The wind really blew last night, and has really piped up this morning. The forecast is for nw winds at 10-15 and gusts to 25. We sit and debate about sticking around and taking in a movie, or just pushing on. Except of the wind, it is a really beautiful clear day.
The wind will be behind us, and the bay is fairly calm, so we decide to move on. Outside the harbor, we put up the jib and manage to do between 7.5 and 8.5 knots with just the jib. The seas build up a little bit, but it is a great ride down the coast in these conditions.
Passing Plymouth, the wind dies a bit, then collapses completely. Odd, it was supposed to blow all day this way. So we’re under power until a little before the canal, when the breeze comes up again. We just press on, because soon we’ll be entering the canal, and right into the wind.
We have a favorable current through the canal, so we are doing about 9 knots over the ground. With the wind, this has us pushing through a 25 knot breeze. Very noisy and chilling. As we get deeper into the canal cut, things settle down a bit.
We make it under the railroad bridge just in time. We hear the train coming, and the bridge lowers only a minute or two after we pass under. We had some worry about the canal exit (what with the wind against the tide), but the wind direction is such that the bay is fairly calm. We opt for Marion over Onset. This will allow Marion to shop for her “personalized” items in the local store.
Still very breezy, we find our way into Marion harbor and take a mooring at the Beverly Yacht club. The juniors come out to sail 470s at a float just off our mooring, and provide quite a show. After that it’s dinner and bedtime. The wind is finally down, and likely be be more manageable for the next couple of days.
Nice to have a cool breeze, though. We’re heading back towards the land of hot summer.