Runaway did not have a blackwater tank installed when we purchased her. So before we could undertake a trip across the bay, through the sound, and up the river, we would need one on board. Before heading down for the trip, I ordered a tank and fittings to install.
I flew down a week early. I would live aboard, install the blackwater tank, and get comfortable piloting a 36ft, 8 ton vessel. Installing the tank was easy. And with an evening of practice, I could easily snag a mooring ball by myself, which is good. I am not sure how I would have tied back up if I hadn’t gotten that one under control while practicing with the lobster pots. Another evening or two practicing docking and reversing helped, but really, it would take the length of the trip for me to really be able assess a docking situation, wind, current, boat side, and everything and confidently bring her to a stop where I wanted.
I don’t recall who said it, but isn’t there a saying something to the effect of “any idiot can get a boat moving and steer it, but it takes a sailor to make one stop.” That is an assessment that my experience has brought me to agree with.
I am sure there were a number of dockmasters and fuel attendants that pushed us off with a smile and a shake of the head, and maybe even glad that we made the afternoon a little more interesting for them.
Our friends and housemates at the Jay Street Collective in Canton, NY, dropped off Julie and Travis on September 19. Paige and Miranda drove down with them after work on Friday and we loaded the 4runner load full of gear and supplies into Runaway at the Provincetown fuel dock mid morning. A couple of bracing dinghy trips to town for the last of the supplies and some tourism took up the afternoon. And we spent the evening grilling and getting excited for the trip.
Paige and Julie basking in the solstice sunset…
Sunset over Provincetown, MA, and a lonely late season anchorage.
One last dinghy ride to drop Paige and Miranda ashore on Sunday morning and we were off. Set to cross Cape Cod bay and go through the canal to Buzzards bay. We had a slip at Safe Harbor Fiddlers Cove.
Gaines Marina in Rouses Point is also a Safe Harbor marina, and it turns out we really like those. Well run, clean, excellent infrastructure. I am sure we will learn a lot about marinas in the years to come, but I have been happy so far with Safe Harbor.
Cape Cod light as we rounded the horn into the bay, exhilarating for newbies.
There were 6-10ft seas expected on the Bay that day, and there was definitely a good roll. We motor sailed the whole way with just the headsail out. Managed to get the main halyard looped around some mast hardware while getting ready to haul it, and it would take more time on deck at the mast than I was really excited about given the conditions. Headsail it was!
We cruised through the canal on a fair current and entered buzzards bay going downwind, so conditions for that passage could not have been better. I had heard that to pass without considering the tide was a bad idea and that a headwind on a fair current could create large waves at the entrance to Buzzards bay.
Fiddler’s Cove is a pretty shallow marina, and we are 6.5’ draft. So we tied up at the fuel dock. It was a Sunday night, late season, and we were there for only one night. So those are things to consider for the future. In that regard, I would probably just find an anchorage and not worry about a slip. But that was our first passage and a slip and a shower were a welcome goal.
The next day we were going to have a bunch of down wind sailing, and then a leg with cross ocean swell on a beam reach, as we headed for a mooring ball in Jamestown.
That is when things would start to get exciting.
