Wasn't Pretty but WE'RE HERE

Well, sorry I havn't been updating but things were a little busy. On leaving DYC a number of our friends showed up to cast us off and bid farewell.......... perhaps they just wanted to get rid of us... just kidding. Wind Warrior, loaded down to the waterline sailed smartly off down the coast and stopping at Liverpool, NS enroute to Shelburne. We arrived in Shelburne on Thursday afternoon and in checking the weather forecast for the Gulf of Maine, saw a two day window with forecast NE winds 20knots....... so we went for it.

Leaving Shelburne at 6am we headed off to Brazil Rock and caught the tide perfectly flooding the Bay of Fundy. Wind Warrior motorsailed along at 9.3 knots passing the buoy. The night watches were spectacular and as Jan said..."I've never seen stars so big before", as the sky was alight with millions of very bright stars. The sunset and sunrise were equally spectacular.

37 hours later we arrived at anchor in Provincetown, Cape Cod.

Grumpy, Timmy the Turtle, and Suzie the seahorse were glad to see land as Grumpy was getting VERY IMPATIENT!!!

Sunday was a down day so we did a little sightseeing in Provincetown.... and boy did we see some unusual sights. The day was a balmy 83F with bright sunny skies. What a welcome !!

Ron found his hero..."CAPTAIN RON" and Jan was in heaven in the Christmas Store.

The "babies" looked like dogs and the green guy was actually a human statue who stood there for hours without moving. I walked right past him twice and didn't realize it.

Labour Day brought continued strong SW winds of 20 knots but the seas were low so we decided to head for Cape Cod Canal........ and like the title says "Wasn't pretty, but we're here" tells it all. Five miles out of Provincetown the engine quit...... not even a burp. I changed the filters and still nothing....... and the wind was now up to 25 and gusting to 30 knots right out of the SW. The seas were also building to 4 feet. This is easy....... reef down and let's sail it to the canal........ "Wind Warrior" was truly living up to her name as she handled the weather with relative ease. However... you have to have an engine to enter the canal........ {Thank God we had Tow Boat US insurance}. A quick call to them and out they came at a gallop from Onset, Mass.

This was great, a free tow the length of Cape Cod Canal right to a mooring in Onset Harbour.

Like I said...."Not Pretty but we're here".

That night Don & I ripped apart everything that leads to and from the engine and at last...... a hard piece of plastic (like a hunk of a straw) was lodged in the fuel line between the Racor filter and the fuel pump. How that ever got there no-one will ever know. With the line cleared the engine roared to a start and hasn't faultered since.

Don & Heather Robinson left us the next morning after 6 days, rented a car and drove home from Onset. Haven't heard from them yet so I hope they arrived OK.

So, next step...... onward from Onset to New Bedford. A relatively nice day with distant fog and calm seas. When passing the Cape Cod Canal ship channel in Buzzards Bay we met up with Serenity V, a Morgan 41, also from Dartmouth Yacht Club and Bruce and Colleen were happy to see us. A quick chat on VHF and it was arranged to anchor beside each other in New Bedford. That's where we are today, waiting out the rain and generally crappy weather before heading out to Newport, Rhode Island tomorrow.