August 2023

Mon August 1

Up at 0800 as the diver from Clark's Yacht Service was due. I went to use the shore head and get an envelope to pay for our garage door repair. John, the diver, was there by 0830 and took 1/2 hr to dive and inspect the boat. There was a little slime that he cleaned off but said everything else looks great. The zincs are 90+% there. The only issue is that our bottom paint is coming off in sheets. It happens when the initial sanding was not done properly and so the paint and protective coat does not stick well. Comes off in flaking sheets. Does not need to be hauled and redone now but should be hauled and done before next season. Left the dock before 10a and off to get pumpout at the fuel dock. Turns out it is self serve. The dockhands Elle and one of the guys helped bring us in and turned on the pumpout machine. We were off the fuel dock just past 10am and heading north.

Another stunning day for sailing. Wind was from the NW initially then moved W, so once we were far out enough, we were at a beam reach going up. 8-10+kts and steady

While Laz was at the helm, I went below to the galley where I had found what looked like a mud wasp nest just above the aft galley cabinet.

Managed to knock it off and no one appeared to be inside. It went to be one with the sea

Nubble Lighthouse. Laz noticed the catamarans coming our way had their sails in the wrong direction for the wind direction. Unless there was a serious shift….oops we tacked inadvertently as the wind did a 180° while we were puzzling out the sail trim on the cats. Adjustments were made. Wind picked up to 12-15kts, gorgeous beam reach all the way to the Kennebunk River. At low tide on a full moon ride the channel is much too shallow for us, as Laz confirmed with their harbormaster. We headed into Cape Porpoise Harbor

Passed Goat Island and the Goat Island lighthouse. We were told we could use the first mooring ball in. It is a private mooring, but the harbormaster said the guy sold his boat and did not yet give up the mooring, so unless he bought a boat today, we could have it. We called the harbormaster after we were in, and he confirmed it was fine that we were there. I offered payment but he said it was free. I then offered fish or chocolate to be left somehow on the mooring, which was declined with a laugh. Had a hiccup getting the anchor down as the anchor swivel was getting caught on the bottom of the forestay. Laz managed to get it to work with the aid of a large screwdriver and a mallet, but we will need to adjust it or have it adjusted by a marine technician.

We looked up and around to find one of the most beautiful spots we have been in on this trip.

View of Goat Island and Goat Island Light from our mooring

Tide was going out but wind coming in and you could see the waves crash over some of the exposed rocks near the entry

Schooner *Eleanor* outside our harbor. She is a 55’ schooner who sails out of Kennebunkport

Amazing view as the sun was coming down through the clouds

Needed our heads on a swivel to catch all the beauty surrounding us

Sunset selfie. Note Laz’s lovely haircut. Had leftover cod piccata and swordfish for dinner.

Made a mini peach crisp with a fresh peach, maple syrup, butter and almond oat granola

Sunset colors were increasingly spectacular

Beautiful full moon. A gorgeous day in Southern Maine. Off to Portland tomorrow

Wed Aug 2

Beautiful sunrise at 0500 when I got up to use the head. No photo as I went right back to bed. Enjoyed breakfast of lemon pound cake and the last cruller plus a coconut yogurt in the cockpit. Tried the La Mulita coffee which was good but I made it a bit too strong. The view is as stunning this morning as it was when we arrived yesterday, except now the tide is up. Off the mooring around 10. Put up the main as we were going the right direction but there was minimal wind. Motored until we got to Portland inside the islands.

Saw some beautiful lighthouses along the way. This is the Wood Island Lighthouse in Biddeford, marking the start of Saco Bay

There are multiple lighthouses around Cape Elizabeth and I lost track of which ones these are

These cormorants are so used to boat traffic they didn't even flinch as we went by

Some gorgeous tall ships out there. By this point there was good wind at least 10kts from the S so we were able to pull out the jib and sail.

And then there is the modern large motor yacht between the schooners

Fort Scammel on House Island. I had no idea there were so many little islands out here. We sailed up between Peaks, Little Diamond and Big Diamond islands. There was a regatta ahead so we tacked to keep from getting in their way.

Heard the Coast Guard securite regarding a medical emergency on Cushing Island, they were in the area then zooming around

These two kept sailing across each other but did not exchange broadsides

In our slip at DiMillo’s. Very narrow entrance and fairway, we were in D11, and I made good use of the bow thruster and the engine to get us in safely. They have a restaurant that is an old car ferry. After docking , we walked up to Bard’s Coffee on Middle St where I was sad to find they no longer had the Costa Rica Las Lagas Cumbres del Poas Black Honey. Ended up talking to the manager who explained they only get small lots of 91 or better cupping and the Cumbres del Poas flew off the shelves. He had a 5lb bag of Worka Ethiopian but I explained I am on a sailboat and could not buy 5 lb. Plus I needed it ground since I don't have a grinder aboard. I explained that we specifically came to Portland to go to his store. He highly recommended the Worka and measured out and ground 12 oz for me and found a container to put it in. I bought some of their decaf as well, and a sticker for my water bottle, which is getting quite decorated.

Back to DiMillo's restaurant for dinner. Decided not to go to Fore Street as there was already a line at 445p for the 5p opening and I didn't feel like inventive cuisine tonight. Got the fried oysters but was disappointed as the first was full of sand or grit, the second had a bit of shell. The third and fourth were OK but they were not as good as in Hampton VA.

My lobster roll with butter lettuce and brown butter aoli was delicious!

I even had a whole claw as one of the chunks in my roll. Laz had broiled scallops and mashed potatoes that he said we're good. Plus garlic bread with cheese. Got chocolate fudge cake to go, which was tasty and enjoyed right before sitting to write the log.

Sunset was behind the large car carrier ferry restaurant so not really visible. However I did capture South Portland in the glow of sunset. Winds expected tomorrow and a bit of weather tomorrow and Friday. We will head to York and pick up a mooring ball for both nights.

Belated entry on 8/5 as there was minimal signal and no wifi on the moorings in York Harbor .

Thu Aug 3. Up at 0720 to get a jump on the weather and the long run from Portland to York ~ 40 miles. Winds of 10-15 kts with gusts to 20+ expected from due S and we were headed SW. Headed to the fuel dock for pumpout and to refill the forward water tank. Off the fuel dock at 0845. The Worka Ethiopia coffee from Bard coffee is excellent. Mixed with Humble Mule from La Mulita. Worka is smooth, so the coffee was strong but not bitter and very smooth. So glad we stopped there. Waves had not built when we left Portland Harbor, maybe 1-2 ft so I joined Luisa's 9:15 am dance class. It was so good to dance and see everyone. I left class around 9:55am as the waves and wind were building.

We had the main up but did not unfurl the jib until we passed Taylor Reef by the Cape Elizabeth Light. Another beautiful day. We tacked out a little ways then tacked back, as the coastline curve allowed us to sail SW. Tacked out by Wood Island Light, outside the Saco River to miss the shoals and rocks there. Tacked back SW.

The winds built steadily over the day to 17 kts then up to 18, 19, 20 kts. When it was steady 17 we reefed the main to reef 1, leaving full jib. Through the day we saw other sailboats, including Virtual Reality, a Catalina from NJ, who was at DiMillo's next to us.

Passed Cape Porpoise, easily recognizable by the lighthouse and white pyramid next to it. The red sailed ketch was out, despite the lumpy seas and wind.

By the time we got to Cape Neddick the waves had built to 3-4 feet and it was a lot of work to maneuver around them. Decided to furl the jib and motor sail directly to York instead of tacking farther out. The wind and waves built to the point that we were getting doused in salt water every now and again. I put my foulies on just to be warmer and stay dry. Should have done that earlier. When we came into the York River, the Western Point bluff protected us from wind and waves and it was so calm, except for the fast running outbound tide. Got safely onto Mooring TR#1 by 5:45p.

Met our neighbors who are from Salem MA, on Chinook, a Catalina 36 Markll, one of our favorite boats. Turns out the woman's name is Kathleen Anne, same as our favorite Baysail charter. Her husband is Jonathan. With tide and wind our boats were not tacking in the same direction so we put fenders out. As we watched, Boji and their dinghy bumped but our boats seemed fine.

A very pretty harbor with boats going every which way due to conflicting current and wind

Inside for a Rana fettuccine with chicken and spinach (I added extra spinach) and leftover garlic bread from Passports. Fell asleep before 10p as it was a pretty exhausting day.

Fri Aug 4 Slept 11 hours!

Made corned beef with fried eggs and one slice of toast for breakfast to enjoy outside. A beautiful morning. We have minimal cell signal that comes and goes and definitely no wifi but what I did see was rain expected around 2pm.

Video shows this better but a freeze frame showing the eddys and current on our mooring ball

Talked to the Harbormaster and found out where the town dock is. We took Boji out, and Laz made sure there was enough power to motor upstream, and we set off for the town docks.

Walked across a small bridge heading to York Village.

As we were on the bridge we saw the world's smallest suspension bridge, aka the Wiggly bridge and took a detour across the street to see it.

Water flowing in and out of the river to Barrel Pond, which was the site of a water driven sawmill and now the land is Steedman Woods, a nature preserve.

You can see the water is quite a bit lower on the right hand side of the bridge, which is Barrel Pond

Had a lovely walk on the shorter trail. Truly beautiful here.

Unexpected joy to walk on a trail with pine needles and the smell of forest.

Back across the Wiggly bridge and then headed into York Village where we found a bagel/coffee shop and ordered a couple of sandwiches to go. Turkey BLT and chicken salad. I picked up a couple of apple danishes just in case we ran out of breakfast food. Not really in danger of that lol.

Stopped at the Village Scoop where I got an ice cream float! Death by Chocolate and Polar seltzer with a little whipped cream. Heavenly. Laz had a raspberry truffle milkshake.

As we started back to Boji, the heavens opened up. Laz had the sandwiches stowed inside his raincoat and I had the danishes in my drybag. Luckily he had finished his shake so I could use the top for my float. Back to Boji then baji-naji, fully soaked. Very disappointed that my Helly was not waterproof or repellent any more and my waterproof sneakers were also no longer waterproof so I had water squishing with my socks inside. Sigh. Peeled off all the wet things and put the generator on so we could turn on the heat. Read and took naps.

I had clam chowder from DiMillo's for dinner with a bite or two of the chicken salad sandwich and Laz had the rest of the tasty sandwich. It has sweet pickles in it, as well as lettuce and tomato. Running the generator an hour then will climb into bed. Headed back to Gloucester tomorrow, another ~ 40 mile day.

Sat Aug 5 Up at 0630 as it's 40+ miles to Gloucester and we have no way to communicate or know if we have a slip assignment. Off the mooring at 0700. It was crazy foggy to start and the rip out of York Harbor was quite fierce. Had to power up to get through as it was trying to grab and keel and anything else it could find. No pictures, too busy driving. Did kiss something soft as I felt a soft hump and looked at the depth gauge which said 5’6” then quickly became 9’. Motored swiftly but cautiously out of York following our previous track as I could not see the next mark until I was right up on it. It was supposed to burn off by 0900 but that never happened. It got better in spots then filled in again.

A little freaky to see rocks and surf crashing on them through the fog. As we got further from York we actually saw a fog rainbow. It was a half circle of fog lit up by the sun. Quite interesting.

There was the odd lobster boat which luckily shines white. Later when the fog filled in there was a 60+ foot cruising yacht going way too fast for conditions, way too close to us. No AIS but I could see they had radar. Thank goodness we have our bird feeder aka radar reflector.

Passed Isle of Shoals from the ocean side. We had seen it from Portsmouth side when we sailed into Portsmouth and when we were out with the McClures

Waves crashing on shoals/rocks just south of Isle of Shoals. Apparently well named

Once we cleared the breakwater at Gloucester Harbor the fog lifted completely. It was a sunny day with clear blue skies and you would never even know there was any fog, until you looked back and could see the bank, lurking beyond the breakwater.

Got a ride into town on the launch *Gloucesterman ll*. Interesting story. It looks identical to *Gloucesterman* but was purchased later from a Florida yacht club that was destroyed by hurricane Ian. It has a more powerful engine than the first one so they tend to use it for the farther mooring fields if possible. Met Stephanie from the *Anejo* who we picked up. She was very friendly and we chatted a while about the fog and the Lobster Crate Race taking place today in Pavilion Beach. I picked up more lemon caramels and dried sour cherry clusters from Turtle Alley and went up to Main Street where I found a street fair with the road open to only pedestrians. Apparently they do this the first weekend of August. Stopped into Mark Adrian to see what was going on

They had a buy one get 1/2 off sale on Olukai flip flops. My white ones were wearing out so I took advantage of the sale. Stephanie was happy I told her about it on my way back to *baji-naji*. She and her husband (who works for the Harbormaster) run sunset cruises from their sloop and she said she would wave when she came by.

Another beautiful sunset working its way down. We enjoyed leftover crab and lobster rangoon as well as honeycrisp apple slices and Tillamook Extra Sharp cheddar for dinner while watching the world around us.

Stephanie’s boat *Anejo* with her spinnaker out and the setting sun

Our view of Ten Pound Light in the glow of the sunset

The fog rolled in as the sun was setting. It was eerie that in less than a minute it was so thick you could no longer see marks close to you

*Ardelle* sailed by looking like a ghost ship that had risen from the fog

Our view when the fog cleared. Off to Manchester-By-The-Sea tomorrow. Perhaps breakfast ashore first.

Sun Aug 6 Leisurely morning, took the launch to Smith Cove and walked through the Rocky Neck Art Colony and galleries to Last Stop Cafe where we had a breakfast sandwich and excellent peach cinnamon coffee cake. Bought a few sandwiches as well as some coffee cake and muffins for future breakfasts

A beautiful view of *baji-naji* from a street in Rocky Neck as we walked back to where we meet the launch. Headed out around 11:15a. A very short distance to go to Manchester-By-The-Sea, maybe 10 miles or something. Decided to sail aways out and tack in, sail into Marblehead and Beverly then into Manchester-By-The-Sea.

It was lovely to see so many sailboats out, close to 100 around Marblehead. We think it's the most sailboats we've seen in open water ever.

Lots of rocks everywhere. Thank goodness for accurate charts. Keeping a sharp lookout doesn't hurt either.

Love the waves crashing onto the rocks. Did not take pictures of many of the sailboats as we had great wind 10-12 kts from the S and SW and we were maneuvering around multiple boats coming out of Gloucester and Marblehead. At one point I yelled “Starboard” really loudly to *Adventure* , the schooner who was downwind and had just tacked into our path. Turns out she was slow to turn and we were well past.

Despite the 100 or so boats out there were still a lot of others anchored or on mooring balls

The day leant itself to iconic photos like this with a lighthouse on one of the multiple rocks.It's a long crowded channel to the town docks in Manchester-By-The-Sea but we docked around 3:30pm. The senior dockmaster gave us a brief rundown of the town.

Went for a walk, found the local used book store. No JD Robb (what we're hunting for these days) but did pick up Edgar Rice Burroughs *A Princess of Mars*, in hardcover with the original Frazetta cover. Laz had loaned his copy to someone and can't remember whom. We found the grocery store across the street and the T stop right by it There is a small bascule bridge for the RR which mostly up until the T is approaching.

Contemplating a ride to Boston? Or Rockport? Rockport line aka Beach train. We can hear it whistle and rumble past.

Dinner at 35 Beach included lobster tempura, which also has veggie tempura.

I opted for the summer salad with peaches, almonds and herbed goat cheese. Laz shared some of his ribeye with a yummy chimichurri.

Outstanding orange zest beignets for dessert. They didn't really need the caramel or chocolate sauce.

We are the lone stick on the town dock as seen on our after dinner walk

T going by in the evening. The First Parish Church, Congregational, is in the background

From Masconomo Park. You can just make out our mast. Staying out for a few days with incoming ugly weather.

Mon Aug 7 slept in, had a light breakfast as we were hoping to meet a friend for lunch. Unfortunately she has to cancel as she has developed a fever. We had a stay at home day. Luke from Manchester Marine came to look at the radar reflector and the anchor swivel. They are able to fix both but we had to sort out the insurance logistics today. The repair will be done tomorrow. The big task today was to thaw the freezer. So much ice had built up it's a lot of trouble getting in and out of the freezer as well as getting the ice packs from below the freezer. I unpacked the fridge into insulated bags with cold packs to keep our provisions cold. Then turned off the fridge AND used hot/boiling water to clear off all the ice. It was quite a job. Laz helped chip away large chunks. We then enjoyed a caprese sandwich which I heated up in the oven. Put everything back in the fridge with a good inventory so we know what to pick up at Crosby’s Marketplace tomorrow. We got a few things yesterday, like eggs, milk and yogurt, but their deli was closed. I did a recorded dance class in the cabin mostly to see if I could dance in this space. Will try to go to livestream Zoom class tomorrow. Went through a bunch of emails, talked to Lauren Bochanski about her son Luke picking up our mail and watering the indoor plants. Showers then dinner at Cala’s which has pub fare.

I had fish and chips with local fish, quite good. Laz had a SW chicken bowl. Our waitress was so efficient she gave us the check with no opportunity to inquire about dessert.

Walked over to Crosby's Marketplace and found this chocolate raspberry cake with a ganache. A little too sweet and heavy for me but it was a nice ending for the day.

Tue Aug 8 Not quite enough sleep as Manchester Marine called before 8am and asked if we could bring the boat over before 0900 and they would be happy to address our issues. As I was hoping to attend Luisa's livestream dance class at 0900, I was up and out and rafted with a light blue Bristol at 0845. I was able to set up to dance at 0900 in the cabin, but it took me part way through class to get the speaker to work. Had a great class anyway. The guys were done when I was, good timing. They removed the bird feeder and did not think we needed one as the mast is a radar reflector all on its own. As for the anchor swivel, they had one lying around and replaced ours. Gave us the original back so we can bang it back in shape and have it as a spare. They will have to bill us as they need to figure out the labor and how to bill us for the anchor swivel as they may not have a part number. It was drizzling when we set out so I had my foulies over my dance gear. Raining a bit more when we returned from Manchester Marine (which is literally the next set of docks down Days Creek). Our young dockhand had gone, likely due to the weather but we got her put back where she was before. With the dodger and bimini up, I sat outside for a bit. Laz had noticed this fine feathered friend fishing

The noise of the train barriers and the T coming startled the egret into flight

Amazed that I was able to capture some of the flight.

A duckling snuck out from the joints of the floating dock without mama.

Mama hurrying her baby along. After watching the wildlife a while I went below to take a nap with Laz. There was a lot of rain coming down at that point. Rain has let up when I got up to make lunch around 1p. I had leftover fish and chips and I made Laz a spinach, roast beef and provolone over multigrain bread toasted in the oven. Shared the fries. Went back to Crosby's Marketplace to get deli meat and cheese as well as OJ and stocked up on cookies as well. Chatted for a while with Ella, the dockhand today. She was here yesterday morning as well. Very friendly and likes dessert so I gave her 1/2 the raspberry chocolate torte before her shift was done at 8p.

It turned into a beautiful day, so we walked 1/2 mile or so to the Singing Beach. Walked along the whole beach and back. We asked a couple that was walking why it was called a singing beach and apparently when you walk across it a certain way it “sings”. It actually sounded like the squeak of a wet sneaker.

Video to follow with the sound of crashing waves. Wave heights don't look as impressive when you are out there sailing.

Interesting to see the waves create a scalloped beach

There was mist from the sea spray creating a haze over the beach

Beautiful patterns created by the different color sand

Who doesn't love getting their feet wet in the ocean?

Worked up a good appetite walking the whole beach as well as to and from. Fitbit tells me it was a total of 5.3 miles today, including dance class. Went to Bravo Pizza By The Sea and got a artichoke, mushroom and spicy sausage pizza. The sausage was not too spicy which was good, the crust was thin and crispy and the sauce was excellent. Overall a really good pizza. I ordered garlic knots as well, but ended up eating the pizza instead. I am sure we can reheat garlic knots at some point.

Some thunderheads in the distance that seemed to go past without raining on us.

Leading to a beautiful sunset. Heading to P-town tomorrow, through Stellwagen National Marine Reserve. Hope to see some whales 🐋🐳 but if not, it is supposed to be sunny and windy so should be a good sail.

Wed Aug 9 Up at 0720 to leave for P-town but then realized we needed pumpout. This 10 gallon tank combined with no discharge in all of New England has made this a bit of a challenge. Since we had to wait for the dockhand at 0800, I went to the hardware store for AA batteries (we are almost out) and to Crosby's for paper towels (I always forget something when I go to the grocery store). Laz topped off the forward water tank while we were waiting. We were off the dock by 0830. Strong winds initially 13-15 kts. By the time we left the channel for Manchester-By-The-Sea and Days Creek there were moments of 18-20kts steady. Decided to start with reef 2.

The day was absolutely gorgeous as we set out motor sailing to the top of Stellwagen National Marine Sancutary.

Another view of Baker Island and the lighthouse as we went by.

The air was so clear you could see Boston in the distance. Wind remained strong, we motor sailed to the top of Stellwagen before putting up the jib and sailing on a beam reach to Provincetown. Raised the main fully as the wind was now 10-13 kts steady.

Passed the SV *Corwith Cramer* a brigantine who is the SEA sailing school

Pretty cool, wish we could have seen her up closer

Beautiful Tartan sailing by. There are a lot of them in New England

We saw *Sanctuary* the NE Aquarium Whale Watching boat we were on two weeks ago. She stopped a few times and one of the times I saw a beautiful spout just off her port aft. Despite using the binoculars we did not spot any other whales.

Going wing as we made the turn parallel with Long Point Beach.

Wood End Lighthouse as seen on approach from the west

Long Point Light and Pilgrim Tower as we sailed last Long Point Beach

Another schooner sailing in and out of Provincetown, the *Bay Lady ll.*

The *Bloodhound* was also sailing, this one is a pooch friendly trip. I definitely heard a dog aboard

The sun looked like another planet with the color and the clouds

Decided to eat on board as I was tired from the long day. Made the chicken wrapped artichoke in phyllo from Crosby's Marketplace, a salad and heated up a sourdough roll

Sunset over P-town and the mooring field

Ran the generator to charge the battery, but it shut off after 45 min with overheating errors. It's either the sea strainer or the impeller. Find out in the morning. It has charged enough that we gave up and went to bed.

Thu Aug 10 Went to bed by 10p and slept til 9a! Boat chores morning. Scones from Island Cafe in Portsmouth, coffee from La Mulita in Portsmouth plus fruit and yogurt.

Laz pulled all this seagrass from the generator sea strainer! He cleared all the sea strainers but this had the most in it. The engine sea strainer looked very clean but the air conditioner one needed to be cleaned out. He pumped out the bilge as it overflowed when he opened the sea strainer for the a.c. We then took the launch and checked into the marina, got our keyfob to access heads, outdoor lounge (with TVs and fire pit!) And laundry. Afterwards we went for a walk in P-town, which is exactly as I remember it from 20+ years ago, including the Army/Navy store. Stopped at the hardware/marine store to get caulk for the windows and an anchor for *Boji.*

Stopped at Patio American Grill for lunch. I had a chopped salad with chicken and egg and Laz had a burger. Both were excellent as was the coleslaw that came with the burger. Fries were like the ones from Aurora’s, yum. I took home 1/2 the salad and bread, and the coleslaw. Stopped in the Portuguese Bakery but there were no more rolls. Got some turnovers and palmiers. Found a nice top with sailboats on by Escape by Habitat; I have some nice Habitat tops so was excited to find this on sale. Back to *baji-naji.* Rain did not start at 5p as advertised. Maybe a small drizzle. Saw Mom's text re: lobster tails for dinner and decided I would like a lobster roll.

Popped out in the launch to Lobster Box Express, just up the street from the marina, and got clam chowder and a lobstercado roll, cold lobster, avocado, Sriracha mayo on a roll. Laz got a fried shrimp roll. Both were delicious! I only ate 1/2 the roll and a little more than half the chowder. Some of the best NE clam chowder I've ever had.

Just fried shrimp on a roll. Didn't even bother with the tartar sauce. We stayed up to watch the Spain v Netherlands WWC quarterfinal game. Wow it was good and into extra time. Spain looked the better team for much of the game, but the Oranje gave it a good go. In bed after MN as the game took so long. Looking forward to England v Colombia early Sat am

Friday Aug 11 Up at 0530 to go to the head and saw this gorgeous sunrise as we tacked

Crazy colors even through our bug screen. Went back to bed and slept til 0900. Went to Maria's Cafe for breakfast, excellent Portuguese French toast and egg and cheese on Portuguese muffin. I went to the Portuguese bakery and got a few things including the papa seco roll and a malasada, still hot. So delicious! I managed to share a little with Laz. Met another sailor, Alex Diaz, with his dog Dody. Alex is retired, lives on his 40ft Hylas between P-town and Ft. Lauderdale. He is a captain for one of the charters, so his mooring in P-town is free. We exchanged boat cards. He gave us good information about Chris Parker, who analyzes the weather for sailboats. Back to *baji-naji* by launch. Fuel and pump out at the fuel dock, and exchanged pleasantries about the new PL season since Laz had his long sleeved Arsenal shirt on. Our dockhand is a Liverpool fan but two other dockhands that came down on the golf cart are Arsenal and Man U fans. Off the fuel dock at 11:30am. Great wind 13-15kts from the W to start.

We were moving nicely 6.5-7kts. Wind built to 17+ so we reefed one. Despite the reef we were still doing 7kts and realized we would be to the Cape Cod Canal by 3p, 4 hours early for going through the canal. Laz realized he still had the key fob to get in and out of the marina. Looking at the wind, time and distance, we realized we could easily go back. We were more than 1/2 way to the canal when we turned around. A brilliant sail back with the wind softening and staying below 15 kts, so we raised the main back all the way up. Made the hand off of key fob to the launch driver, who was the same guy who took us around this morning and had reminded us to return the fob when we were walking to the launch with him after breakfast. We had a good laugh about that. Back out of Provincetown Harbor, wind now NW and less, so we raised the main all the way. About 1/2 way there the wind was below 5, so we motor sailed the rest of the way. Got to Cape Cod Canal by 7pm.

Sailing back and forth in Cape Cod Bay with excellent wind overall. Felt like Babar in the elevator

Headed down the Canal to the Sagamore Bridge with the sun setting.

Beautiful colors. Current was initially 0.5 kts against us but changed over to positive and was +3 kts as we were going through.

Through the canal at 8p, just past sunset

Onset Bay at dusk. A bit of a hunt in the dark for our mooring ball #12. Safely on the ball at 8:30p. Made sandwiches with the lovely Portuguese rolls and watched the second day of the Los Angeles Sail GP as a test for using the phone hotspot and computer from this spot. Lovely day sailing!

Sat Aug 12 Up at 0600 to watch the Women's World Cup quarterfinal between England and Columbia. England has been my team since the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada. I root for the US of course but England is always near to my heart. We set up Dan's laptop with his phone as the hot spot for wifi and I was thrilled it worked as it was a fantastic game! I am glad England won in full time, no overtime of PKs needed. We then walked into town for more breakfast,or basically lunch, to Pier View where we had excellent breakfast last time. I got the homemade CB hash again and Laz had an omelette. There was a Cape Verde festival in town with many tents on the town green, as well as a band on the stage behind the ice cream store. If we hadn't been so tired, we would have stayed a while longer. We walked back to the marina. It's about a mile each way.

Took *Boji* out as the sun was setting to get dinner in town. There is a nice town dinghy dock.

Went to Onset Grille…they had HUGE sandwiches. I had the mozzarella and prosciutto and Laz had a chicken cutlets with mozzarella. I got a strawberry walnut goat cheese salad and we took 1/2 (or more)of everything home. It will make a nice lunch or dinner in the days to come. Had a really nice talk with a couple of local police officers at the dinghy dock. They were wearing their vests and in the dark I thought they were lifevests and they were Marine police or the Harbormaster. Back to *baji-naji* using our torch light as a steaming light. Off to bed after a great day in Onset Bay

Sun Aug 13 Slept in til 1030! Apparently I was tired. Laz was up at 0830 and let me sleep.

Our friend Lisa Coburn had responded to our email and was happy to drive from Boston to see us for lunch. After a quick breakfast and coffee, we sorted the laundry and neatened up the living spaces. Lisa arrived about 12:45 and had a tour of *baji-naji* before we went to lunch at Quahog Republic. I had a salad with asparagus, sundried tomato, romaine, portobello mushroom and a couple of grilled jumbo shrimp. Laz had a grilled cheese with bacon in it. Lisa had the tropical salad with seared tuna on top. All delicious! After she headed out, it was time to do laundry. It had been a while; we had a full 3 loads for the commercial washer and dryer. Partly because it was time to wash all our towels, kitchen and bed linens as well. At $1.50 per wash and dry, it was $9 in quarters and I was 2 quarters short. Luckily Travis, the dockmaster, was able to make change for $1 so I now have only 2 quarters left. I can get more tomorrow when the marina office is open. Laz paid bills but noticed we were unable to connect to the wifi. He used his phone as a hotspot and then was able to use the laptop. We'll address it in the am, but I would like wifi to download books onto the Kindle.

Talked to my friend Lee about dinghy bridles and how we secure *Boji* for travel, as well as a nice catch up on life. Lee gifted us with the *baji-naji* kitchen towel which she embroidered.

As we chatted, I noticed a noisy osprey land on top of the mast of the sailboat on a mooring in front of us.

The last load was out of the dryer at 6:30p, while I was talking to Lee. Laz kindly walked the 1/4 mile to the laundry room and brought the last load back. After putting away all the nice clean laundry, we saw a large looming dark cloud outside. It had been an overcast windy day, with some sun peeking through at times. Radar showed rain moving in, so we waited a little bit until it cleared before taking *Boji* to go to dinner.

Stunning sunset after the storm clouds moved off.

Still some dark clouds around. Onset Bay is really beautiful

Heading under the stone bridge to the Stone Bridge Grill

I had seared ahi over a salad with fresh mozzarella, honey roasted peanuts, tomatoes, avocado and romaine

Laz had steak tips. The rice was quite good, it tasted like it had been cooked in chicken stock.

Strawberry shortcake for dessert! Headed home in the dark with our torch. Just after we left the dinghy dock, I saw a crab swimming near the surface. I tried to get a photo but it was just too dark. Another lovely day in Onset Bay. Hopefully we will get our generator impeller delivered tomorrow and can head to Falmouth. Otherwise we will be here.

Mon Aug 14 Onset Bay. A bit of a frustrating day. A misunderstanding with Nate; he has not yet sent the impeller as he was not in the office Sat. He will overnight it to arrive tomorrow. The weather tomorrow into Wed is stormy so we will stay put until Wed. In consolation, I made appointments at the local salon for a haircut and a pedicure tomorrow afternoon. The owner, Tarra, was very kind to match me to the right nail tech and hair stylist. Excited to get fluffed.

I cleaned the entire interior of baji-naji; vacuumed, Swiffered all the nooks and crannies, and cleaned the wood floor with Bona. Wiped down the head with Clorox wipes. I love a clean home! The Starbrite non skid clean and protector works a treat in the head as well.

Laz emptied the lazarette in anticipation of the impeller arrival today. He saw mildew on the code-0 bag and on our sail ties that are in the forward well in the cockpit. Decided to spend a few more quarters and wash all of those with bleach. No need for a dryer as he brought them back to air dry. Laz then took a look at the generator since he had it open and the impeller looks OK. We are not sure that replacing it will help. Hmmm. We may still do it as it couldn’t hurt. I hope. Meanwhile we had the leftover strawberry, candied walnut and goat cheese salad for lunch. I added all the extra prosciutto and the extra fresh mozzarella and heated up the bread that made the sandwich.

The wifi is working again, so I downloaded more JD Robb. Officially addicted to the Eve Dallas books now. Finished book 3, bought 4-10, since my hunt through used book stores has been fruitless. And she's written 58+ books in this series. And we thought CJ Cherryh’s Foreigner series was long! The wifi is strongest under the transmitter, so I walked up the dock to the chairs under it to download. Listened to the Man U game on Sirius XM. Laz tried to get it on the laptop but the signal was iffy for wifi. Another frustration.

Frustration # oh goodness I've lost track, is my cellphone has condensation in the front and rear cameras. Sigh. I turned it off for the day and let it sit outside in the brisk wind and sun. Hence no pictures from the day. It's a bit better this evening with the rear cameras clear and only a little condensation in the front. Not like I live on a boat or anything. After a few twitchy moments, it was nice to just sit and read my book and not worry about checking anything on the phone. Until…

Laz asked if I had made any purchases for $1100 on our Visa today. Um, no. Our bank texted him with possible fraudulent activity and asked us to review charges and confirm or reject. I called the fraud specialist for our bank as per the number on the back of my card, and unfortunately they have to cancel the card. No harm as I declined the transactions as not ours, but the tricky bit is they will mail our new cards to our house. Where we won't be. The fraud specialist could not help me with a new card number. I noticed a new number right away when I opened the banking app. Hmm. I was able to get the complete number but not the expiration date. I called a different number at the bank and spoke with a lovely person who was able to activate the new number, let me know the expiration date. Unfortunately she could not give me the security code, but she could express mail the card to anywhere we asked. We decided PA was the best bet and I can ask our neighbor helping with the mail to give me the security code. In addition our bank automatically updates Google pay with our new card info. Well that is lovely! And we may be able to ask our neighbor to overnight the card, if we sort out where we could be for a couple of days in a row. This nomadic existence is complicated!

In addition to cleaning, cooking something yummy helps balance the frustration. Homemade spaghetti sauce, saved for an occasion. I think this qualifies. Leftover garlic knots from Bravo Pizza By the Sea.

I had one large peach left, so I made another peach crisp in the creme brulee dish I bought at the Army Navy store. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Although if we have to hangout somewhere, Onset Bay is a nice place to be.

Tue Aug 15 Slept in again til 0900as we weren't getting underway. Laz was up earlier to talk to Nate. I put a raspberry pastry from the Portuguese Bakery in Provincetown in the oven to heat and made my coffee and yogurt with blueberries granola and honey. Plan was to see if there was a clog in the hose from the intake to the sea strainer for the generator to explain the piddly amount of water coming out from the generator. So much fun plumbing! Laz unclamped the hose from below the sea strainer and blew on it. Nothing came out. He went up to the marina office and borrowed a snake. I had a lot of fun working the snake, which initially did not go far, but then worked it and got a very long way. A little soapy water and I got even farther. I was having a ball as this was a lot like putting in an umbilical line. Not as delicate work, but you still have to finesse it. Plus I love plumbing. Water still was not coming out of the other end so Laz borrowed a nozzle to fit the hose and ran water from the dock hose in at pressure. It went through easily, at least a gallon or two, yet nothing out the other end. Hmmm.

Turns out there are TWO black hoses with green stripes and he had disconnected the one to the fridge water cooling system. You couldn't tell there were two because the green stripe on the generator one was facing down, as shown in the picture. Good news, while snaking that hose, I did not puncture the sea strainer. Small victories are important. Once we figured out that the correct hose for the generator was free, we hooked everything back up. Tested the generator with a good load on it (turned the air conditioner set temp to 70°) and tons of water was now spitting out. Yay! But wait a minute, now the refrigerator cooling water was not being discharged outside. Hmmm. I remembered that when the AC hose has not been used in a while, sometimes we need to prime it. Laz primed that system and voila! Lots of water streaming out properly from the forward port through hole, like it's supposed to!

At this time it was after 1pm, so I made grilled cheese and tomato soup which tasted wonderful. It's been a chilly drizzly day after raining from ~4 til 9am, so this was a perfect lunch. After lunch we sorted out the next steps in our cruise based on weather, etc and booked moorings on Dockwa.

Took *Boji* to the town dock to run to the little marker for milk and OJ. Plus I had appointments at Tarra Dean Studio

Haircut! The selfie is not great as there is still condensation in my front camera.

I had an hour or so before my next appt so I went to Guido's and got the black raspberry chocolate chip frozen yogurt. So good!

I had a fantastic pedicure with Apryl Rossi. She really loves working with foot issues and she had my feet and toes all sorted out so no worries for anything ingrown or off. So lucky to have found her. She recognized my Achilles tendonitis right away and gave me some exercises to help break up and smooth out the tendon scar tissue. Amazing massage and moisturizing treatment with a sugar scrub that Tarra designed and makes and some kind of treatment usually only available to podiatrists. The polish was the icing on the cake.

At this point it was 6:45p and Laz was back at the dock with *Boji.* I decided we would walk to Glen Cove Hotel and Restaurant for dinner. Had a moist, tender and delectable swordfish piccata over a delicious mushroom risotto with broccolini. Laz had mashed potatoes instead of risotto.

I had the chocolate mousse for dessert, rich and lovely

Laz had the key lime pie. He ignored the toasted coconut, lol. I was able to take home half of my swordfish piccata and half of the mousse to be enjoyed in the next few days. Up early tomorrow for the Australia v England WWC semifinal which is at 0600 ET. Then off to Quisset in anticipation of going through Woods Hole to the Vineyard on Thursday. Love when I have a clean home with all parts working properly.

Wed Aug 16 up at 0540 to get ready to watch the Women's World Cup semifinal! It always takes a while to get the laptop and DirecTV streaming to cooperate so meanwhile we listened on SiriusXM. Was not on the usual channel as it was on the Fox channel 83 so had to hunt for it. Made coffee, heated up a cinnamon coffee cake muffin from Last Stop Cafe and had some yogurt with blueberries as well. Heck of a game! I was so happy when Ella Toone put her goal in, but you can only look on in awe at Sam Kerr's individual effort and strike. Lauren Hemp pounced on a defensive error and Alessia Russo sealed the deal with a lovely goal set up with a fantastic pass from Lauren Hemp. The Lionesses are on to their first World Cup Final! So excited for them. It should be a great game against Spain.

Laz filled the aft water tank and I filled one of our drinking water gallons from the tap in the head. Tom did our pumpout first thing and we were off the dock at 10am.

Some dark storm clouds as we headed into Buzzard's Bay but good wind ESE to ENE at 8-12 kts.

airbnb anyone? You can stay at Wings Neck for $775 a night. And even sleep in the light house. This lovely accomodation was on our port side a short while after we came out of Onset Bay. https://www.travelandleisure.com/massachusetts-airbnb-wings-neck-private-lighthouse-beach-7642172

Storm clouds persisted. No rain however, which was lovely. There was plenty last evening. Relatively short sail to Quisset, maybe 11 miles, but a good one, with steady winds for a close reach.

Other boats were out including this lovely sailboat by Cleveland Ledge Light

Had a lovely sail through Buzzard’s Bay on a close reach with the wind picking up to 13-14 kts. Rocky entrance to Quisset, but followed the marks and got in without a problem. Several moorings to choose from. The cruising guide said to pick one and someone would be by to collect $40 in the evening. We settled on one across from the Knob. You can see the trail and folks walking along it.

On the mooring by 12:30 and paused to enjoy the view

There are 86 moorings in here according to the cruising guide. After admiring the scenery we went below to take a nap. Woke at 4p hungry as we missed lunch. Put together some cream cheese and Worcestershire, took out a hunk of smoked Gouda and brought it to the cockpit with a Black Cherry seltzer and a Diet Coke for Laz.

It's Wednesday night races! They have Herreshoff 12.5s here as well as S boats. Herreshoff sure makes some gorgeous boats.

About a dozen 12.5s went out to race, all of them passing by us. Four of the S class went out

All of them coming back in the overcast evening

A beautiful S class sailing past the Knob and *baji-naji*

A red hulled S class making its way through the mooring field.

Another noisy osprey on a mast. Unlikely to be the same one as in Onset Bay, maybe a cousin. Leftovers for dinner. I had the swordfish piccata and Laz had the chicken cutlets with mozzarella sandwich.

So overcast there was not much color in the sky for sunset. Just a little peeking through in the distance. Had to go below as the mosquitoes found me when the wind went away. Shared the leftover chocolate pudding and the last raspberry bar from Last Stop. Generator on and hopefully to bed early. Planning to go through Woods Hole at slack tide tomorrow and head to Edgartown.

Thu Aug 17 Slept in again as slack tide was not til 11 am through Wood's Hole. Baked the last croissants and served with raspberry jam and butter orange marmalade. Had hard boiled eggs as well with smoked sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. . Great wind 10-14 kts from the ESE and due E, had to tack a few times but had a great sail from Woods Hole past Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs and into Edgartown.

Lovely boat going out. Dealing with the new credit card which was delivered via UPS. Texting neighbors but no one available. I thought Jilly Cooper was doing mail and plants this week but had a rough time getting a hold of her Mom. Finally got in touch with Jeanne who was able to pick up the package and take out the card to give me the pertinent numbers. Whew. Off the mooring at 10:40am and headed towards Woods Hole. Tide was actually almost 1 kt with us as we started although we were right into the wind which was 13 kts. Many ferries, but none our way. Made it through by 11:20am and then put up the sails. I thought I'd try setting the autopilot using wind angle, to 0° and started to bring up the main and got it past the battens. Laz finished hoisting as I took it off autopilot. Took the port rack, pulled out the job and away we went.

Passed *Liberte*, a schooner with full sails up, who is based in Falmouth. Looked like she was sailing from Vineyard Haven to Falmouth.

Edgartown lighthouse. Somewhere along the East coast of MV the wheel began to squeak, which was odd. I was on the port helm where it was most noticable. When I switched to starboard, it was less and the noise was definitely from the port side. When we turned up to put the mainsail down the steering became very difficult, like power steering that lost the steering fluid. Or like the autopilot was still engaged, except it wasn't. Difficult to steer but managed to get on the assigned mooring #64, a fair ways in, by 2:30. Roll ups for lunch, stress chocolate (Turtle Alley!) for dessert. Laz spoke to the service technician for Lewmar based in Annapolis (no answer from New Haven number), who has not heard of the autopilot not disengaging in this manner. Gave Laz ideas and he will look for a short tomorrow. We took quick showers as we were meeting the Balays at the Edgartown Yacht Club for drinks at 5p

Lovely time with Mike and Tot Balay. Tot grew up on MV, is on the race committee and Mike is on the rules committee. They both still race a little bit and have an Alerion 28, a beautiful boat.

Tried to get the lighthouse in this selfie with the Balays but I think I failed. Mike and Tot walked us to dinner, recommended the Wharf Pub, more a locals hangout than tourist food, where we had a wonderful meal

NE clam chowder for me, because I love it

Stuffed potatoes for Laz because…stuffed potatoes

Penne with tomatoes, spinach, artichokes and shrimp for me. I ate a small bit and took the rest home. Huge portions

Scallops carbonara for Laz. The garlic bread was excellent.

Our waiter was kind enough to take our picture. The credit card nightmare reared its ugly head again as I tried to pay and the replacement card was declined. I used our back up card to pay and then spent 1/2 hour with the bank trying to straighten this out. The first person could not hear me and disconnected me. The second person did not understand that I already spoke with fraud on Monday and the charges she thought were fraudulent were already declined and dealt with. I just wanted my card to be functional. She said she had to cancel this card and send another one and that she would expedite it. Sigh. We decided to have more cash on hand just in case, so we walked to the nearest Bank of America ATM which was a mile away, only to find that it was unable to dispense cash. Walked back to Rockland Trust which we passed on the way and got some cash. Started to drizzle on the way back so we were glad we had foul weather gear on. Walked back to the Yacht Club where Laz had left our umbrella but they did not have it. Will check again tomorrow. Frustrating re: credit card and steering but was nice to have drinks with the Balays. Back to the Oldport launch to go back to *baji-naji.* Launch is $5pp per ride. But the mooring is only $45 a night. The launch guys were impressed when I turned on the Happy Lights as we got to our mooring. Ran the generator for an hour after we got back at 10p. Don't normally like to run it this late but it's the way the day went. We are here another day so hopefully can get the steering sorted out. There is a Safe Harbor with full marine shop if we need help as I found out from one of the launch drivers when I noticed a Safe Harbor sticker on the launch.

Fri Aug 18 I can't decide if it's good or bad that I have to check what the day and date is before logging. Slept in a bit. Made French Toast, cheddar omelette and bacon for brunch. Storm front coming so Laz worked on the autopilot issue first thing and took a break when brunch was up. There was no electrical short or anything mechanical that he could see. He talked with the Annapolis Lewmar person, John, who had already contacted Lewmar (in the UK) who said they had never heard of this issue before. baji-naji is special. He is ordering another unit, which may take some time to get. Meanwhile Laz had to take off the chain which connects the wheel to the autopilot to completely disable it. That took some doing as there are a few things in the way. It was starting to drizzle then rain when he finally got it off. We stowed it along with its hardware in a zip lock bag. Lots of grease so it needed containment. The storm has a lot of rain and wind but no thunder or lightning that we could see. It was done by about 3:30 and then Laz went up and put back the parts that needed to be put back. The sky cleared out, sun came out and it was a gorgeous day in Martha's Vineyard. We decided to walk to Stop and Shop for some minor provisions, including deli, yogurt and Diet Coke. Treated ourselves to a rotisserie chicken, Caesar salad in a bag and cut up pineapple and cantaloupe. Had the chicken , salad and shared a cheddar chive biscuit from Last Stop for dinner with the fruit for dessert. 1/2 a chicken leftover will make a lovely chicken salad.

Beautiful crescent moonrise. Off to Menemsha tomorrow.

Sat Aug 19 Up just past 0800 and off the mooring by 9:10am. The wheel feels completely different without the autopilot attached. Getting off the mooring required a bit more speed to gain steerage and I ended up backing up while learning the wheel as I did not want to hit Emily or Ruffian in front of us. It was already blowing 15kts in the Bay so we decided to reef one and Laz set up the main for that. Raised the sail in the anchorage past the lighthouse and set off!

A stunning morning out in Vineyard Sound.

Most boats had sails reefed but were making a go of it in the wind

Wind built to 17-20kts from the WSW shifting to SW by the end of the day. Once we passed Vineyard Haven, of course the direction we wanted to go was SW. Did some long tacks. Waves got choppier with the wind and big boat wake. Two ferries passing and a fishing boat on the left

Tarpaulin Cove Lighthouse on Naushon Island. Around 3p we still had 4 miles to go to the entrance of Menemsha, which would take a couple hours tacking. Decided to furl the jib and motorsail in. There was a bit of current going into the inlet, and the docks are directly to port. Circled a bit to move *Boji* and get lines ready. They have pilings and a floating dock. Had to back into a space ~15ft wide for our 13ft beam. Even with the bow thruster, in quite a bit of wind it was not easy/no fun. Had good help from folks fending, the assistant dockmaster helping with the lines from the starboard boat. I had to pivot off the port/leeward piling and it took a combo of pulling lines and bow thruster to get her in properly. No fingers so only way on and off J's the swim platform. Apparently I was considered bad ass for getting her in at all in these conditions, as pro sport fisherman with twin screws need multiple tries to back in. Who knew? It is odd to get multiple pats on the back for docking. I was annoyed as I had to pivot hard off the piling, but with the conditions, that was as good as it was going to get.

Looking at the inlet to Menemsha from the beach

Look back from the beach to the inlet and ramp to docks. We took a walk around and remembered some, but not all of it. No idea if we were on a mooring or what last time when we came to visit the Wilbanks. I remember Tyr getting fish for dinner at one of the fish markets.

Cormorants standing in the inlet to the pond, which is why you shouldn't take anything with a draft of more than 1 ft in there

Fishing boats and sailboats around the corner from the Coast Guard station

Lobster quesadilla, cocktail shrimp and NE clam chowder

Lots of folks walk the rock wall to watch the sunset

Met two nice couples with their drinks on the railing, one with a rescue dog from Aruba named Irish, both come regularly to Menemsha. We chatted a while and I went with Sarah to walk Irish.

Another gorgeous moonrise. Showers then log then bed. Women's World Cup Final at 0600! And we have to figure out where we are going tomorrow as Westport may have more shoaling than can take our draft.

Sun Aug 20 Up at 0550 to watch the Women's World Cup Final, England v Spain. Fantastic game with Spain looking the better team for much of the match. England did not make it easy for them, and had their chances, one of which hit the crossbar. And Mary Earps with a penalty save and the well deserved Golden Glove winner. I was happy for Spain but sad for England. Loved the whole tournament and so glad that we had enough cell signal to use Laz's phone as a hot spot to stream the games.

Got a picture of Irish with his mom Sarah. It was so nice to meet them. Everyone we met on the dock were really nice. Menemsha is the relaxed non fussy part of MV. Our port neighbors left before us and our starboard neighbor helped us with a line to make sure we got out of the slip safely. We needed pumpout, and after hailing Menemsha Harbor, they moved a boat to accommodate us. All done by 10am. The Harbormaster towed us off the dock by the bow as the wind was pushing the bow in. The dockhand was busy talking and didn't come to fend and push us off until I asked, so our port stern definitely kissed the pilings. Will have to check and see how it looks. Current looked to be running in at the inlet so I put her up to speed and got out. We moved *Boji* to the aft tether as brisk wind was expected. Raised the main with one reef as it was 15-17kts as we left Menemsha. Great sailing today.

For a hot second I thought this might be our friends boat *Everlong,* but it's actually some kind of structure that I remember seeing from our trip from Block to Cuttyhunk. Maybe an oil rig? *Everlong* was much farther away and we could barely make her out. The wind had mellowed and stayed below 15kts for a while so we raised the main fully to make speed as the tide was against us.

Beautiful spinnaker on what looked to be a catamaran with a heavily roached mainsail. When it's windy with lots of choppy waves, I prefer to be at the helm. I am more comfortable and less sea sick when I'm driving. It can get a bit tiring, so I do switch with Laz.

Wind built again and was steadily 18-20kts+ so we reefed back down one. Still moving 6+ kts even reefed. We passed a sailboat named *Zzooom* which was going, well, zoom!

Sakonnet Lighthouse on Little Cormorant Rock

A closer look as we went up the Sakonnet River. Nice downwind run. Wing briefly so we could furl the jib from the correct side for a better wrap. Took down sails and headed in to find a mooring. Got here just past 4pm.
Note that it took 4 hours to go the first 8 miles, and about 2.5 to sail the remaining 10 miles. That's the impact of tides and wind direction.

View of the mooring field and Third Beach. Took a while to get the mooring secured as Laz had to get creative with the bridle. Once secured, I decided I wanted a renaming ceremony for *baji-naji.* After the odd autopilot fail and the multiple issues with the Purasan, I thought a libation to Poisiden and the Wind gods, Boreus, Zephyrus, Eurus, and Notus was in order.

Since neither of us drinks we got a small bottle of bubbly (Prosecco) and did the libations

A couple of the other beautiful boats in the mooring field

Dinner of leftover scallops carbonara to which I added some zucchini, garlic, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

All kinds of boating here, we had a Laser zoom past a few times, this lovely small sailboat, a kayak, a paddle board and a wooden dinghy being rowed.

The streaks of color remind me of a Micheal Whelan painting

Mon Aug 21 Wow the month is flying by! Eggs with Worcestershire sauce and Tillamook extra sharp cheddar and multi grain toast for breakfast. Put up the main on the mooring so we could shake out the reefs and raise fully. Off the mooring about 11a. Beautiful day with winds initially 8-10kts from SW and built to 13-16kts by mid afternoon.

The *Arabella*, a Brigantine who was remade as a luxury hotel type yacht. Imagine that.

Castle Hill Lighthouse. We remember when we sailed by this on an America’s Cup 12 meter with Jacqui at the helm. I believe she was 8 at the time.

Castle Hill Lighthouse with the Castle Hill Inn in the background

As we were gybe tacking in, this big fella was steaming out

This was on the port stern. I found it amusing

These fast little boats were practicing their gybe tacking

And of course there is a schooner. *Adirondack ll*

It wouldn't be Newport without an America's Cup 12 meter. Heritage

With Paul Villinski, PEA ‘78 does Newport! Went to dinner with Paul, his wife Amy and their son, Lark. Had a great time. Lark is a talented bass player, both electric and double bass

Moon over superyacht. Back to Napatree tomorrow

Tue Aug 22 Up and out as we thought the Villinskis would be up and out early. Brisk wind 15-17kts from the N, NE. Put up the sails right outside the anchorage area and zoom!

Point Judith Lighthouse. Brilliant sailing on a reach almost all the way to Watch Hill, around Misquamicut, when we realized high tide is around 4p to get into Napatree. Since we missed the Villinskis this morning and the wind was staying brisk, we decided to head back towards Point Judith to rendezvous with them. Notice I did not say exchange broadsides. They are a lovely family.

We worked on the vector physics and got it close, but had to maneuver to come alongside her. We turned a little early and were ahead. *Everlong* under way

A closer look with Paul and Amy on deck. Lark came up to say hi later.

View from our stern as we were sailing slightly faster after we met up

Back anchored at Napatree Beach. Made it through the channel at almost high tide. Don't think there is enough water at low tide.

Appetizers. Smoked bluefish pate is delicious!

Tuesday night races, Watch Hill Yacht Club

Beef frankfurters and leftover stuffed baked potatoes for dinner

Interrupted by a painfully close screeching cry. Looked around to find a gull perched on *Boji*

What's he looking at? Laz scared him off and he flew back, preened and made his loud cry again. He then flew off. No, I did not feed him any of our dinner

Moonrise over Napatree. Off to Three Mile Harbor on Long Island tomorrow

Wed Aug 23. Waiting for high tide to make sure we could get out the channel and past Sandy Point. Called for the pumpout boat, got that done and then anchor up by 11:15am. Texted my friend Jenn that we were going by her place but she didn't see it until we were past.

Fisher's Island mansions are very fancy from oceanside

Code-0 kind of day. Fisher's Island in the background.

Another crisp clear windy day perfect for sailing. Wind was from the SE shifting to S , around 10 kts

Passing Little Gull Island Lighthouse, marking the LI side of the Race

Montauk in the distance. Unlike our trips with the kids, it's not raining in Montauk!

Wind had dropped down to 5 or less coming into Gardiner's Bay, so we pulled in the code-0 and put the engine on. Laz was sitting facing aft and saw dolphin!!! There seemed to be around 10, either in 2 pods or just moving quickly between and then another pair. They were a bit far off for a great photo but so nice to see. Apparently this is unusual in Gardiner's Bay

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They looked like they had caught something and were throwing it and themselves in the air.

Coming into Three Mile Harbor we saw swans at one marina

They are so beautiful but can be so vicious

*baji-naji* and *Boji* nestled into the slip at Halsey’s marina. Apparently all the marinas are part of one organization. Halsey's and Gardiner's are managed by Les Black, their dockmaster. Got in around 4:15, delayed a bit by the dolphin watching. Les was there to meet us and get us safely tied up. He's an older gentleman, late 70s or early 80s, from Maine, who seems like an experienced sailor and dockmaster. There were some beautiful Hinckleys that are part of a boating club there and two of the captains watched us pull in. Les is the latest to tell me I am an excellent driver, getting *baji-naji* into the slip smoothly. He had stories to swap, which was sweet, and advice on dining and provisions options as well as a run down on the amenities at Halsey's. As Laz went to move *Boji* around to be out of the way of the next slip, he saw that the bolt holding the bobstay had gone missing. That explained why I thought the downhaul on the code-0 had slipped when it hadn't. I helped him replace the bolt with *Boji* pressed into action to allow us to work on the bow. We were welcomed to use the hose next to us. Wash day as *baji-naji* has been on anchor and moorings with many days of salt packed on. Even *Boji* got a rinse. Great water pressure so we also washed the rug to our cabin which had gotten salty bilge water on it and washed the deck cushions. I thought I'd closed the lower hatch to our cabin but must not have secured it properly as water was on our bedding. Luckily there were 2 sets of industrial washers and dryers in the clubhouse! It took longer than anticipated to wash her down as the Hinckley to our port side was awaiting guests to take out and we did not want to spray her or get her deck cushions wet before they arrived. They were quite late, took 45 min or more for their party to gather. They seemed a typical Hamptons crowd, which is not a compliment in my book.

By the time we finished washing *baji-naji* and *Boji,* the sun was setting. We went over to the lawn area to watch

Looking out the small channel from Halsey's

Walked back around the docks for a view of our girl with the sunset

Walked 1/2 mile to The Blend, a restaurant recommended by Les. The food was excellent. Shrimp tempura appetizer was crisp and had a lovely citrus ginger sauce with a small kick to it.

Laz enjoyed a veal chop, potatoes and broccoli

I had a delicious crispy duck with stir fry veggies and a wild rice with cranberries. The portions were generous so we have leftovers for another meal. Dessert was a light and tasty chocolate mousse cake with fresh berries and whipped cream which we split when back on the boat. No photo as I forgot.

Sunset sky at Gardiner's Marina as we walked to dinner. Off to Shelter Island tomorrow

Thu Aug 24 Short trip today, so we took advantage of the free laundry to do a small load. Our breakfast pastries from Newport were not very good so I took a Lyft to Round Swamp Farm and bought some breakfast breads, granola, curry chicken salad and tomato mozzarella salad. Then walked to Damark Market for some whole grain croissants, coffee and an Italian sub for lunch. Took a Lyft back from Damark as I knew we had to leave soon. Laz took care of the laundry when I was out. Got pumpout from the mobile pumpout and left the dock by 11:45am. Les wanted to see us off so we waited for him. A good breeze let us sail out to Gardiner's Bay and around Shelter Island with the code-0. It was a bit gusty with the wind coming off land so after passing all four Greenport ferries, we furled the code-0.

Long Beach Bar lighthouse. Just beautiful around Shelter Island

Dropped the hook in Crescent Bay right outside the Derby’s house. Moved closer to their dock after calling them as Pete says it's 5 ft at low tide just past the dock. Pete, Lauren Penny and Jack were on the Greenport ferry after we anchored and came right down to the dock when they arrived. Penny and Jack will be 10 next month, hard to believe. I got to know all of them as Penny and Jack were preemies in the Riddle NICU with me, and their Pop Pop Steve was VP Development at Riddle. Love this family! We brought them to see *baji-naji* on *Boji*, taking a couple trips. Hung out and then went to their cottage. I remember Steve had many pictures of the cottage and Shelter Island in his office. It was sweet that Pete told me he thought his Dad would be very happy that I got to see the cottage and sit on the deck looking out on the water. Can't believe it's been 5 years since he passed.

*baji-naji* at anchor and *Boji* at the Derby dock.

We saw another Dufour sailing as we walked to the cottage

View of *baji-naji* from the Derby’s cottage. We watched Penny and Jack play catch with Jack throwing a lacrosse ball and Penny trying to catch it. Hilarious as they kept getting into fights about it. They were great and brought in all the luggage, etc from their car while the grownups talked and enjoyed the view. Had to say goodbye by 5p as we needed to catch high tide to get into Coeckles Harbor. There is a 5ft bump at MLW. Motored over to make best time. Got through the low spot without a problem, found our mooring #2, attached securely, extended the bimini to its full length and put up the dodger. Got below just as it started to rain. Excellent timing.

Rana spinach and ricotta ravioli with Rao’s sausage and mushroom sauce and garlic bread made from the Menemsha baguette

Made an apple crisp with honeycrisp apples maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter and granola. So good. Staying on the hook here tomorrow as there is a storm predicted

Fri Aug 25 Slept in, made scrambled eggs with zucchini and the last of the smoked bluefish pate. Are the croissants from Cookie Jar in Newport. First time I've ever had croissants that needed butter. Good raspberry jam and butter helped them some. It rained most of the day so we read, paid bills and relaxed.

Took a moment during the break in the action to poke my head out. This is the marina in the distance

Lunch was the tomato mozzarella salad and sharing the cheddar chive biscuit

Dinner was Greek yogurt on granola for me and leftover deli sandwich for Laz. Off to CT tomorrow through Plum Gut!

Sat Aug 26 Up at 0715 so we could get out through the channel from Coeckles at high tide. Decided to sail around Shelter Island as we need to wait for the correct tide to go through Plum Gut which won't switch til 2pm.

Was a foggy morning then misting. We put up the main just outside the channel to Coeckles, but not much wind so we motored.

Parts of Shelter Island are a nature preserve so it's undeveloped and beautiful

A cobalt blue main sail, have not seen that before

Some of the bigger homes on Shelter Island

Cute gazebo on the point coming around to Crescent Bay in Shelter Island Heights

Picked up a Mylar balloon from the water to put in the garbage.

Orient Point Harbor. Laz has a negative view of this small harbor due to an incident with the *Blue Bug* when he was a kid.

Approaching Orient Point Light. The tide was more or less slack, or very little against us as we went through

Wind was better after about 2pm. Upwind tacks and we had 7-8kts. Saw this pretty spinnaker running downwind. We had to tack to avoid a shoal then headed into Westbrook, using the code-0. Wind was pretty light so we furled that by the nun leading in, then dropped the main past the breakwater. Back on C dock in *Bounty’s* spot! *Bounty* is in Block Island as per our dockhand.

We are nowhere near as tall or long but we still cut a pretty fine figure. Walked the docks and met Jenny a lively 6 y/o fairly large dog. Bernese Mountain Dog colors but not as wide. She sails on *Corsair*. Met her Dad, Lane, who is retired and just cruises. *Corsair* is a lovely 50ish ft Bristol, beautiful yacht.

Decided to have dinner at the marina restaurant, Bacari. Treated myself to a “Don't Call Me Shirley” club soda with lemon and lime juice and grenadine. Very pretty drink!

Had a taste for a burger. This one was tasty

Laz had the shrimp tacos. Very tasty. There was a Caribbean steel drum player this evening, playing against tracks. Lovely to see lots of people enjoying the marina and evening.

Sunset in Westbrook. Photo credit to Laz.

Sun Aug 27 Breakfast in the cockpit of yogurt, blueberries and granola with a cranberry walnut muffin to share. The sailboat that came in after us and was at our stern left around 10:15a, we gave them a hand with their lines. Filled a gallon water jug from the clubhouse, filled the aft water tank and then set out. Had to back out of the channel due to wind, small channel and neighboring boats. Managed with Laz’s help and eyes on the bow. To the fuel dock. Got 15.7 gallons with 25 engine hours and 10 generator hours so call it 28 hours =0.56 gal/hour. Pretty good. Off the fuel dock at 11:15am. Set out with not much wind, less than 2kts but raised the main anyway. It was from the W and just S of W. Umm, the NDBC/NOAA reports said N NE 5-10kts. When the wind picked up to almost 5kts, we sailed for a bit but with the direction, did not make much progress. Furled the jib and motored.

Laz was at the helm when he abruptly slowed the engine around noon. At first not sure if it was a whale or garbage, but we saw a leatherback turtle! Video to be posted. It swam a bit poked its head up a few times and looked at us. Laz slowly turned to bring it to starboard but it then dove deep.

Google photos has a location feature and this is where I took the picture. About 10 nautical miles north of Mattituck.

Seriously cool. Wind built a little afterwards and we unfurled the jib.

*Condor* who was behind us at dock in Westbrook! They were headed back to Milford

Very nice British couple with two girls. This is an English boat, a 1979 Bowman, 44ft and beautiful. It was nice to see them on the water. They have an Instagram SV Condor, will have to post/send photos to them. We continued to sail for a bit, but then it was clear the wind was fading again so we motored the rest of the way. Listened to the end of the Liverpool Newcastle game and then some music.

View of Port Jeff and the Sandpit from the Sound

One of the ferries coming and going. Not the huge Bridgeport ferry though. Got into the channel by 5p, radioed Port Jeff Launch for our mooring assignment (any red with yellow writing past Green 9) picked up #501. These moorings are right near town.

By 6p, off on *Boji* with snacks (black cherry seltzer and smoked Gouda on Triscuits).

First stop…the Sandpit! Now with mooring balls, although a few small craft were anchored. *Boji* did well, this was a fairly long way for our electric motor.

West view from the top. We walked along the ridge and then down and back to *Boji* along the beach. I went for a brief swim. Laz said it was too cold for him

Not an 8 y/o sailing a dink anymore. We have electric engines now!

Why yes, of course there is a schooner going for a sunset sail, the *Ginny Marie.*

Conscience Bay with the sunset. Time for *Boji* to get home before dark

Heading back to the mooring field. Look both ways before crossing the channel, there are large ferries here!

There's our girl on her mooring in the soft light

Leftovers for dinner, the duck and the veal chop. Luckily they reheat nicely in the oven as I take sunset photos. Noticed a propane smell as I ascend the companionway. Need to check that out. The stove doesn't stay lit consistently. It will turn on, be on for 10-15 seconds, then go out. When relit, it stays lit. Not sure if those are related.

We have had some truly spectacular sunsets. Or maybe they always are, and we are lucky enough to notice them every night on the water.

I never tire of seeing the beautiful colors. A Whelan sky.

Mon Aug 28. Found out that the pumpout boat only works the weekend, not Monday. There is self serve pumpout on the town dock. Went over to the town dock, it was deep enough to get in but there were definitely areas where it looked too shallow close by. Went past the PT Barnum, the Bridgeport ferry, as well as barges with gravel and backhoes working. Don't know what they are building but it was busy. Headed out the channel and got out before either the inbound or outbound ferry was near. When we got out there were choppy seas and wind 12-13 kts from E. We were going to go into Mt. Sinai but between the chop and the good wind in our favor, we decided to sail to Westport. A good sail across. We could see the bright orange roof of Marsilio’s as something to aim for when closer to Westport. It was strange to be unable to sail directly from Seymour Rock all the way in. I had to find the channel! Coming to low tide, but there was still enough water.

Westport in the distance! You can see Marsilio's red roof

Cedar Point Yacht Club! On Sauguatuck Island ❤️

Moorings and Longshore Sailing in the distance

Coming around Cedar Point YC. A view we know well from sailing *Hilfy*. We're used to bombing around all through here, wherever we want. Not in *baji-naji*! Went down the channel to Sauguatuck Harbor Yacht Club, where the Hartmanns are nice enough to have us as their guests. We have a nice floating face dock, starboard tie, on B dock. Now we are one of the beautiful yachts I used to look at driving down Harbor Road. Wow.

Clean clean water, with this lovely crab on the piling near us.

This great American Egret flew right by and settled on a nearby piling

And this one fishing across from *baji-naji*

Took a walk around the old neighborhood. This is the house at 15 Island Way aka Ostend. All the new houses are so big! Saw Deb Green through her window and stopped to say hi. She and her guy Larry were making dinner. It was nice to catch up.

South Beach selfie. The swim platform is still there! Although it looks like it's been rebuilt, maybe more than once, in the last 15+ years. When we got back to SHYC, Rob and Lisa were on their boat so we stopped to chat for a bit.

Black Duck Cafe for dinner then Stop and Shop for some provisions.

Tue Aug 29. Up before 0800, made coffee and yogurt for me, lemon pound cake for Laz and I was at the entrance of SHYC at 0830 where my friend Susan Jacobson picked me up to go to Luisa’s 0900 class. It was so wonderful to dance with everyone in person!!! Class was the usual amazing, and so good to connect in person with all these people I've been close to on Zoom. So funny they all gave me hugs as they feel they know me, even though I've never met most of them in person. Lovely choreography, heartwarming to be with my dance friends. Got a ride back to SHYC with Marina. She was happy to see the boat, but did not want to come aboard since she gets motion sickness.

While I was at dance, Laz continued to troubleshoot the propane leak. He spoke with a few people, realized he could spray the hose with soapy water and see if there were any bubbles, aka leak. There were bubbles! He removed the hose and went over to Rex Marinew with it. They ordered the part and would have it by 9am tomorrow morning. Cool! Less cool, when I was handing up tools from the tool box I noticed that 3 of the compartments had water in them, with rusting and mildewy tools. While Laz worked on the propane hoses, I cleaned the tools, used WD-40 for the rusty ones to get the Allen keys to work properly and cleaned out and dried the compartments. Used a Clorox wipe as there was a small ecosystem there. And yes, I put the tools away in a nice neat manner. Who knows how long they will stay that way?

Went to Nik's for lunch and came back to see one of the lovely swans greeting us.

The egret was out hunting in the afternoon. Once we figured out the issue with the propane, we relaxed and read until 6ish when Lisa Hartmann came over. We planned to take Lisa and Rob to dinner but Rob was at a board meeting at the Club so could not come.

I had tuna tartare with an avocado puree topper

And a tartine something or other, grilled crusty bread, burrata, heirloom grape tomatoes, basil and drizzled balsamic. Mmmm. I shared some with Lisa and Dan. Lisa had the pork chop with a potato latke

Laz had the mahi mahi which was tasty. Talked with Lisa for a while, then she drove us back to the club.

Wed Aug 30. Up by 0730 for Sue's 0830 dance class! Again, it is so wonderful to be in the studio dancing live with everyone. I remember more of the faces in Sue's class, likely because I always did the Wed class when we lived in WePo. Lots of exclamation about my tan, everyone wanted to know about living on the boat. Sue gave me a ride back to SHYC and Mary Ellen Hendricks followed. It was delightful to spend time with both of them. It was spritzing a bit so we went below. I love that Mary Ellen has such good memories of us as fellow soccer parents. A friend of hers works with Sam and Ben's former coach, Matt Scully. Mary Ellen’s kids are in a band together called Charly Bliss. Very cool. We were arguing over who is cooler, us living on baji-naji or Sue for starting Chi Dance, or Mary Ellen. I claimed Mary Ellen won the coolness award because her Eva and Sam's band have their own Wikipedia page. We had a great time catching up. Laz and I headed to Isabel et Vincent afterwards where we found out that our former Sauguatuck Island neighbors sold the business and moved to France or Florida as their daughter Caroline is in Florida. We met Mike the new owner, who is from Chicago, and got to hear all kinds of interesting things about the business. We went back to Stop and Shop for the few things that were not in stock previously, plus got more garbage bags and Clorox wipes.

Brand new hose secured by Laz. The other one is worn, but not leaking. It will need replacement this off season.

After the rain this morning, it became a beautiful sunny day. Relaxed and read a while while Laz returned the rental car. then .

We decided to go for a walk around the docks. Many beautiful boat here. This Hunter caught our eye as the name is the same as a friend's daughter’s first novel, recently published.

It's not *Lady Blue* but of course this boat name made us think of our Lady Joan

*baji-naji* and Boji from the docks across. Had a nice chat with the owners of the Spic n Span in Southport. They are new to SHYC, on a motorboat, trawler type and enjoying their brief vacation. Talked about the travails of small business ownership as well as boating.

Didn't find anything on the shore, so he fished from the dock. And went straight into the water at one point, almost like he fell in. Then flew off squawking.

Blue Super Moon and reflection in the water. Off to Oyster Bay tomorrow

Thu Aug 31 Scrambled eggs with tomato, fresh basil from Lisa Hartmann, and cheddar with a slice of the sour cream coffee cake from Isabel et Vincent. Laz refilled the forward water tank and refilled two gallon jugs for drinking. Unfortunately the water tastes terrible, like someone put limes in and left them there. Had to dump it out. Laz also washed down the starboard side where there was a lot of bird poop. High tide at noon and we set out then, after goodbyes with Tim the dockmaster. Lots of wind, waited til last the Cockenoe shoal green before putting up sails. Used the code-0 as the wind was ~12-13kts from the NE. Gybe tacked as we were trying to go SW.

September 2023

JULY 19-31, 2023