My outboard motor is running but my lawn tractor just broke! I gotta get back on the water.
Loaded up Catalpa. If the weather is favorable we are going to sail over to Onset tomorrow. I think we’re going to sleep on the boat tonight if I can tie up a few loose ends around here.
The boatyard got a new carburetor for our outboard engine so we decided to sail back home to pick it up.
Motored all the way down Vineyard Sound due to light headwind. As soon as we reached Quick’s Hole the South West breeze picked up. Shut down the motor and raised all sail. Headed due North. Finally some nice sailing! 1 minute after raising the main I decided it needed a reef. Managed to blowout one of the reefing blocks but had a great sail home.
Going to stay here for a couple of days. Need to do laundry, re-provision, and get more ice. It’s raining so we’ll wait until things clear up. We’ll probably head back out on Monday.
Also- I just added about 100 photos to the 2012 gallery section.
Martha’s Vineyard has great bus transportation so we took the bus over to Oak Bluffs again today.
Today was the “Grand Illumination” of the gingerbread houses that surround the Tabernacle. Beautiful. Wish I had my tripod for better night shots. Managed to get a few pictures that aren’t too blurry. All of these tiny little houses had thousands of lanterns lit up on them.
Had dinner at Offshore Ale again. Love the stout beer they have over there.
Monday August 13
Sunny day in Vinyard Haven Harbor. This morning we managed to get most of our bedding and damp clothing up on deck to dry. Lynne did some swimming while I lounged around and read a book. Cleaned house and went to shore. Going to look for some y-fi to check email and maybe upload some of this log.
Grilling burgers on deck this evening. Tommorow we may take the bus over to Oak Bluffs to check out Offshore Brewery.
Current plan is to head back home on Wednesday to pick up the outboard. If it’s not done we’ll stay here a few more days.
Sunday August 12th
Got a mooring inside of the breakwater this morning. Yay!
Friday night was crazy. Big storm rolled through. We battened down the hatches and waited it out. I tried to bring Skipper in to shore at one point but he became very frightened during the row in so I aborted the trip and returned to Catalpa. After the storm blew itself out (around 8:00pm) we had a new problem. For some reason the left over breeze blew all the boats sideways to the rollers coming in from the bay. Roller-coaster ride. Every single thing that was not properly secured was tossed around the boat. Drank wine, listened to music, and laughed (no fillings rattled loose). Things calmed down later and we had a good night sleep.
Basicaly the weather has been pretty mixed since then. It seems like every few hours a squall blows through. We close up the boat. Squall ends, and we get a dryer SW wind blowing through (open boat and dry stuff out).
Yesterday (Saturday) we went into town for ice and a civilized meal. Had dinner at the Black Dog Tavern. Half a rack of ribs and a lobster roll. Excelent meal.
For the past few days (regardless of weather) we’ve been watching these guys with giant kites on some sort of waterski boards. Amazing. At times they must be doing 50-60mph. During the storm, one skier was going so fast that he was throwing out a 10′ rooster tail behind him.
We like our spot in the harbor. It is well protected and close to the shore. It makes getting Skip to shore (bathroom breaks) easier. Vinyard Haven is a very busy little town so there is always something to see. Lots of pretty boats also.
Friday August 10th
We made it out to Martha’s Vinyard Yesterday.
Our vacation voyage started last Sunday. Due to bad weather we stayed in Harbor (Padanaram) and left for Cuttyhunk Island on Monday. It was a sunny, down wind run. Poled out the Genoa and ran wing on wing all day. Moored in the inner harbor for a few days. We always enjoy Cuttyhunk. Had pizza at Soprano’s pizza Wednesday night (8th). Great sunsets.
Left Cuttyhunk Thursday (9th) for Vinyard Haven. No wind. Motored the whole trip over. Hot. Took around 4 hrs I think. Got into VH around 1:30ish but were unable to get a mooring in the inner harbor. It was race night so we got to see a lot of nice boats sailing around. Closed down the evening with Dank n Stormies and Chicken Vindalo.
The outer harbor is very rolly and weather is on the way. We’re going to attempt to get a mooring inside of the breakwater but no one is leaving due to storms coming up from the south. I wish we had our outboard motor to get Skipper into shore but I’m making due with oars. Outboard should be fixed sometime next week. I think we’re going to stay here for a few days.
We spent most of the day yesterday finishing up a few jobs and provisioning. There was a big fog bank in Buzzards bay so no point in rushing things. I stopped at Lee’s supermarket and bought a few hundred dollars worth of food and booze. I like seeing all of the cabinets stocked up. We’ll probably eat at restaurants half of the time but it’s nice to have options.
The weather is still not so great today so I’m thinking we might leave tomorrow. First stop will be Cuttyhunk island. We’ll probably stay there a few days to decompress.
Diesel: Working! I managed to find someone (Discount Marine Source.com) that had the offending dipstick tube. They express shipped that to us and I got it in today. So our main engine seems to be working pretty well right now.
Outboard: Not such a happy story. The shop says it needs a new carburetor. It’s only a couple of years old so I’m hoping it’s covered by warranty (Honda). Best case scenario is that we get it back by the end of next week.
Plan: Who needs an outboard motor? I think we’re going to leave Sunday or Monday morning. We’ll head over to Cuttyhunk for a few days. I’ve got oars. Hopefully the engine gets done in a few days. Then we’ll sail back to Dartmouth, pick it up, and head off again.
The goal was to leave by August 1st (today), but a few unexpected things happened.
1- After launching Catalpa I decided to take the dingy out to locate our mooring as we were moved to some deeper water last winter. I brought our little Honda outboard out of winter storage but wasn’t able to get it started. I spent a day or so fooling around with it but still wasn’t able to get it going. I brought it to a mechanic. They have to rebuild the carburetor and I should get it back by Friday.
2- After resolving the outboard dilemma I opened Catalpa’s engine hatch, for some reason, only to find oil pooling under the engine. Big problem. I think its leaking from the dipstick tube which is very rusted. Apparently it must have cracked when we took our first run through the harbor to get to the mooring. I’m not much of a diesel mechanic but it looks like it’s only 2 bolts holding the thing on the engine so I figure I might be capable of replacing it. Unfortunately, our local distributor says it’s going to take two weeks to get the part from the factory. I spent half the day trying to locate the part elsewhere in the US and have it express shipped to us. I’m currently waiting on this.
IF I get the part, AND I can install it, AND I get the outboard back then I’m hoping to leave Saturday or Sunday. As I mentioned before – big problem.
After some very long 16 hour days, Catalpa is in. It would have been very easy for me to delay a few more weeks but a deadline is a deadline! “Time and Tide waits for no man!” The heat on Tuesday was ridiculous. Every once in a while we’d have a thunder shower but it only seemed to increase the humidity.
Our Day started at around 4:50am. At first light I was out putting bottom paint on the hull. Lynne spent most of the morning loading the boat. Caffeine was a necessary part of the morning’s festivities. The truck was at our house at 8:00 am to load Catalpa up.
Davis and Tripp did a good job of getting her out of my yard. I built the shed around the boat so I wasn’t 100% sure they were going to fit the boat out. I had a chainsaw handy. It was a tight squeeze due to the grade of the land but eventually she was out of the shed and on her way to the waterfront.
They picked Catalpa up with a big crane and put her into the water.
The rest of my day was spent rigging and sorting through some of the stuff in the cabin. Later in the day we motored around the harbor to make sure our old Diesel was still chugging away. Eventually we made it up river to our mooring.
Next- a few days of well deserved sleep!