Back in Boston!

By Sailor Keddy -
We made it back to Boston at about 4:30 pm yesterday afternoon in light rain with 2-5 knots of wind. It was hairy at times, but all around, it was a great experience. Given the fact this voyage was completed in a New England December weekend, it actually went very smoothly.

After motoring most of Narragansett Bay, we put up the sails just after going under the Newport Bridge and cut the engine. By this time it was completely dark and I got one of my first tastes of
navigation by lit buoys and charts. Winchelsea was out in open water a couple of hours later, heading nearly due South. With a strong West wind (20-25 knots, gusting to 30) she was getting hit directly on the starboard by consistent 4-6 foot waves with an occasional 8 foot monster. These had her heeled over pretty good for a second (that felt much longer), but she righted herself again quickly. The combination of 15 degree air temperature and gusts of 30 knot winds to the right side of my face was relatively brutal. However, I had prepared myself well and with
the adrenaline of the experience, I hardly noticed.

Once we were clear of the reefs and rocks off of Newport and some fishing grounds, we jibed and headed Northeast. This was much smoother going (and warmer) with the wind and waves to our back. It was at this point we noticed the only loss of the voyage: Sea Biscuit II, the dingy in tow, was no longer behind us. All that remained was a mangled stainless steel ring bouncing on the surface behind us.

The crew consisted of myself, Steve (the gentleman I hired to help with the voyage), my old roommate Scott, and friends Alex and Maria. By this point, Alex was sleeping, Scott was at the helm, Maria was below deck keeping warm and Steve and I were on watch/navigating. We started the engine towards the eastern end of Buzzard's Bay and motored towards the canal.

Once in the canal, it was reletively smooth...until the engine died. We tried to get it started again, and even broke the belt, found a spare, installed it, but to no avail. Steve called canal control and they sent a tug to bring us to the other end. Once there, we just put our sails up and started
along again. This was at about 5:30. I decided to get some rest.

Alex woke me up to a glorious sunrise. We also spotted some dolphins feeding, it was a pretty nice morning. Cold but nice. Steve had the auto pilot on and we were making some coffee and having some breakfast.





The rest of the trip went very well, with winds varying between 5 and probably up to 12 knots.We put up the genoa at one point as well.







It started to rain as we entered Boston, with the wind dropping to 1-2 knots.

Winchelsea drifted into her new home, and we secured her to the dock. I snapped the photo at the beginning of this post today at about noon.

Tomorrow...the move and living aboard!

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