Left Gloucester at seven a.m. It was calm and clear in the harbor, but as soon as we got outside, we found ourselves in dense fog. We were sure glad we had the radar. Saw a couple of small whales and several fishing boats.
After a couple of hours, the fog lifted, but the sky was overcast and a light rain was falling, so we didn't have a great deal of visibility. We motorsailed all morning. By noon, the wind picked up, and we were able to turn off the engine. The wind kept getting stronger and stronger and the sea rougher and rougher. There were lots of whitecaps. Roy had to take in the staysail and reef the headsail. Even so, we were scooting along at seven knots or better. We reached the lee of Cape Cod around three o'clock, so the waves calmed down a bit, but the wind kept blowing stronger and stronger.
When we rounded the point to approach Provincetown, we were going directly into the wind, so we had to start the engine and take in the sails. The ferry to Boston was going out just as we were going in. It had the wind in back of it, so it was really moving, but when it got out into the bay, the waves were too much for it and it had to turn back.
The wind was gusting thirty or thirty-five knots when I crawled out on the bow in my foulies to get the anchor ready. The rain was pelting my face so hard, it felt like sand.
There wasn't much protection in Provincetown Harbor. The land is flat and narrow, so the wind blows right over it. The breakwater protects from sou'wes'ers, but doesn't do anything against nor'easters. We entered the harbor at the western end of the breakwater, went past a lot of moored boats and out the eastern end of the breakwater. There weren't any other boats out there, so Roy gave the order to drop anchor. The anchor works perfectly 99% of the time, but when there's an emergency, it always seems to hang up for some reason. I couldn't get it to go down, so Roy had me take the wheel and he wrestled the anchor and finally got it down, but it didn't take hold. We were dragging towards the breakwater. Roy tried to raise the anchor so we could move to another location, but he couldn't get it up. It seemed to be caught on something. He came back to the cockpit, revved up the engine, told me to head into the wind, and he went back out to struggle with the anchor again. He struggled with all his strength but couldn't get the anchor up, and the boat kept sliding towards the breakwater. I was puzzled, because the engine was revved up higher than usual yet we didn't seem to have any propulsion. In fact, I didn't even have steerage. Something was obviously wrong. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe the transmission wasn't engaged. I checked, and it wasn't! So I'm not the only one who goofs. Quickly, I shifted into neutral, engaged the transmission, and revved it up again. Immediately, the boat started moving away from the breakwater. Roy looked back with an expression of immense relief. In a few minutes, he had the anchor on deck and the boat was back under control.
Under the circumstances, we both agreed the smart thing to do was to rent a mooring. I radioed the Harbor Master, and he told me to contact either Provincetown Moorings or Flyer Moorings on Channel 9. I called Provincetown Moorings. They had a mooring available close to the dock, so we went over there. Roy steered, and I went out on the bow with the boat hook. For a minute or two, I was afraid the hook wouldn't reach the mooring line, but all of a sudden the line was on the hook and I was pulling it up. Roy came out to secure the line to a cleat but didn't get it the way he wanted it the first time. In fact, it took three tries, but finally we were safely secured to the mooring, while the wind continued to rage and howl. What a relief!, Kai,www, J, B
The mooring cost $35 a night. Usually, we would scream bloody murder at the mere thought of paying $35 for a mooring, but this time we would have paid almost any amount. It was certainly cheaper than having the boat smashed on the rocks. The price included unlimited launch service, so it wasn't too bad.
We went ashore in the launch and walked around. There really isn't much here, which is disappointing. It's another tourist-trap place. Lots of little shops, full of expensive junk. Crowds of tourists wandering around. The main feature of the town is a 257-foot tower honoring the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims landed here first and signed the Mayflower Compact here, before they went to Plymouth. After seeing the place, we can understand why they left.
We walked up to the tower, but the admission was $5 and no senior discount, so we didn't go in. It was nearly six o'clock by then anyway, so we went to the A & P, bought chicken and potatoes, and returned to the boat.
Found out the showers cost $1 for three-and-a-half minutes. After paying $35 for a mooring, we felt that was outrageous, so we decided to stay dirty.
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