2016 Mildred Rose sail to Padanaram

[Mildred Rose]

See the trip on our SPOT Adventures page , including our track http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventure ... pid=345343

You know the feeling you get before doing something.....that you SHOULDN'T do it? Well this trip was that!

This trip is generally one of the easiest and most basic trips out there. Get in the boat and sail to Padanaram and pick up a mooring and come home. Pretty simple.

Apparently, no one told the universe that was the plan!

First premonition was when we got off the launch, ready to depart. We got on the boat.. it was freaking hot and humid as I have ever felt it....at 10am! OK.. fine.. once we get out there.. the wind will cool us (yeah right!).

Unlock the boat, take the hatchboards off.. go down into the cabin, I hear this buzzing noise... WTF is that?? I felt a squishy carpet below my feet... the friggin fresh water pump! A hose slipped off the faucet fitting, and the pump pumped 50 gallons of fresh water into the inside of the boat (thank goodness we dont have a huge tank!).

Out of water, on the hottest day of the year. We SHOULD have called it a day and went home.. but apparently, we are just too stupid to do that! OK Choices are go home, or bring the boat to the dock (NOT my favorite thing to do)...so we get the dock lines out (well an old halyard) and used the geneoa sheet and a coupel fenders. Called the boat yard's dock to ensure there was space, there was. Motor to the dock, the dockhand assists us in docking (Captain Ron would be prowd!). Filled the fresh water tank with the hose on the dock, while it was filling, I fixed the disconnected hose...now got to get off the dock, with the wind pushing us into the dock. F**ck. With the assistance of the dock hand, we got off the dock without issue. Quite a good job, if I say so (only been to the dock once in 8 years with this boat..so this was a big deal for me!)

Crisis averted. HAHA so we thought! Not out of the Sippican harbor, noticed the knot meter (speedometer) not working. F*ck. This means removing it from the inside of the boat, leaving a 1.5" hole in the boat for a few moments! Get the sending unit out and plugged the hole..cleaned the sending unit and reinstered. Now got to clean up a couple gallons of water. Not too bad.

OK.. 2 problems fixed and we haven't left the harbor. Most sane people would take that as a sign to just cancel the trip and stay home in a nice air conditioned house.. I mean.. it was 90 degrees at 11am and dew point was 72! Just there sweating. No way to get away from the heat! Even your sweat wouldnt evaporate. Suntan lotion just laughed at you when you tried to apply it..

OK Fine.. Still a bad day on the water is still better than a good day at the office! We carry on. Motored out of the harbor.. no wind...motor past Matapoisett.. still no wind.. pass New Bedford .. no wind.. the 3GM30 yanmar is happy as a clam humming along without issue. good water temp and oil pressure.

Finanally approaching Padanaram, we get some wind! whooo hoo.. the jinx is over (haha .. yea right.. the universe isn't done f*cking with us just yet). as we raise the sails, we just, literally, take a left turn, to get some wind off the beam, to get some sailing before we head in. Absolutely perfect sailing. Nice wind, no waves.. Can't ask for anything better! But yea... we are going to have to pay the price...soon.. for this hour or so of nice sailing..

Getting into the mid-afternoon, time to turn around and head into Padanaram to pick up the mooring at the New Bedford Yacht Club. The universe decided to really mess with us... sailing in nicely. We are in the 'groove' at about 6 knots or so...suddenly..we are at less than 1 knot..wind blowing nicely.. WTF?? I hear a 'knocking' on the hull... like the universe is just telling me its playing another trick on me.. yup.. you guessed it, we snagged a lobster trap bouy! It effectely was an anchor, holding us in place... slowly, but surely..dragging us.. at about half a knot... toward a very large channel marker!

time to lower the sail.. ah no.. too much tension on the slugs.. won't come down! F*ck. Lets try and pull the line onto the boat. Get a boathook on it. no go. won't come up. its bar tight. That channel marker is getting bigger every passing moment. Can't start the motor...as the line is caught in the notch in the hull where the prop is! Got a knife to cut the line.. but if I get in the water and cut the line..the boat will take off and leave me in the dust...Macgyver time. Let's duct tape the sailing knife TO the end of the boat hook (its 12' extended). Of course its not that easy with the current and waves to even get to the line with the boat hook, never mind create a sawing action to cut the line. After a few attempts.. I get the blade on the rope and it cuts free after a couple slices...BOING.. we are sailing again! Just dodged the channel marker.. now we sailed in circles a couple times to try and lose the bouy, if it happened to be still lodged in the aperature. Started the motor.. ran fine... get the sails down and motor into Padanaram..

The universe decided to take a break.. but it wasn't done yet. We pick up our mooring in the harbor. We try and cool down the best we can in this heat. Wash up.. put on some clothes that are not drenched in sweat.. call the launch to bring us to the yacht club. We meet up with Ken and Judy from our sailing club, who arrived before we did. We had a good dinner and drinks.. walked around town. Had a good time.

Went back to the boat after dinner and our walk, still unbearable. dew point was still at 72 (very opressively humid). No way to get cool. Was a chance of thunderstorms, so we should have closed the deck hatch.. but it was so hot.. we decided not to. Thank goodness the universe didn't know we did that!!

We finally get some sleep and wake up.. fog. Not good. We have coffee while we wait for it to burn off. Later in the morning, we slip the mooring, motor out of the harbor.. apparently, this is when the universe woke up and decided to mess with us a bit more... Suddenly a fog bank rolled in... its not THAT bad, but the wife is quite nervous in fog. We have all the right equipment to make it though.. Fog horn, GPS (2 of them), AIS receiver, RADAR, VHF, horns.. I know where we are, where we are going, can see through the fog (althouth the radar is on its last legs).. not a problem. Still the wife is nervous...

Naturally, the moment the fog rolls in.. I can see about 4 boat lengths in each direction (been in worse.. but this isn't good either) suddenly a power boat, at wide open throttle, blows past our bow at 20+ knots. This guy really shouldnt own a boat.. Took evasive action to avoid a collision, and fired the air horn. The rest of the trip was uneventful. Once past New Bedford, the fog lightened up.. then disappeared as we approached Mattapoisett. Got a chance to raise the Geneoa to get some sailing in, and give the motor a rest. The diesel must have been happy to get a couple long runs 2 days in a row. Thats a treat for a diesel!

Once back in Marion, picked up the mooring.. another adventure done!

You know you had a good trip when the number of departures equals the number of arrivals!!