Best Weekend

I was informed by my mom that in this post I did not sufficiently express the size of the swells and the sense of chaos as we motored through the mouth of the Merrimac on our way to Newburyport.  So, in the interest of accuracy, I will elaborate:  I was sitting on the bow because our boat is fairly stern-heavy and with three of us in the cockpit we were having a hard time keeping the boat flat.  I was pretty nervous about all the boat traffic and the rocks and the swells, and I know Cody was pretty tense trying to navigate the boat through it.  But my mom said, "Wee, this is fun!"  And I was happy to know, at least, that she wasn't perturbed by the conditions.

The weekend after my time on the Gamage I was eager to get out on Tri-oomph.  After I finished work on Saturday evening Cody and I loaded up and had an amazing night sail out to Folly Cove.  The wind was perfect - steady and strong - and night sailing is amazing.  We weren't working with any navigational tools so we sort of guessed where to head based on our knowledge of the shore and what few lights we could pinpoint as landmarks.  It took us about an hour and was honestly one of the funnest sails we had all year.  Night sailing, man.  

As we doused canvas and motored into the cove the bioluminescent plankton in the water glowed bright around the prop, leaving a trail of light behind us.  It was pretty magical.  We spent the night in our now-familiar anchorage, cooking dinner and watching a movie on the laptop.  

The next morning we went for an early swim, drank coffee and did some work on the boat while at anchor.  It was wonderful.  We hadn't planned much for breakfast - I think we might have had a couple apples - so we decided to sail up the Annisquam to The Market restaurant.  They have a dock out front so we tied up and went inside for a late breakfast, running into Winnie (my companion on the Gamage) and several other friends.  I'd be lying if I said we didn't feel pretty baller stepping off our big green boat while the restaurant patrons sitting on the deck ooh'ed and ahh'ed (well, they might have . . . )

That day the big race of the Gloucester Schooner festival was going on so we decided that, seeing as how the tide would allow it, we'd go through the Blynman cut bridge and anchor in Gloucester Harbor to watch the schooners come back in.  My interest in schooners was very high after my weekend aboard one.  

The Cut Bridge.  We'd been intimidated by it for a long time.  First of all, our boat has a 16 foot beam (that's the total width), much larger than the average sail boat, and the cut is 30 feet wide.  Also, we have a wimpy 8 horse motor and I'd heard stories about sail boats without enough horse power having problems heading through.  But we'd have to get used to doing things that scare us if we wanted to ever get anywhere on our boat.

Motoring up the Annisquam was fun (we only ran aground once!  It was low tide . . . ).  People LOVE Tri-oomph.  There was a lot of other boat traffic and almost everyone waved and gave us the thumbs up or said something nice about our boat.  We reached the cut bridge and it was down.  We radioed into the bridge operator - scary!  I had looked up what channel he was on and we spent several minutes in discussion about what to say to the guy.  Like, "Blynman Bridge, Blynman Bridge, this is the Tri-oomph, come in."  I think Cody was feeling the pressure when he radio'ed in, but the guy was super nice, kept calling Cody "Cap", and told us it would be a few minutes before the bridge came up again.  We asked if the river-to-harbor traffic had the right of way and he assured us that, yes, we did.  When the bridge came up we motored forward, following the motor boat in front of us (but not too close!  The wake from a big engine can make it even harder on our little outboard).  I sat on the bow (my preferred seat) to keep an eye out for any hazards, and in we went!  It was so easy, and we felt pretty dumb for being so worried about it.

It was a hot day, and we had several hours before we'd see the schooners come back in, so we dropped anchor and spent a few hours swimming and doing work on the boat.  We were getting hungry so we motored over to the town dock to tie up and run to a grocery store and to get more fuel.  Because we're so wide we usually fold up one of the outriggers when we're at a dock with limited space, but even so we took up a lot of room, making it difficult for other boats to get in and out (but not impossible).  We divided our tasks - Cody went to get fuel while I headed to the Common Crow to get provisions.  A scant 15 minutes later we were back at the boat and loaded up to head back out.  Cody had gotten fuel but hadn't been able to find 2-stroke oil.  Oh well, we'd figure it out.  

We headed back into the harbor, dropped anchor again, and grilled veggie burgers and kale (ha!  That's what happens when I go to the store) while we watched the schooners come in.  It was a little hazy so the visibility wasn't great, but it was still super cool to see those big ships come in.  Thanks to the wonders of technology (iPhone!) we were able to research the one's we were curious about and find out lots of cool stuff.  In addition, my time aboard the Gamage had educated me on various aspects of schooners so I could identify features that I wouldn't have had any clue about before.

Finally the ships were in and we had to head in. We made it back through the cut with no problem and stopped at Cape Ann Marina for 2-stroke mix.  Fully fueled, we motored back up the Annisquam and sailed into Essex Bay.  The tide was right to bring Tri-oomph all the way into her mooring, and we were home.

It was a perfect weekend on the boat, and really gave us a feel for what the day-to-day life of living on a little boat would be like (in a word, awesome).  

 Closer . . . 

 Closer . . . 

 Closer . . . 

 Ahhhh!!!

Schooners coming in on a hazy day.