Sailing Day Six - Back to Fairhaven

So this is it; the last post about our trip. Unfortunately I don't have pictures for this last day; I guess I was busy! My niece and my sister-in-law took lots of pictures too. Maybe I will be able to post Some of their's eventually.


We have lots of wind for our last day of sailing. Five days of experience mean that we start out with only our mainsail raised. Once we are out in the bay, we even put a reef in the mainsail, to decrease the amount of sail even further. The wind is blowing 17 knots, or more, and there is some chop as well. This makes for a bit of a bumpy ride, as we head upwind.

It's clear and sunny, and the wind is good. Navigation is surprisingly confusing though, because there are SO many navigational aids in Buzzard's Bay, since it has a large shipping channel, and lots of ports. And because of the chop it's hard to keep the binoculars steady so that we can read the numbers on distant buoys. So we have to keep double-checking our position, using both the chart and the gps. This requires frequent trips below. I actually start to feel a bit queasy between the chart and the chop and the binoculars.

We make it back to Fairhaven and unload the boat by 3:30 pm. It's been a great trip, but I think we are all ready for showers and a regular kitchen. Lee and I both learned a lot on this voyage. My confidence has increased, even if my nervousness is not yet much diminished. I'm willing to try this again sometime, and I'm sure if Lee has anything to say about it I'll get plenty of opportunities.