Vacation, Cuttyhunk

After Hurricane Bill left we decided to bolt to Cuttyhunk. We left Glochester at 9 am in the morning to make the canal with a favorable current, and arrived in Cuttyhunk right at sunset.

In retrospect, we should have stopped at Bassets again instead of doing a 10 hour dash, but I wanted to avoid the southwesterlies that were predicted for the next day. It turns out that Waterdancer would have easily made it. You can see Danielle's annoyance slightly on the video poster. It was a beautiful trip though.

Here is a great wiew from the top of Cuttyhunk.

We spent the rest of the week there, and yet once again got chased away by a hurricane. This time, Hurricane Danny. Our luck, two week vacation, two hurricanes.

We ended up sailing back to Bassets island, and spent the first day at anchor there, afterwards moving over to a mooring.

I like anchoring, and it is a matter of calculated risk, weather we drop anchor or grab a mooring.

Waterdancer is our life, our home. We are working, full time, so we don't have the luxury of full-time cruisers to work on the boat for repairs. If we were to drag and damage her, we would be in pretty deep shit. So I only anchor when I feel confident about the situation.

Things would of course be different if we were full time cruisers, since we could not afford stating on moorings all the time.

Regardless of the hurricane, we enjoyed our stay back at Red Brook Harbor.

The dogs, especially Sailor, because he is so expressive, hates it when someone goes swimming. He is ready to jump in and get us back onto the boat.

Well, Hurricane Danny came and went, and just like Hirricane Bill, it ended up going off to the east and just dump a lot ow rain onto us

The return trip to Bsoton was both bittersweet and eerie. The hurricanes had left back a mist, and we sailed back to Scituate under a hazy sky, observing whales (well at least I did) and all kind of aquatic creatures.

Vacation, Anisquam

The second part of our vacation tooke us into Salem, Hawthorne cove for the first night, and then to another on of our favorite places, Anisquam. This is a great place to go swimming from the boat (carefull of the strong currents, or from the beach.

We spent the rest of the week in Anisquam. We took the dinghy over to the back of Crane Beach, which was actually a pretty long ride. It was fun to explore, but we prefer Anisquam. The sand on the beach is impeccable, and the waters are nice.

(On the backside of Crane Beach)

( Waterdancer and the Anisquam Yacht Club)

Unfortunately, We got news that a Hurrican was coming, so we had to take cover in Glouchester.

Sunset at the Annisquam river, our traditional sunset glass of wine

(Crossing the Blyman Bridge)

We spent the weekend of Aug 22, 23 waiting out the hurricane and left for Cuttyhunk on the following Monday.

4th Wedding Anniversary

This is our 4th wedding anniversary. I feel that I am the luckiest person in the world to have such a wonderful wife, who spends her life with me.

I don't know how many years I have left, but the life I am spending right now, today, are the best and happiest years of my life. Even if I die tomorrow, I will do so with a smile, thanking fate that it has provided me with these wonderful years. Thank you Danielle.


Yes, I don't have the money I used to have. Yes I have aces and pains from the treatments, and the years that have gone by.
But I also have Danielle, and if anybody would ask me what part of my life would I want to last for ever, they would be these last 4 years.

Vacation, Bassets, Cuttyhunk and back

We decided to break up our summer vacation into 2 legs. First one was August 1 through August 9, and the second leg is August 17 through August 30. We both had business in town in the second week of August.

We went to the beach and had a great day.

Both Sailor and Sammy enjoyed the remote beach on the hook of Ptown.

We opted to go to a remote area of the beach so that we could leave the dogs loose.

(Danielle and Sailor on the Beach in Ptown)

Last year, the dinghy was stuck in the shallows, and we had to drag it out for a quarter mile. Thanks to Bill Byford, we were able to get out then. So, now I am careful about making sure that we don't land anywhere where there are extensive flats. It is not a big deal to drag the dinghy for a few tens of feet. But after that, it gets tedious.

(A really Happy Danielle on the beach in Ptown)

Next day, on Sunday afternoon, Buzz and Marcy, our winter liveaboard friends, joined us. Next morning we decided to head for the SOuth. We left on a very foggy morning, and after crossing the Cape Cod Canal, we tucked in into Red Brook Harbor and dropped anchor in front of Basset's Island.

There, we had a lovely evening.

(Danielle and Marcy Chatting at anchor at Bassets)

Bassets Island is very shallow, and has winding sand banks. The holding is very good though, but one has to be careful not giving too much scope, because you can drift into the shallows.

The water is extremely warm, 75 degrees F or so, which makes it a delight to swim.

From there we sailed over to Cuttyhunk, our favorite location. Of course, as luck would have it

there were a few regattas scheduled, so the inside was totally booked.

We grabbed a mooring at the entrance of the channel. The nice part of being outside is that we have a great view. Although it can get a bit rocky unless there are east winds.

We spend the afternoon waling in the town and showing Buzz and Marcy the area.

We had a great sunset dinner on Emeraude.

It is always fun to have a pair of like minded people with us on vacation. We love Buzz and marcy dearly. We had a lot of fun last winter when they were living at COnstitution. This year, they decided to spend the winter at Pickering Wharf, in Salem. We will miss thenm

Next morning early we were able to secure a mooring inside.

Next day, we took the dogs, and climbed up to the top of the hill. There is a beautiful view from there, and on clear days you can see Connecticut, Nomans Land and Nantucket. Gays head on Marthas Vineyard is always a great view too. I have no idea where my pictures from the top of Cuttyhunk are.

After several days in Cuttyhunk, we sailed back to Basset's Island, dropped the anchor there for the night and then sailed back across the Canal to Winthrop. Buzz and Marcy joined us and stayed in Winthrop for a few days.

Than Monday, August 10, they took Danielle and the whaler and had a great day on the harbor, going everywhere from Worlds End to Mystic River.

Clambake at Rainsforth Island

We decided to get a group of us together and have a clambake at Rainsforth Island. Ransforth is a small island that has a few moorings and reasonable anchorage available. There are 2 beaches that allow for a fire below the high water mark.

We bought about 60 lobsters from a local lobsterman, and brought plenty of clams and beer :)

It was a great evening. Especially Danielle loved it. Many friends were there. We decided to erect the pot over the bonfire, since the propane heater was not hot enough in the winds.

Scituate Trip

We had a weekend trip to Scituate scheduled. Danielle was away at dance competition. Do Bill, Christian, Joe and I sailed down on July 11 and returned July 12.

The weather was raugh and on the nose going down, but Waterdancer punched through it easily with the Yanmar Turbo, motorsailing.

It was the first trip with WD. We did the typical O'Malley stuff, hang out at the bar.

Then we went back to the boat and had a lovely evening chatting about things.

The return trip was uneventful.

After dropping my crew off, I took the whaler and went over to Spectacle Island where some friends who were not able to punch into the wind ended up.

Back In the Water

Well, after an adventerous 10 days, we finally made it back to the water. Among other things, we were hit with the worst storm of the season which made repair work to be quite adventerous.
I will post a separate blog describing allthe repair work performed.

We were launched today, Monday, and made it to Pickering Warf for refuge from the storm.

We will be going back to the mooring here in salem and await the arrival of the Winthrop fleet,
and eventually returning with them on Sunday

Life on the Hard Days 1,2,3

I finally found my camera, and the cell phone connector, so I could start posting again. I find posts with no pictures boring.

Well, on Thursday, 6/11 Buzz came over to Winthrop and we moved Waterdancer to Salem. It was a rolly trip. Rain was predicted, and we had the bimini top on. My expectations of a miserable, wey, rainy trip were not fulfilled though. Except of the rolling, th trip was fine. The wind was about 15 degrees off, so we could not sail.

I should have raised the main to stop the rolling but I was too lazy.

Now, I am sitting on the hard, Danielle is staying with her mother, and has the year end recital. I did not much besides making a big mess inside and out, and waiting to talk to my friend Dmitry and Keith, the yard manager.

There is good amount of work to be done on the keel, I need a new cutlass bearing, and have the autopilot checked out.

Salem Hawthorne Cove, Misery Island

I feel guilty of not updating our blogs as frequently as I should. It is just pure procrastination. When we are cruising, I just don't feel like sitting at the computer and typing away if I can watch a sunset from my foredeck.

Friday, May 23, 2009

We motored over to Salem, Hawthorne Cove Marina to grab a mooring next to our friends Buzz and Marcy on Emeraude, and Jeff and Kristi on As You Wish . It was impressive that we left at 12:50 and arrived at 15:30. That is a little bit over 2.5 hours. We had the tide with us too, and were able to do over 7 knots without pushing the engine.

The weather was beautiful, late spring, and sunny.
That night the crew from the Marina, Marcy, Buzz, Jeff, Kristi Danielle and I spend the night on Waterdancer, had a great cookout, and just hung out and had fun.

Saturday, May 24, 2009

We went to Breakfast at Jaho's Danielle walked the town while I did the never ending boat errants. Our friends Jeff and Cheryl came over, they were in Salem for the weekend too.

We took a work dinghy that Buzz commandeered and went to the Salem River Bridge. From there we walked over to the Shanti to have a few drinks, had some late night pizza and then eventually stumbled back to the dinghy to spend the late hours on Emeraude.

Without going into details, I will state that it was sheer luck that we did not get into trouble, even though I was not drinking !

Sunday , May 25 2009

We walked to breakfast at Reds. Danielle and Marcy went grocery shopping

In the afternoon, we set sail for Misery Island. There is a beautiful cove with good holding, and several moorings. We tried to sail a bit, but eventually ended up motoring to the anchorage.

Although we were going to anchor separately, it turned out that we ended up rafting together, with both anchors down... not a smart thing, but for one overnight on a calm day it was o.k

We had brought a lot of great food. Another perfect day for a cookout. Being rafted together, we were able to mass-produce the food by running both grills simultaneously.

Hence we were enjoying a beautiful sunset and great food with good friends. How better can life be ?

That night they threw a surprise Birthday Party for me. It was fun to be rafted up at the island. Even though my cold came back and I started coughing like there is no tomorrow, I very much enjoyed the party with Jeff, Kristi, George, Sandy (Kristi's parents) Marcy, and Buzz.

The girls then decided to have their own private dance room in the cabin of Emeraude. So by midnight, the guys were passed out in the cockpit, while the girls were dancing away downstairs.

It was funny, because Buzz had the remote control for the music and was changing the tunes without them knowing it. hey did not seem to mind, whatever was playing was good dance tunes for them.

Monday, May 26, 2009

We took the dinghies ashore and walked with the dogs all around the island. I had my cold/flu at full force, so the walk was a bit strenuous, fortunately, I was not alone in my misery since we definitely had a few leftover victims from last night's party.

In the afternoon, all went their own way. Buzz and I had to deal with a little bit of anchor line entanglement, which was to be expected, and my anchor switch broke. But I was able to haul my anchor out by hot-wiring the relay )

We sailed out east from Misery Island, then tacked south towards Boston. The winds were not that well, so we were doing about 3 knots. Eventually we pulled in the headsail and motorsailed in, because Danielle did not want to be in too late.

We grabbed my mooring off the Winthrop Yacht Club at 18:30
It was our first real cruise with Waterdancer, everything worked well.

We still need to get the boat into cruise mode and secure things. We will be staying on the mooring for a while to give the generator a workout, and enjoy the piece and quiet.

Danielle's 30th Birthday

May 16, 2009 is Danielle's 30th Birthday.

This was a big day, since she gave up smoking. We had an entire weekend of Birthday Celebrations. After watching the VOR boats leave, we drove over to Salem and met with Buzz and Marcy. We had a cookout on the docks, celebrated on Emeraude. Jeff, Kristi, George and Sandy joined us and we went barhopping in Salem.

Next day we returned to the Winthrop Yacht club, and had another party. This time the rest of the Constitution crew (Paul, Jeff and Cheryl and Walter) joined us. As usual, Paul generously offered his boat, Venesaur, and the Winthrop Crew, (Bill, Andrea, Andrew, Dennis, Rita and many others joined us. Danielle's old friends James and Amanada came all the way from Connecticut, so did her cousins and their entourage, Missy, Lindsey, Noy, Maria came for the party.