Sag Harbor Arrival – 15th August

Since the last update, we transited the Cape Code Canal at night. This was strange from the east entrance because the start of the canal has a sharp bend – which means when you are looking at lights for navigational aids, it appears you are heading towards a wall with shallow water on both sides (until you finally turn the corner and it opens up). We proceeded slowly while we got our bearings. All 3 bridges we had to pass under had a 40’ clearance from the top of our mast, but each time they looked like we were going to hit. Sometimes you really have to trust facts over instinct!

We had light winds for the remainder of the trip, relying on the iron gennaker (aka the engine) to get us to port. Since we didn’t need to do many sailing maneuvers, we took advantage of the opportunity to put a reef in while we lowered the main sail so that our new crew members could learn the procedure. We’ll need it on our trip to Nantucket this week because there is a low pressure system with up to 40 knots in it.

The approach to our mooring had some twists and turns with shallow water outside of the channel. Marie helmed while I piloted and that division of duties was very effective for us. Junella handled the VHF with her beautiful radio voice to pinpoint where our mooring would be.

Our guests for this trip were a fantastic mother-daughter duo. The mother was a big fan of Maiden and Tracy’s, but didn’t have much sailing background until she and her daughter did their RYA Competent Crew certificate in 2019. I think that type of adventure-based learning activity is a brilliant mother-daughter experience. The mother was enthusiastic for her 18 year old daughter to seek out whatever interests her, and we think we succeeded in planting the bug for sailing! Emily now wants to take dinghy sailing classes, and she’ll be sailing a larger keelboat in the coming weeks. We can’t wait to hear about her experiences!