We were safely tucked in the boat and it was windy outside.  Tim looked out to the barrier and noticed the opening getting smaller.  Then we heard a fishing boat call the control people and they told him the barrier was closed until the morning.  A Tow Boat called to get in but graciously accepted the news that the harbor was closed for the night.  DH thought it was merely a practice run but we learned later that it was due to a tidal surge and was for real.  I never slept better.

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.

We left Wakefield, RI and encountered a Rolex sponsored, New York Yacht Club Regatta that was sailing around Jamestown Island.  Then on our way to Cuttyhunk, MA the fog rolled in.  The radar, supported by GPS and a sharp lookout got us to Cuttyhunk safely.  At one point a sailboat anchored outside the harbor seemed to just appear out of the mist.

Cuttyhunk is like a step into the past.  There are no actual restaurants, one market and a gift shop.  It was small enough to explore on foot and after the fog lifted, the sun came out.

From there we headed to Menemsha, Martha’s Vineyard.  We picked up a mooring in the commercial fishing harbor.  We biked out to Gay Head and the lighthouse and today took the bus into Vineyard Haven to pick up more supplies.  We seem to spend a lot of time provisioniing.   We were blowing fuses in the solar panels and it turns out the fuses were too small!  That was easy to fix.  Apparently when we finally had sunny days, we were generating too much current.  It shows how cloudy this trip has been if it has only become a problem the past few days.

We are slowly working our way east.  We traveled along the Connecticut coast and visited Charles Island, The Thimble Islands and Mystic.  We had our foulies and toured the Mystic seaport in pouting rain.  We were one of 2 visiting boats the weekend we were there.  That’s been our experience in most harbors so far. Not many boaters , yet?.  It’s been wet and cold but I’m not sure if it’s due to that, or the economy.  We’re bound to run into nice weather at some point and then we’ll know.

We spent a few days on Block Island and we had a glimpse of summer weather. We arrived in afternoon fog, but then enjoyed a couple of sunny days and biked all around the island.  Not much has changed in the 30 years that I’ve been going there – except for the price of real estate.  Literally a one room shack was on the market for $500K

I spent a rainy day travelling back to Long Island to visit family and bring the car up to New England.  After Block Island we travelled to Point Judith and yesterday sailed into Rhode Island Sound and the southern tip of Naragansett Bay.

I’m trying my hand at whipping and knots – sounds kinky doesn’t it.  Today I mastered a Turk’s head, which is a great flat knot for trivets and rugs.  I bought an awl and have been repairing canvas and the catamaran’s trampoline. Tim was in the dinghy under the boat and he waited while I fed the line to him so he could act as the bobbin tension.

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