Headed for Nahant

Woo Hoo! Sailed all the way from Boston Harbor to Nahant and back – no instructor on board! It was a perfect sailing day with plenty of sun and perfect wind. Our new sailing comrade, Collin and his girlfriend, Teresa, joined us for the trip. Ramon and I had plotted the course the night before and our en route bearings matched well. We sailed out of the harbor via President Roads, keeping Deer Island Light to our port and then headed into the Boston North Channel. Once past R “6” in the Channel we were able to head direct to Nahant passing Winthrop and Revere Beach on the way.

As we venture into these new areas, I sometimes find it difficult to match the chart with the actual land in sight; they can look so different. Given that I am directionally and geographically challenged, it’s not that surprising. Definitely have to improve my skills in these areas.

Once we reached Nahant, we proceeded to anchor in Dorothy’s Cove. Collin and I lowered the anchor while Ramon was at the helm. The anchor set, we waited for the bow to turn into the wind but it just wouldn’t do it. We watched our sites to see if we were drifting, Collin realized we were and we reset the anchor. Still, the boat would not turn into the wind as it should. We pulled up anchor and headed toward the beach. Anchor was firmly set, but still no turning into the wind. The only possible variable that was interfering was the running (in neutral) motor, once Ramon shut it off the bow turned into the wind. We ate our lunch (whatever we hadn’t already eaten on the trip out), took up the anchor and headed back.

The wind was awesome on the way back, hauling us steadily around 5 knots. We made the trip back in about a quarter of the time it took us to go out. We moored before sundown at BHSC.

There’s just something about being on a boat, with nothing but wind to glide you over the water…

                                                                                                Ready to Set Sail