the Voyage

By Sailor Keddy -
I found the Winchelsea on craigslist and she is down in Warwick, Rhode Island. Given the options of land or sea to get her to Boston, of course I opted for sea. Not only would I have the thrill of sailing her, my own boat, but it would be one of the most significant sailings I have had to date.
There has also been quite a bit of legwork involved with this transfer. I met Jerry, the former owner, down in Warwick to give it an initial inspection. I made an offer the next day and he had the funds soon after that. I also had to find a marina that was friendly to liveaboards in Boston, and I found this gem: http://www.bostonwaterboatmarina.com/

I called Paul, one of the guys who runs it, and he said he has slips available with shore power and water. Great. He also gave me the name of a guy who could help me sail her up. Awesome. Steve has a lot of great sailing experience and seems like a good guy overall. He has been very helpful planning this trip and watching the forecast, we have been going by the NWS marine forecast. The window we have is Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon, bracketed by gale force winds before and rain/snow after. Its a smallish window, but Steve says its very doable.

The plan of action now is to head down to Warwick this evening (she is being put in the water as I type), spend the night on the boat, prep it tomorrow morning and set sail by 1. It should be about 24 hours of straight sailing into Boston. Here is our proposed route:

It's about 113 nautical miles and takes us through the Cape Cod Canal. The most hazardous part of the voyage will be up through Buzzards Bay leading up to the Canal, however the wind will be to our backs and the waves will be coming from behind us. Oh yeah, its also going to be 20 degrees tomorrow night, and with 30 knot winds, the wind chill is just above zero.

This should be interesting!

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