Wednesday, July 13, 2005

It was a late launch this season. I got the boat in on the last day of June, a Thursday. On Saturday we were sailing off to a long holiday weekend on the Vineyard. It was a downwind sail, that delivered us to Woods Hole just in time to make the favorable tides. All in all it was a five hour passage, longer than normal, but I needed to hold back to make it through Woods Hole.

We arrived and were placed on a mooring by Tashmoo Boatyard. As soon as we were tied off I laid down in the cockpit and immediately fell asleep. Probably the best rest I have is napping after an arrival into Lake Tashmoo. Charlie and Linda arrived in Black Magic later, rafted up next to us. It was a great weekend. The weather was perfect. There had been a number of changes over the winter with the moorings, which were all switched to 1 ton blocks, and set out in a grid. The upshot was that some people lost their moorings. There were some pretty unhappy people around, with a lot of griping. On Sunday we had to move over to another mooring because the one we were on was not an official transient mooring. It seems Tashmoo Boat Yard needs a permit for transients...I felt bad, I've dealt with Kim Baptiste for years, and now he is being regulated out of the ways he has always done business. Each harbor has its hassles....
We had a nice dinner at the Tisbury Inn, then saw the fireworks in Charlies boat, off of Falmouth. Went to the beach on Monday. Walked into Vineyard Haven on Tuesday morn, then headed out into Vineyard Sound, and a fog bank that afternoon. This was the first time I'd used the new radar. It certainly helped the comfort level travelling through Woods Hole with fishing boats and ferries appearing out of the mist. It was 13 knots out of the Southwest when we cleared Penzance Point...and we had a wonderful sail back, just in time for sunset.
A great way to begin the 2005 boating season....