We Made It!

June 14, 2008

You may think that GPS stands for Global Positioning System. For us and thousands like us it stands for Geezer Placement Service. It’s made it possible for us and other nomads to negotiate the waters of the ICW and offshore at least knowing where we are if not what we’re doing there. Without it we would be confined to condos and golf courses, puttering away the hours.

GPS, Charlie H., M. and I have taken Journey from Cape May to Teel Cove in six days, arriving here Thursday morning, June 19 at 9:30. It was a week of tremendous sailing, another engine failure and of churning: M. and I are eager to be on land, but at the same time not wanting to let go of this journey.

With Charlie H. on board, and accompanied by Troubadour, we made a two-night passage from Cape May to arrive on June 9th at Cuttyhunk Island in Buzzards Bay off of the coast of Massachusetts. We sailed all but nine hours, and weathered another severe thunderstorm by running with its 40 knot west winds for about a half an hour. We stood three-hour watches and slept well in our rocking cradles of berths. We were in the mood to keep going through a third night to reach Maine, but when we started the engine to charge the battery we discovered that the alternator was not working. The stop at Cuttyhunk town marina allowed us to investigate the problem, to plug into shore power to charge the house and starter batteries, and to make calls to Joe at Lyman Morse in Maine, sufficient to determine that either the voltage regulator or, more likely, the alternator had failed. The oil leak also proved to be unfixed. It was coming from the oil pressure sensor switch. Journey’s special needs engine once again needed the healing hands of Guy Crudel, the superb mechanic who had adjusted medications for our baby last October 1st, when fittingly, then and now, Charlie H. was our cheerful, always optimistic, go with the flow crew member.

We had never been to Cuttyhunk before, one of a string of islands that make up the southeastern boundary of Buzzard’s Bay on the southern coast of Massachusetts. Bartholemew Gosnold landed on Cuttyhunk in 1602, built a small fort, stayed 22 days, went back to England, returned as a backer and leader of Jamestown in 1605 and was one of the hundreds to die of disease in the first year.

We were struck by the contrast in the appearances of the town of Gosnold on Cuttyhunk and Hopetown on Elbow Cay, Bahamas. Gosnold was all cedar shakes and white trim, Cape Cod-style cottages and homes tiered on a steep hill overlooking a tight little harbor. Hopetown was pastel and open windows, the only elevation the sand dune spine of the Island. Cuttyhunk offered the highest elevations of land that we had seen in months.

Island people from the Abacos and Cuttyhunk are a lot the same. Initially taciturn, a little abrupt, and eager to charge you high prices for everything, and only open for business at their convenience. Gosnold must fund a good deal of the town budget from revenues from the City Marina and mooring field that allows up to three boats to raft on each mooring. Cuttyhunk is famous for its oysters and Charlie and I each ate eighteen of them. M. and I took a walk to reach spectacular views of Buzzards Bay and ran into a retired school teacher and his wife whose vocation is to visit all 351 towns of Massachusetts. Gosnold was 350th on their list and Nantucket would be their last.

On June 10th we departed Cuttyhunk at 6:30 to make the flood tide current at the Cape Cod Canal which runs east, ran with it through the canal and headed north on Cape Cod Bay towards Gloucester. We called Guy and he would be available the next morning. Browns boat yard said they were full, but we could tie up on the fuel dock. We traveled 13 hours, mainly motoring in light southwesterly winds. I was instructed to call Guy at seven o’clock Wednesday morning to tell him where we were and he was there at 7:30. In a few minutes he diagnosed the alternator had failed, and had removed the oil pressure switch. He sent the alternator with one of his men to Hub alternator repair, they called and said the diodes were fried and the stator badly worn, the results of a loose connection and/or too much demand. Guy had tested the draw on the alternator when starting the engine and the voltage regulator was demanding 90 amps. They traded our alternator for a rebuilt 110 amp model. Guy returned to install it and a new pressure switch and we underway by 12:10 headed for Teel Cove.

Something remains amiss. Our friends at the boat yard here in Maine, who installed just three years ago the alternator, expensive new batteries, voltage regulator and a modernized, high-quality, electrical system, have some explaining and work to do.

The passage from Gloucester to Teel Cove began in light westerly winds. We motored, motor sailed and tried to sail from time to time with little success until the wind shifted more to the northwest and built to 12 then 15 then 20 then to 22. From 3:00 Thursday morning until arriving on our float in front of the cabin at 9:35 we had an exhilarating closing sail under reefed main and jib. We traveled 119nm in a little over 21 hours. We hopped to, unloading needed stuff as the tide was falling, started the engine to take the boat to the mooring, and the raw water pump had failed. The engine was cool enough to motor without it to the mooring. Charlie grabbed it on first pass in 22 knot winds and we shut down.

Since August 17, 2007 Journey has traveled 4,986 miles. We made ten overnight passages and spent 110 days underway.

We are numb, disoriented, sleeping a lot and more than anything else grateful for this journey. We dreamed it. We risked it, stretched our capacities and endurance, and returned home more in love and in partnership than ever before. We’ve laughed, cried, felt alone, loved new friends, and deeply missed old ones and are eager to see children and grandchildren. Journey has been a school house of boat workings, literature, and spirituality.

This journey has served as the critical first lap of the transit from a life of becoming to a life of being in the moment, from a life of acquiring to a life of letting go, from a life of complexity to a life of simplicity. It got us to these places again and again and we hold them dear. With the grace of God will reach them again and again.

Finally, for those who have cared enough to follow us along, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.