Bob's View:

CLARK'S MARINA, Jamestown, RI

  Courses:      1) Hingham to Plymouth
                      2) Plymouth to Pocasset
                      3) Pocasset to New Bedford
                      4) New Bedford to Jamestown
                      5) Jamestown to Wickford
                      6) Wickford to Jamestown

  Seas:          Less than 2 feet, mostly wakes and some Bertha (the hurricane that passed several hundred miles offshore) rollers in Narragansett Bay
  Weather:    Sun and clouds, wind S to SSW- 10-15 knts, gusts to 25 knts
  Distance run: 1) 35.6 (N)
                        2) 34.4 (N)
                        3) 19.8 (N)
                        4) 28.9 (N)                    
                        5) 9.6   (N)
                        6) 13.4 (N)

As you may note, we have been remiss in keeping up with our blog for the last 6 cruising days.  I account this to the smooth operations and enjoyable days at sea.  The only navigation issue of note was the thick fog along the south coast of Massachusetts into Narragansett Bay as we passaged from New Bedford to Jamestown last week.  This was eerie, to say the least.  We saw only white around us and nothing else all day except the occasional navigation buoy and that only when we were close enough to spot it.  Using the GPS, we were able to follow a good course along the coast.  After five hours of mesmerizing nothingness while keeping vigilant for other boaters without radar (or a seaman's knowledge of basic safety while navigating in thick fog) and as we entered Narragansett Bay at Bretton Reef just outside Newport and made a 90 degree course change to the north, we finally saw several boats within about 100 feet passing us port to port.  Our radar was on but not much use as it is located at the lower helm station; PM was on the intercom giving me updates on targets while I saw absolutely nothing but white haze from the flybridge.  This experience makes us commit to a radar upgrade, a $2,300 Christmas gift, for a Garmin 18 HD that can integrate with the chart plotter.

This was the day of my Uncle John's service in Cincinnati.  We paused for awhile in the fog off New Bedford to remember him and recall some of the events I had shared with him over his years.  He was my godfather, he was also the reason I joined the navy as a corpsman during the Vietnam War. While I was trying to find a way for myself as a 17 year old soon to graduate high school directionless teen, he had arranged for me to work in the Bethesda Hospital OR in Cincinnati.  This was not a glamorous job, my first day as I was in the OR, I was handed a leg that had been amputated and told to deal with this.  What do you do with a leg?  Certainly it was medical waste, but also a significant body part.  I found my way to the morgue on the lowest level and wrapped the leg in a plastic sheet and a surgical gown, I then reverently placed this limb on a shelf in the refrigerated storage space meant for corpses.  I do not know what occurred after that, perhaps the coroner was perplexed also, and spent hours searching for the rest of the body. 

Uncle John led an interesting life, serving during WWII in the Pacific theater as a medical officer, as a surgeon in Cincinnati after the war, and raising 5 of the most incredible great kids, my cousins, whom I always felt were more like brothers and sisters.  As we paused to honor his memory, the fog thinned, then cleared around us.  We had bluebird blue sky above us and sunshine bathed VELOMER with a crystal light.  It was only for about 10 minutes and the only time all day we were able to see the ocean and sky.  I believe Uncle John wanted to see us clearly to bid adieu.

Making our way so slowly south and west along the coast these past days has been a particularly enjoyable time for us.  PM and I have truly become boat people, leaving our land personas behind.  Our days are without schedules, commitments, deadlines or responsibilities other than staying safely afloat.  We eat when we are hungry.  We even nap in the afternoon when at a mooring (PM often naps at sea anytime she feels the sea wooing her into somnolence).  We daily attend to several routines of engine maintenance, small repairs and ship cleaning.  Now that the GPS is working, the bow-thruster is working (and I am still waiting for the contact from Jim Peterson at Spring Point Marine about responsibility for this issue), and the rear head is working, our focus is simply enjoying each day surrounded by water and appreciating the wonder of life and entertainment the sea affords us to observe.  I recall being surprised to learn it was Tuesday as we landed by launch in New Bedford.  I thought it was Friday, as it really mattered.

I should comment on PM's boat skills.  She took VELOMER through the Cape Cod Canal with ease. This on a tide that was moving us along with a 3-4 knot lift.  She contacted Canal Control to alert them of our impending passage at the Bourne railroad bridge at the west end of the canal, they addressed her as captain, a title she has surely achieved.  As a result, they held the bridge up to allow us a safe passage and we were the last boat to do so as a train approaching the canal from the mainland requires them to shut down navigation for a half hour.  I noted that several large sailing vessels behind us were challenged to station keep while the train passed.  We passed into Buzzards Bay and encountered some steep sided seas as the tide and wind were opposed at this time.  It was not at all the experience we had the last time we passed through the canal a year ago.  We had read our Eldridge Tide Tables and timed our passage to be earlier in the day this year, before the afternoon seas are really exciting.  Turning into Pocasset Harbor, we took the meandering course around Bassett's Island to arrive at Kingman Marine.  We would spend a few days here, riding our bikes along the canal and enjoying a the peace of a secure anchorage with fresh coffee daily ashore.  Our passage south from this point will be in warmer waters so fog would not be an issue, or so we thought.  We have learned to take each day as it comes and cope as necessary with the challenges of seas and weather.

PM is writing about some of our days so I will let her expound on these in her unique way.