Sunday 29th September, 2019

Since 2017, we’ve had a seasonal mooring at Frank Hall Boatyard in Westerly, RI so that Teresa could spend time with her mother in her last years.  Time on the boat has been limited and so was blogging.  We’re now ready to move on and have decided to sell Quinita and focus on more distant travels in upcoming summers.  The plan is to sail to Wilmington, NC where there’s a much bigger catamaran market.  And we’ll also get a “last hurrah” on our final big trip. 

Friday 23rd June.

Another day of light winds – even lighter in fact.  However a Small Craft Advisory was forecast for later in the day so we set off at 7:30am, and motored to Westerly, RI where we picked up our very own mooring at Frank Halls Boatyard– 41 20.21N 071 50.18W. 

After a frustrating few days of foul weather, Quinita is home at last, safe and sound. 

Ships Log: 6336.5, Todays Log: 25.6, Seasons Total: 274.5

Thursday 22nd June.

A very different day.  The forecast called for light winds and that’s what we got.  They were headwinds again, but only 5-8 knots which would have meant a VMG (Velocity Made Good) of perhaps 2 knots.  So we motored to Pt. Judith where we docked on a slip, 41 23.21N 071 30.96W. 

We docked at 1:30pm, cleaned the boat up, went for a walk and found Cap’n Jack’s Bar where we decided to support the local economy. 

Ships Log: 6310.9, Todays Log: 26.8, Seasons Total: 248.9

Wednesday 21st June.

Yesterday’s forecast for today indicated that we’d have lighter winds and the first day without a Small Craft Advisory for several days, so we were looking forward to moving today.  However the morning’s forecast included another Small Craft Advisory.  We decided to set off anyway to Padanaram since it was only 18 nm away, and we could easily return to Onset if we didn’t like what we found. 

As it happened we had a very pleasant beat to Padanaram and decided to continue on to Westport on the same basis.  By the time we had left Buzzards Bay however, the winds were up to 20+ knots with 5 foot seas and, of course, we were beating into it.  Despite a couple of waves of solid water over the windshield, Quinita was sailing at 6 & 7 knots to windward with full genoa and a single reef in the main.  She (and we) took a pounding however in the big waves.  Marc also took a pounding of the mal-de-mer variety.  His anti sea-sickness patch had fallen off in the night and he spent most of the trip lying down in the saloon. 

We entered Westport river and picked up a mooring at 5pm, 41 30.87N 071 04.51W pleased to have made some good distance after several days in Onset. 

Some stats:  The log was fouled with weed for the first ¾ hour after which it cleared itself, so despite having logged 51.8nm, we probable sailed 54nm.  We were beating for 9 hours, so our average speed through the water was close to 6 knots.  However, the direct route (had we not had to tack), was about 30nm, so our VMG (Velocity Made Good), was 3.3 knots.  Such are the vagaries of sailing!

Ships Log: 6284.1, Todays Log: 51.8, Seasons Total: 222.1

Sunday – Tuesday 18th – 20th June.

We stayed on the PIYC mooring while the winds blew up to 30 knots in Buzzards Bay with seas up to 5 feet and the old adage came to mind several times -  Better to be in harbour wishing you were at sea than at sea wishing you were in harbour. 

Although frustrating being stuck here after our good initial progress, the folk at PIYC are very friendly, the Yacht Club is nice, with good showers, and we’ve become acquainted with Marc Anthony’s Pizza Parlour. 

Saturday 17th June.

Winds were light and behind us again.  We tried motor sailing but the winds were too light.  The current through the Cape Cod Canal was predicted to set west at 4:37pm, so we planned to arrive at the entrance at 3:30pm, thinking that there wouldn’t be  much foul tide left at that time.  There was – we had 1 knot against us until 4:30, just as predicted, then we raced through the canal at 6.5knots. 

We picked up a mooring courtesy of the Point Independence Yacht Club in Onset, 41 44.36N 070 39.01W. 

Friday 16th June.

Yesterday’s strong winds were still blowing and forecast to blow all day, so having been beaten up enough yesterday, we stayed put for the day.