|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You are welcome to apply any part of this article to your own personal use. Please do NOT publish any part of the article or apply any part of it to any non-personal use without the express written concent of the author.
Our trip to Little Harbor, New Hampshire, just to the south of Portsmouth, was all motoring. There was hardly a breath of air and what little there was came at us from the stern. It was a long run, about nine hours. But by leaving at first light we were able to get in just before 1500.
A friend from our sailing club in Ft. Lauderdale has a mooring in Little Harbor. He said we could use it when we were there. Because his mooring was in use by someone else on our arrival we were sent to another. So it all worked out anyway.
With a breakwater on one side and high bluffs on the other three, Little Harbor is well protected from all quarters. But it is on a river with some current. Consequently the boats swing to the current instead of the wind on ebbing tides. That is not a real problem here, except that it makes securing slapping halyards a bit more tricky. After all the cruising we've done we've finally managed to know how to secure our halyards so that they don't sing out in cross winds. Not everyone in the harbor secured theirs. So on ebbing tides we were treated to a cacophony of ringing when the wind piped up.
There's also a pretty nice floating dock facility in the harbor, filled with about an even mixture of power and sail. There are very nice showers and a coin laundry room. For those on the moorings a launch service is provided. Our mooring was free, but we were charged a small daily fee for the unlimited use of the facilities.
After taking short naps on our arrival we took the launch to check in with the harbormaster who was very forthcoming with information on local sites and events. He also invited us to the marina's annual Labor Day potluck. We immediately scurried back to Volant and prepared a quick oriental pasta salad, as it was starting in about an hour.
It was a very nice party, with free beer, wine and a disc jockey provided by the marina. With a friend and his young son meeting us at the marina that evening, we managed to put enough beer and wine away that probably accounted for our fees.
We actually have a number of friends from the area. Rich and Le'Ann, no longer married, were met while cruising in the Bahamas. Amy, a long-time friend from California we've known for years, has recently returned to her childhood stomping grounds. Rich, Le'Ann and their son Jacob, Amy and her mom, Bobbie, all went sailing with us on Sunday. The winds were strong enough to make things interesting, but not strong enough to bring a first-time sailor's adrenaline to a boil. With temperatures warm enough for tee shirts and shorts it was a very satisfying day.
Wednesday was spent with Amy and Bobbie in Ogunquit (pronounced oh-GUN-quit), Maine, just a few miles up the coast. Bobbie, a former innkeeper, put on a very nice lunch. Her home is right on the inlet with a very nice private view over the water from her back deck. Everything was so satisfying that we could hardly stay awake after stuffing ourselves. So we didn't, and took naps before leaving later that afternoon.
Sadly it was time to move on. So we headed out the next morning at first light for Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, a charming small town near Salem.
The wind was from the northwest, at five to ten knots in the morning increasing to ten to fifteen with gusts to twenty in the afternoon. Our course took us around Cape Ann, giving a dead downwind run until we rounded the cape. With so little wind we would have made hardly any progress if we sailed. So we had to motor, keeping the sails up to take advantage of any little puff to push us along.
But once we rounded Cape Ann, everything changed. Instead of a run we were now on a beam reach. Instead of light winds we were now in the kind of conditions that Volant loves. Shutting down the iron stays'l we rolled along, at times pushing seven knots and more. With Otto von Steerer, our autopilot, handling the helm, Kit and I kept watch, spending most of the time in the pilothouse. It was exhilarating.
If you recall, back in Mud Hole on Great Waas Island we helped a family clear their propeller of a lobster warp. They are from Manchester and had invited us to visit their lovely town. Thus we had chosen Manchester over Salem or Marblehead as our stop along this part of the coast. And we're glad we did.
Manchester is a stop on the commuter rail line (the "T"), enabling us to visit Salem and Boston without having to move the boat. It's also been said that Manchester is probably the most attractive town in Massachusetts. We believe it.
Friday we took the "T" to Salem and explored the town on Shank's mare. The train station was a few short blocks from the historical section so walking was no problem. As we stopped at a tourist you-are-here map a commuter stopped and asked if he could help us find what we wanted. Then he graciously escorted us to the heart of the district and even pointed out a restaurant where the local business people go for lunch, Red's Sandwich Shop.
We found the Peabody Essex Museum, one of the oldest in the country. It was founded by ship captains from Salem who had sailed either beyond Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope and brought back treasures. Because of their oriental focus they have been fortunate to be one of the few stops for the tour of "Treasures from the Forbidden City," an exhibit of Chinese art objects. We spent the day at the museum. Our focus was on a collection of colonial needlework, taking the "Three Centuries of Salem" tour (a visit to three separate Salem homes, one constructed in the middle of the seventeenth century, one in the mid eighteenth and ending with one in the nineteenth), and the "Treasures from the Forbidden City" tour. We could have spent several days here, as there were many more exhibits we could see.
That evening we attended a "gam" of the Manchester Yacht Club, and gave our Caribbean Loop presentation. It was well received.
Saturday was another day of being tourists via the "T," this time going all the way to Boston. There we took in the USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") and the museum dedicated to the history of the world's oldest commissioned warship. And, since it was so close we were able to explore the battle site of Bunker Hill.
Today was a sailing day. At first light we said good-bye to Manchester-by-the-Sea, mostly motorsailed about 60to the Cape Cod Canal (we had a few hours where the wind wasn't directly on the nose and could do pure sailing), transited the canal and dropped our hook in a small harbor near Onset, Massachusetts. Tomorrow we head to New Bedford then work our way to New York City, hopefully arriving by the end of the week.
|
|
|
|