We sailed north across Buzzards Bay with tail wind and headed straight for Marion, MA. There was some fog and then when we got near the coast and of course  another sailboat race was under way.  Boats looked confused, heading and tacking in all directions.  Guns went off and the race began and then the committee and spectator boats headed back to the harbor!  We had just seen the start of the Biennial Marion to Bermuda race and boats had come out to the bay to watch them take off.    We ran and explored Marion.  There’s a great one class design boat here.  I think it’s a Hereschoff design, very cute with a self tending jib and gaff rigged main.  They dot the harbor here and in Woods Hole.

We listened to the weather reports and a gale was predicted so we headed to a mooring in New Bedford where we did laundry and went shopping.   There’s a hurricane barrier at the mouth of the harbor that protects it and us and  is the largest stone structure in the northeast.

We organized the boat and turned the second state room into an actual room and stowed everything that was on the bed under it.  I stowed my spinning wheel, which I haven’t used once since we’ve been on the boat.  I’m just too busy.  We went for a run along the harbor and saw signs referring to a monument to Joshua Slocum but couldn’t find the monument.  He was the first to sail around the world alone in 1895  and wrote a classic book about it.  He rebuilt the boat near here.

Joshua Slocum's boat rebuilt in Farihaven, MA

The harbor is full of huge fishing boats.  This morning at 6:45, I was awakened by a voice telling me and everyone on the party fishing boat via loudspeaker that it was going to rain and get very windy today.  Tonight we are swinging around the mooring but are secure.   He was right.