Sailing Sans Souci

Uncategorized · June 29, 2021 2

Hadley Harbor and Martha’s Vineyard

Apologies that I’ve been slow to get a post up recently- been busy working and sailing! This post covers Father’s Day weekend and the following weekend of June 26/27.

My brother, Rob drove up Saturday morning before Father’s Day to stay with our mom, releasing dad for a weekend away. It being his day, John got to pick the destination and he chose Hadley Harbor. The voyage is over 42 nautical miles and Hadley offers a beautiful, protected harbor nestled in Naushon Island, across from Woods Hole, Mass. We had an easy sail up Buzzard’s bay on 15-20 knots of breeze, mostly from the southwest, reaching the harbor in a little over 6 hours.

Hadley Harbor doesn’t offer too many places to get off the boat as it’s surrounded by Forbes family private land- they own the entire island. When we got there, we chose a nice spot to anchor and proceeded to enjoy delightfully prepared food courtesy of Kalen, my cousin. Kalen found herself with some time away from her boat job- cheffing for the rich and famous aboard luxury yachts, usually well over 100 feet in length.

Weather rolled in that evening in the form of thunderstorms but Sans Souci’s ground tackle (65 pound anchor and chain) was up to the challenge and held solidly in gusts over 30 knots, rain, and lightning.

Sunday dawned bright and warm for the return from Hadley. Winds started from the west, 10-15 knots, and we had to beat down Buzzards Bay into it, extending the miles. As we approached Sakonnet Point, I hoisted the spinnaker for the reach up the Sakonnet River. Wind picked up about the same time and over powered us temporarily due to the angle on the wind, making for a heavy helm. With sore shoulders from steering Sans Souci, I guided us around the point and off wind to a more comfortable ride. At one point, the GPS registered 10 knots which is very fast for this boat. We sailed quickly up the Sakonnet and back safely to Borden Light Marina, sailing over 51 miles on the day in 9 1/2 hours. 

The following weekend, Kalen again found herself with time away from her yacht before it heads up to Maine for guests this week, so I invited her along to Menemsha on Martha’s Vineyard. The sail to Menemsha is a bit less ambitious than the cruise to Hadley Harbor in distance, but it takes us farther offshore. We left Borden Light on Saturday morning in foggy conditions. The wind was again blowing from the SW (recognizing a pattern here?) at 10-15 knots. This angle puts the wind on our nose as we traveled down the Sakonnet River and so we motored the first 2 1/2 hours. Once we were near Third Beach on Acquidneck Island, the river widens out enough to be able to sail (when the wind is on the nose, a sailboat needs to be placed at an angle to the wind sufficient to fill the sails- this is about 35 degrees to the apparent wind on Sans Souci.) Visibility was less than 1/2 mile in fog and there were a few boats out there. I monitored the radar, radio and the AIS, or Automated Information System. The AIS is a device that broadcasts Sans Souci’s position, direction and speed and also displays the same information of other similarly equipped vessels on the chart plotter. Despite having all the electronics, one must still be vigilant in such conditions. At one point, a rather large and fancy sailing yacht ghosted out of the fog directly in front of us without ever registering so much as a tiny blip on my screen. I am puzzled as to why they didn’t have a radar reflector or AIS system- this boat looked like it should have all the electronic goodies.

Once we were abeam Gay Head, the furthest west point of Martha’s Vineyard, the fog cleared and the wind freshened to over 20 knots. We had a lively sail the rest of the way to Menemsha and were dropping the hook by 2 PM in Menemsha Bight, just outside the harbor and marina. 

It being still pretty early, we decided to do some exploring on the island. We hopped in the dinghy and motored to town. After tying up at the dinghy dock, we walked along the quay and promptly ran into John and Monica, boat neighbors from Borden Light Marina. They invited us aboard and we had a nice visit, enjoying a few beers and hors d’oeuvres. We then walked around Menemsha, the seafood mongers were busily sending folks along with boxes of lobsters and other delectables, but there wasn’t much else going on. We decided that it was time to head back to Sans Souci for the evening. Kalen cooked us up some fresh caught haddock that another boat neighbor had given me on Friday and we enjoyed a nice evening listening to music and talking about life.

Sunday morning, while it was still very humid, there was thankfully no fog. We got under way and were quickly sailing since Menemsha Bight is so open and we didn’t have to go far to find room. The breeze was fresh and blowing again from the SW. This put us fairly close hauled (sailing somewhat into the wind) but not in a way that we had to tack. Anytime we can go a long way without tacking is just fine with me. We sailed to Sakonnet point, this time being able to see the sights missed in the fog the previous day. As we rounded the point, the wind increased and I found Sans Souci over powered yet again. I had a reef in the mainsail (the sail shortened to be smaller than full size) but had put the full genoa out when the wind dipped. Rather than try to pull in some of the genoa– we were sailing at a comfortable angle to the wind and charging along, this time registering 9.8 knots at one point– I muscled through the heavy helm once again. What I didn’t know was that at this angle and speed it creates perfect conditions to push water up the sink hoses in the two heads (bathrooms). This left a mess (contained to the rooms, though) and I’ve now soaked my 4th and 5th rolls of toilet paper (and 2 boxes of tissues) underway since owning the boat. The lesson is to close the seacocks to the sinks while underway and perhaps to not be so quick to increase the sail area.

We sped up the river with the wind at our backs and we sailed all the way through the difficult spots to navigate without engaging the help of Sans Souci’s auxiliary engine. I texted a friend, Shawn as we neared his mooring spot and he took the photo above from his boat as we sailed by, wing-in-wing (jib to port and the mainsail to starboard). My goal for the day was to use the engine minimally and in the 6 1/2 hours we were out, the engine only logged .6 hours. I’ll call that mission accomplished.

All told, Sans Souci has now traveled over 440 nautical miles in 15 outings since I’ve bought her. I’m building experience in a wide range of conditions and I am learning Sans Souci’s subtleties. This distance is mere pittance compared to the mileage we’ve yet to travel, with a planned relocation to Florida for the winter in our future, not to mention all the years full of adventures to come. Upcoming, I won’t be sailing much in July. Next weekend I plan to tackle a few more maintenance projects- dreaded varnish. Then I head to Montana for a reunion with college friends and to Minnesota to visit Sylvia and my daughter, Nova. After I’m back from that trip, Sylvia will fly here and, along with my dad, we will cruise to Mt. Desert Island in Maine for a few weeks. 

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2 Responses

  1. Tracy says:
    June 29, 2021 at 9:51 am

    Love reading about all of your adventures and can’t wait for all the ones to come! Enjoy all your visits this summer!!

    Reply
  2. Gib says:
    June 29, 2021 at 11:48 am

    I love reading your narrative, Hughie., Uncle Gib

    Reply

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