Once we made it through the Cape Cod Canal we were contemplating pushing on to Mattapoisett, but after checking the weather again we decided to tuck into a slip at Brewer Onset Bay Marina. We went into town and got some pizza and beer with Brian and settled in for the night. The next morning we sent Brian on his way and noticed that the storm had been upgraded and dubbed tropical storm “Franken-Phillipe.” With that, we doubled up on the dock lines, secured Haulin’ Oates, and removed our new dodger as we waited eerily for the storm to move in.

The forecast called for ESE Winds blowing 40-50kts with gusts upwards of 70kts. When we turned in for the night it was steady at 35-40 gusting to 50, and building.

He did make it on the 5th try (like a hero)

Tuesday (Halloween) rolled around, and we began to worry about the risk of falling too behind schedule while the weather becomes colder. So after we finished work, we motored/motorsailed for about 4 hours in the early evening to Cuttyhunk. Unfortunately, we did not take the time to put the dodger back on before we left, and just like our last sail down to Newport the previous summer, we found ourselves yet again motoring through darkness in Buzzards Bay, with wind on the nose and sea spray straight to the face. Cursed route!

We were also really lame and totally missed out on an opportunity to have Halloween aboard (never again). However, where there might not have been any treats, there certainly were some tricks: turns out the pin in the anchor roller that keeps the anchor in place is shoddy and it fell out while we were under way, causing the anchor to also fall out from the roller! Thankfully Brendan sprang into action just in time, and we’ve devised a temporary fix which involves lashing lots of cord between the bow cleat and the anchor chain to secure the anchor.

We arrived at Cuttyhunk in the dark, well after sunset, gingerly motoring through the shallow canal that leads from the bay to Cuttyhunk Harbor, and dropped anchor for the night.

I feel like we are still not quite in danger zone! Still in territory that Creeky has already cruised through. And it doesn’t quite feel like we have truly taken off yet. That’s all about to change though…