CruiseNews #13
Date:  10/23/99
Port of Call:  Newport, RI
Subject:  Sailing Through Molasses

You would think that, by now, we would be used to the pace of the cruising life.  However, we are constantly being surprised that nothing happens as quickly as we expect it to.  It's like we have stepped into a time warp where our expectations are based on real time, but tasks are being performed as if the world had been enveloped in an atmosphere of molasses.
 
We are accustomed to this phenomenon with boatyards.  Our general rule is that boatyards take three times as long as you expect.  In this regard, Hinckley was exceptional in that the whole process, with all the extra work, took less than twice their original estimate.
 
"Molasses time" has been very evident in our trip south.  We left Hinckley's on October 5th, with the new engine working great.  We were hoping to be in Annapolis, Maryland within a few weeks.  We spent a quiet night at Buckle Harbor, which was pleasantly deserted for a change.  The next day we were headed towards Tenants Harbor, motoring into the wind, when we snagged a lobster buoy in our brand new propeller--the first snag in two summers of cruising Maine.  After spending a good hour or more trying to clear the snag, we finally were able to get under way again.  The next morning we got into the dinghy, lashed a knife to the boat hook, immersed our arms into the frigid water, and sawed away the remnants of the "pot warp" still wrapped around the propeller shaft.
 
Waiting for 'fridge repairs in Rockland
We had also noticed that the refrigeration compressor (which Hinckley had remounted on a new bracket) had cracked, and needed to be replaced.  We didn't think it was a good idea to run the engine, so we sailed off the anchor, and headed back to Rockland (the nearest harbor with repair facilities).  It is amazing how the previous day, when we were headed west, the wind was from the west, and on this day, when we were backtracking to the east, the wind was from the east.  The wind built steadily until, as we neared Rockland, it was blowing 40 knots.  As we cleared Owls Head and entered East Penobscot Bay for the final leg to Rockland, conditions got so bad that we had to turn back and anchor behind the point for the night.
 
The next day we made Rockland, and by that afternoon Hinckley had driven down from Southwest Harbor, replaced the compressor, and left.  No bills, no questions.  (You really DO get what you pay for.)
 
The following day, heading back for Tenants Harbor again, the wind had switched to the west, increased drastically, and we were motoring into big seas again.  Just as we rounded the point to turn to Tenants Harbor, we caught yet another lobster buoy in our propeller.  This time we could not free it at all, and had to sail in to the harbor and drop anchor under sail.

After another night and another episode of dinghy-boathook-knife-brrrr, we cleared the fouled prop and headed for Love Cove.  We decided that part of the reason we were catching the lobster buoys was that we were now motoring into conditions that would have been impossible with our old engine, and in those conditions we couldn't see or maneuver well enough to avoid the buoys.  We decided that we would just have to slow down and wait for more favorable weather to continue south (hoping that such favorable weather came before next spring!)
 
We wound up waiting two days in Love Cove for favorable conditions to go to the next harbor in Jewell Island, about 40 miles down the coast.  We had a nice but cold sail to Jewell Island, and then spent another two days waiting for a gale to subside and for favorable conditions to return.
 
It's too COLD to be this far north!
The weather in Maine had definitely switched to a fall-type pattern, with strong cold fronts and deep low pressure systems sweeping through every two to three days, giving about 12 to 24 hours of weather favorable for going south during each cycle.  We decided to give up our plan for coast hopping south, and make a mad dash for the Cape Cod Canal on the next available weather window.  When the window finally arrived, we made an overnight passage from Jewell Island to Onset, just south of the Canal.
 
We spent another few days in Onset waiting for weather.  This time the weather had a name:  Hurricane Floyd.  Fortunately, Floyd passed well to our east, and the weather was not much worse than the gale in Jewell Island.  Another day-hop down Buzzards bay finally got us to Newport, where we are now.
 
Here in Newport, we have stopped worrying so much about the weather, and have concentrated on trying to install a new roller furling system for the boat.  As usual, "molasses" seems to be flowing around here as well;  parts that should be readily available in the "boating capitol of the Northeast" are nowhere to be found.  What should have been a one-day job has stretched into two, then three days.


Assembling roller furling
We hope to head south again on Tuesday, weather and Molasses permitting.
 
Smooth sailing,
 
Jim and Cathy