim, we did not have the toe rail in the water. So all was well in the end. So what if the helmsman needed to have one foot on the floor of the cockpit and the other on the wall. Some cruising guru said “if you are beating to windward, you are going to the wrong place.”
Four shots taken within 10 minutes of each other ....
Duxbury Pier (light) - silhouette against the rising sun
In the opposite direction - lit by the early morning light
Roller furling - into the sunrise
View down the deck - into the sunrise
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