Mystic
Mystic and making your own luck.
After saying farewell to Matt on Block Island, Jonathan, Moss, and I dinghied back to Cupcake and realized that we hadn't thought through where we were headed next. Knowing that we had a goal of being in Norfolk by September 1st and that we wanted to sail through NYC, we hadn't planned our course for the how do you get there from here. Without a Long Island Sound Crusing Guide, I asked my friend what she thought. Well, after asking Siri and the Google what are the best anchorages between Block Island and NYC, we motored over to Mystic CT.
I had found some sailing blogs with kids that highly recommended docking at the Mystic Seaport Museum because boaters get a behind the scene and after hours view of museum magic. In the morning, I called the museum to learn that they had no dock space available because of an arts festival. I thanked the dock master and asked that he call back if cancellations were made. After consulting Siri again, I learned of Fisher's Island as a possible backup plan. I let an hour go by, and then called the museum back with another plea for dock space, this time adding pretty pretty please and with a cherry on top. Alas, I was told no space. Oh well, onward to Fishers we go...only to receive a call from the museum within minutes of our turn into the Fisher's anchorage to learn that space cleared due to a cancelled reservation. Hooray! Huzzah! Jonathan changed course like a Whale ship spotting Leviathan and Mystic here we come.
We explained to Moss that kindness and persistence had payed off and we made our own luck by following through-summer school life lesson of the day. The photos will show that we did in fact arrive at the museum, we do actually have paper charts on board and know how to use them, and that the museum was an incredible experience partly because it is home to sailing fleets of beetle cats and dyer dinghies.
Awake and Afloat
Today we are in Scituate, MA. The last time I was here as a landlubber, and I was 21 years old. Jonathan was living in Scituate while working as a high school English teacher in Hull. I was a graduate student at Boston University studying for a MFA in Studio Art Education. How odd to be back in town and to have arrived by sailboat and with a child in tow and 27 years in the rear view mirror.
Certainly, Scituate wasn't the WIFI hotspot it is today. At the Satuit Boat Club, we are making the most of being connected. Moss is FaceTiming Simon because she misses her big brother. Jonathan is using his iPad to make reservations for tomorrow night at a marina in Sandwich, MA and then he will chart our course in order to load it onto Cupcake's GPS.
After we finish with our digital needs, we are going to walk to a restaurant on shore. About the only analog part of our day. Even when sailing, we had the GPS on and were mostly using the iron genny. Although for our last three hours, we did roll out the jib and boosted our speed up to around 6 knots as we made our way across hazy Boston Harbor. I guess I did also use a manual snap kit tool to alter Moss' blanket, so she could wear it as a cape-and nap in style like an Incredible. Adding snaps, by the way, is a skill that I learned while earning that MFA.
So sleepy
This is why Ellen isn't posting much.
Running out of power-must recharge!
I am so excited for the warm weather.
