Northport

I was overdue for a haircut. This home, converted to offices, has a one chair barber shop. "Oscar" has been cutting hair in Northport for 50 years. Cost for a cut...$3.50! Down the street at the jewelers, I stopped in twice for a new pin for my broken watch band and adding an additional link I found on the boat. Both times, no charge. We can stay all day at the town dock, run to the store, wash the boat & fill the water tanks; no charge. We like Northport!

Even without the extra cost savings, it's a nice town. We also have friends here who buy us dinner! We'll be here till mid week when some friends arrive. We'll buddy boat with them down through NJ. He knows some of the less than perfect inlets that require local knowledge. Meantime, we're getting some maintenance chores done. And the weather is perfect!

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Cuttyhunk redux

We left Martha's Vineyard Tuesday, cutting through Woods Hole again with the tide. Another scary ride as the swirling currents don't always go in the direction you need to go...and the channel has rocks on the edges! But I'm getting used to this stuff, sort of.

Anchored in the outer harbor of Cuttyhunk around 3pm, an easy day. This place is well positioned for a crossing of Buzzards Bay towards Long Island Sound.

Our friend Dan came to visit us from across Buzzards Bay where he keeps his boat in New Bedford. He sails a trimaran, pictured here. They are very fast, he can go 15 knots fairly easy. We struggle to go 7k in similar conditions. But, we have much more space plus our weight makes a much smoother ride in rough seas. Our friend Chuck rode with us from Norfolk north in June with 30k wind & 8' seas. He has a catamaran, and after riding with us in the rough stuff is considering a switch to our type of boat. All boats are tradeoffs.

Dan rafted with us for the night, we had dinner and plenty of discussion topics till midnight. In the morning, we cut him loose as a storm front was approaching. Turned out to be minor wind but a lot of rain.

After the storm, we bid Dan farewell over the VHF and got underway across Buzzards Bay. No wind, so we motored. Shortly after getting underway, I went to check on things below. Smoke coming from the engine room is generally not a good thing! I hollered up to Chris to cut the engine. The alternator was smoking. I've been fighting various issues with the alternator/charging system for a while. While we drifted in sloppy rolling seas, I swapped out for the spare alternator. Other than some mild queeziness, no issues. Fired up the engine and continued on. We'll be buying a new alternator soon!

Arrived in Point Judith in the PM and anchored in the "harbor of refuge", a big area protected by a stone breakwall. Bought some 'cheap' diesel & gas at a marina Thursday morning before heading west to Stonington, Ct. We've been to all three of these places on the way up. It's nice to know the surroundings and what to expect.

We had good sailing conditions heading east in this area but now it's been pretty calm and back to motoring.

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom