Monday, August 21

31.1 Nautical Miles | Long Cove, Tenant's Harbor

It was time to start working my way back towards Falmouth. Too bad the clouds were clinging to the hillsides, spitting rain. After waking early and seeing the dreary weather, I rolled over and got another hour or more of sleep.

Damp, But Not Unbearable

Once I finally rolled out of bed I started getting the boat ready to go while I waited for the coffee water to heat up. Just about the time I brewed the coffee, another light shower came through, and I huddled below with my beverage to wait for it to clear. Fortunately, the shower was brief and by 0930 I was on my way.

Outside the harbor, there was only a very light wind and a quick testing of the air showed that I was only going to get about 2 knots out if it. With 30 miles to go that day to my planned destination of Tenants Harbor at the southern end of Mussel Ridge Channel, 2 knots just wasn't acceptable, so I motored south at 5 knots or so.

Soon however, the breeze seemed to be building a bit and I was able to sail on a nice beam reach in a northwesterly breeze at about 4.7 knots. With a 30 mile day ahead, I had mentally set my bottom limit for speed at 4.0 knots, though with what should have been a favorable wind direction, I really didn't want to motor.

The wind seemed to understand, and while it was flukey and too light in the lee of Hog and Beach Islands, I managed to keep the engine off while I sailed south in intermittent light showers. I did see the speed drop down to about 3 knots a couple of times, but I was generally able to keep the boat moving at a pretty steady 4.6-4.8 knots.

The sailing continued to be favorable, and once past Little Spruce Head the showers seemed to dissipate. I enjoyed a lovely 4.5-5.5 knot beam reach for almost all of the 14 miles from Little Spruce Head to the north end of Mussel Ridge Channel. Along the way I had the bay almost entirely to myself save for a handful of lobster boats, the North Haven ferry, and the tug Barbara Bouchard towing a light oil barge from Searsport bound for sea.

Fundy Flotilla

As I neared Mussel Ridge Channel however, the wind eased and the strong ebb made it impossible for me to maintain my course. At that point I regretfully fired up the engine and powered for about 2 miles until I was in the channel proper. By then the clouds had mostly cleared, the wind was piping up again, and the strong current rushing through Mussel Ridge Channel was in my favor. I killed the engine and enjoyed a screaming reach down the channel, mostly at over 6.5 knots. Glorious.

As I approached the southern end of Mussel Ridge, I began to hear boats calling in to Tenant's Harbor looking for moorings. It seemed that they were all with the Fundy Flotilla, and the large number of boats had already taken up all the available moorings--and in fact many of the boats were apparently rafting together on the Cod End moorings. So once again I ended up in nearby Long Cove. Even here there were perhaps 8 or 10 Fundy Flotilla boats riding at anchor. Long Cove has plenty of room for anchoring however, and I was able to find a nice spot in about 10 feet at low well away from the cluster of Flotilla boats.

Plague!

Once the anchor was down and the boat put away I was happy to kick back with a well-deserved rum and tonic to relax for a bit. I was pleased that I had been able to sail more than 27 of the 31.1 miles I had covered and looked forward to a relaxing evening.

While kicking back in the cockpit, I suddenly noticed some annoying buzzing. Looking up from my book I found that the cockpit was infested with a veritable plague of flies! Where there had been none mere moments before, I estimated there were now over 30 flies. Looking around I saw more buzzing about the foredeck, and another regiment lined up in the dinghy! I hurried below to retrieve the companionway screens in hopes that I could at least keep the flies outside of the boat.

After about 10 or 15 minutes, the flies dispursed, as quickly as they had come.

I spent the rest of the evening reading until bed time. I found the anchroage just a bit rolly, and once again it was very chilly overnight.