July 27, coffee and breakfast at a bit more leisure pace today and we got ready to pass through the Blynman Canal which is certainly worth a trip through if you can. This is a pretty, although short journey. After breakfast we threw off the mooring lines and made our way over, calling on the VHF to ask permission to enter the canal. There was some bridge construction as we entered, but easily passable. Through the canal there are many waterfront homes, and moored and docked boats. It was very scenic and one of our favourite spots to pass along during our trip.
We exited the canal and made our way to the Isle of Shoals, to moor in Gosport Harbour. This tiny group of islands, ten kilometres off the US coast, straddles the border of both New Hampshire and Maine. We arrived here noonish and picked up a mooringball. No charge for the balls, but there are not many of them. Now moored, we had lunch and enjoyed a lovely day of sunshine and a warm breeze. Suzanne tried out her new hammock we bought, on the bow, lightly swinging while reading a book. We all enjoyed the afternoon and by now needed a break in our schedule to recharge. We then had a BBQ and supper in the cockpit, watching the skies darken. There were several tour boats that came in to the dock here and they went ashore for brief periods. There are no services available here for transient boaters we were aware of. There was also a large wooden training boat there for most of the day, that left around supper. It seemed to have a bunch of late teens aboard, and they were swimming around the boat when we arrived. Work and play helps learning and it's good to see young people involved in sailing. After supper, the skies were getting pretty ugly and we watched a group of boats which looked like it was doing a yacht club race night (Portsmouth maybe) in the distance. Mike and I, watching the race night mentioned they must have been getting their butts licked as the storm front passed over them. That's when we noticed that this big ugly shelf cloud was heading directly at us. Oh my! We were up and getting things tied down and tidied up. All hatches closed and it was not long before it was on us. We went below decks as the torrential rain hit us, and the wind grabbed the boat and threw it wildly in all directions. I was glad I was on a mooring at this point, and hoped it held. We held on below and watched the other boats swing with the wind. It was our first big storm to be caught in and luckily we had been prepared. Although exciting for a brief period, it was mostly uneventful with nothing broken, or lost other than one boat hook that I had missed stowing properly. Night came and we stayed below. Stories were told and the seas calmed to give us a good nights sleep.
We exited the canal and made our way to the Isle of Shoals, to moor in Gosport Harbour. This tiny group of islands, ten kilometres off the US coast, straddles the border of both New Hampshire and Maine. We arrived here noonish and picked up a mooringball. No charge for the balls, but there are not many of them. Now moored, we had lunch and enjoyed a lovely day of sunshine and a warm breeze. Suzanne tried out her new hammock we bought, on the bow, lightly swinging while reading a book. We all enjoyed the afternoon and by now needed a break in our schedule to recharge. We then had a BBQ and supper in the cockpit, watching the skies darken. There were several tour boats that came in to the dock here and they went ashore for brief periods. There are no services available here for transient boaters we were aware of. There was also a large wooden training boat there for most of the day, that left around supper. It seemed to have a bunch of late teens aboard, and they were swimming around the boat when we arrived. Work and play helps learning and it's good to see young people involved in sailing. After supper, the skies were getting pretty ugly and we watched a group of boats which looked like it was doing a yacht club race night (Portsmouth maybe) in the distance. Mike and I, watching the race night mentioned they must have been getting their butts licked as the storm front passed over them. That's when we noticed that this big ugly shelf cloud was heading directly at us. Oh my! We were up and getting things tied down and tidied up. All hatches closed and it was not long before it was on us. We went below decks as the torrential rain hit us, and the wind grabbed the boat and threw it wildly in all directions. I was glad I was on a mooring at this point, and hoped it held. We held on below and watched the other boats swing with the wind. It was our first big storm to be caught in and luckily we had been prepared. Although exciting for a brief period, it was mostly uneventful with nothing broken, or lost other than one boat hook that I had missed stowing properly. Night came and we stayed below. Stories were told and the seas calmed to give us a good nights sleep.
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