June 17 | 17.2 Nautical Miles

The weather forecast had been calling for the potential for severe thunderstorms on Sunday for the previous several days. Not wanting to get caught in those storms, we planned to get underway by midmorning to give ourselves plenty of time to get home before any nasty weather.

Father's Day: Dad Gets Up, Mom Sleeps In

Gavin slept like a rock overnight and was just starting to stir at about 0645 when I got up to use the head. I decided to get up at that point, and Gavin continued to laze in bed for at least another 30 minutes while I had my coffee and filled in the logbook for the preceeding day. While a morning thunderstorm rumbled by to the west of us.

Eventually Gavin decided to get up and came on deck to enjoy some applesauce before spending some time practicing his fly-casting. Around 0800, Bear came by to deliver some fresh-baked breakfast pastries then returned later to take Gavin for a dinghy ride. I continued to relax until I finally woke Heather up at about 0900. Heather and Gavin went over to New Directions to celebrate Fathers Day with Jerry while I stayed aboard to pick up the boat and get her ready for departure.

Almost, But Not Quite

Heather and Gavin retuned at about 1000 and by 1010 we were hauling anchor and underway. A rather insistent seeming breeze had come up over the course of the morning, so I tucked a reef in, just in case, figuring it would be easier to shake the reef out than tuck it in later.

We powered out past Pole Island and the lobster boats and facilities on Pinkham Point, motoring into a generally decreasing breeze. It soon became evident that the reef was unnecessary, and I shook it out. Heather drove while I lounged up on the foredeck for a while.

As we approached Jaquish Island, we were able to come off the wind a bit and I soon decided to kill the engine. We sailed nicely around Jaquish and Gerry snapped some pictures with his camera phone as New Directions powered by close aboard. Soon they were receding into the distance, powering at about 6 knots while we sailed at only 4.5 or so. Gavin tried pushing to see if we might go a little faster.

We managed to stick with sailing until we reached Sand Island, near Hope Island, at which time the decreasing wind combined with foul current forced me to start the engine. We powered until Chandlers where there seemed to be a fresher breeze and favorable current and had a nice sail through Chandlers and on towards Falmouth at about 3 knots.

As we approached Falmouth, it became evident that we were probably not going to get to the mooring before we got hit by a thunderstorm. The sky was ominously dark, and we saw a few lightning strikes onshore, so I decided to fire up the engine and power in. We got the main down and covered and beat feet towards the anchorage. As we neared our mooring, one strike hit just onshore near the Falmouth town landing with a deafening crack. We picked up the mooring literally just as the first rain drops hit. I was greatly relieved to be down below as the storm passed overhead.

With no major issues, our shakedown cruise was counted a great success! We're really looking forwad to our major cruise in July and August.

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