Barrington to Marion

[Dick Kobayashi]

Your buddy may have a good idea as from Sak Point you can almost see Marion. If weather is right it should be clear sailing to Marion with a few places to tuck in to if weather turns foul (Padnarum, New bedford, lee of west island, etc.

[Dick Kobayashi]

If you go to Sak point, I think there are a couple of public moorings there or at least there were. You might check with the harbormaster. Gas is avail at Cuttyhunk, padnarum, Earl's Marina in Nesketucket bay (Fairhaven), and of course Mattapoisett.

The lee side of West Island is a good place to take a break or hole up as is the area near the entrance to Padanarum should you need it.

From Sak Pt you can almost see Marion and if you have good weather and a nice SW wind you'll be home in a jiffy.

I second others - you need charts and GPS. The small resolutions sceens for GPS + glare + less than 100% assurance of functionality makes a chart ESSENTIAL. I have used the Richardson waterproof set for BB for years.

As to Eldridge - Where it shines is in giving the sailor the ability figure WHEN the current turns and speed of current at various times after the turn. Once I learned to my chagrin that a measly 1Kt current set me off course by 1 NM after an hour (cross track error) I started paying close attention. PLUS it is loaded with nautical lore.

There are lots of places to go/explore in BB and these aids will prove invaluable over the years. Might as well buy them now, I'd say.

Fair wind, no precip, and good visibility are the keys to making this a pleasant trip. I am strongly agains unpleasant trips...they last a long time.

[casampson]

Thanks for all the good information. I am definitely going to get the charts and a handheld GPS to navigate. I was also going to upgrade my old Windows phone to something modern so that I could download the Navionics app, but, after reading some reviews, I am not sure I am going to bother. It doesn't appear to be as good as it used to be.

Sakonnet Point is almost certainly going to be the destination for the first night. It makes sense. There are two moorings available from the harbormaster on a first come first served basis. I don't know if I'll risk finding an available one or make a reservation for a slip at $4 per foot (!!) at the marina there.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to whether to take the East Passage or the West Passage around Newport? I was told the tides were stronger through the East Passage, but taking it would definitely shorten the journey. High tide will be at 3:00 pm on the day we will be sailing through. This is almost exactly when we should be hitting Newport, so we will be bucking the incoming tide as we travel south from Barrington, then working against the outgoing tide as we head inland to Sakonnet Point.

I confess I am getting a little nervous about this trip, as we will be in an unfamiliar boat and I have never done this sort of thing before. At least not since I was a kid in the Boothbay Harbor area on my grandfather's old Crocker. I will be relying on my friend's navigating skills to get us home to Marion.

Once again, I appreciate all of your advice. Weather looks like it will be perfect, by the way. Partly sunny with moderate southwest winds is the long-range forecast for both days.

[Dick Kobayashi]

East Down the Sakonnet river would be my preferred route. Shorter and more sheltered from a SW blow. What is key, I think, is the combination of good weather, fair wind (SW) and fair current.

Also - don't rush the date. As you know yesterday was a summer day - today was in the 60s with a significant East wind (ugh!)

The water is still cool. The boat isn't going anywhere without you. A little deeper into June and the fair weather odds increase a lot.

Also carry your phone in a zip lock or similar and make sure your buddy does too. And make sure they have plenty of power. Program in emergency numbers.

You will be ok, but you want to be ok and exhilarated, not ok and miserable.

One other tip - make sure you know how to reef the main before departure. You may not need all that main if it blows over 12-15 knts

Best read on actual weather in BB is the readout for the BB buoy - I don't have the coordinates right here but easy to find.

[Dick Kobayashi]

Chris, Have done the self-delivery? I and others would be interested to know how it went.

[casampson]

Thank you for asking, Dick. The answer is simply no, the boat is still in Barrington. After a couple of fits and starts earlier in the month, we were supposed to sail to Sakonnet Point yesterday. I've had some difficulty communicating with the boatyard, but on Wednesday I convinced them to launch her for me. She went in the water in the morning. Just after lunch, wouldn't you know, my sailing partner cancelled on me.

So now I am stuck. My boat is in the water, but I have no definitive plans for sailing her to Marion. In one or two nights I'll start accruing dockage charges. I suppose I could pay to have the boatyard put her back on the hard for me, but Brownell can't haul her to Marion until July 3rd at the earliest, and that seems so late. Plus the combined charges would add up to well over $1000.

I am thinking of asking the boatyard if they know of anyone I could pay to help me sail the boat over. I really feel I am too inexperienced to do it without a better sailor on board, at least for the first day when I'm getting to know the boat. I do have someone less experienced than me who might be able to help on the second leg of the trip, but he may not be available now that the schedule has changed.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Chris

[Northstar1014]

I hear you on the frustration, but it sounds like you are making smart choices and trusting your gut on what you feel comfortable with. That always pays off.

If you do go the sea route, motoring the whole way with sails up or down is fine--after all, you're trying to "get there". I've usually done it with the main up to add stability. Best to do this trip with 2 people for safety and peace of mind. One option is to try Points East magazine to search their crew list / captain list for delivery help

If you do decide to haul out, you could also try Saltworks marine in Marion -- they might be able to give you a competitive rate.

[casampson]

Thanks, Northstar. Things don't look as grim today as they did last night. I've got a new list of potential mates, and I feel confident I'll find someone to go with me in the next day or two.

As for shipping my boat over the road, I did not mean to imply anything negative about Brownell. They have been very friendly and courteous and have put up with my indecision patiently. They gave me a really reasonable quote to haul the boat to Marion, step the mast, and launch. The boatyard where I am currently located, however, is pricey, and just unstepping the mast and getting her ready for trucking is almost prohibitively expensive.

[Dick Kobayashi]

Looks like Sun/Monday/Tuesday might be good weather windows. I'd volunteer but have out of town VIP company just now. dk

[casampson]

This is a great organization. A venerable member of CDSOA came to my rescue, providing me with the company and expertise needed to make the journey from Barrington to Marion in my CD 25. We cast off just after 8:00 am this morning and motored around Bristol toward the Sakonnet River. (I won't tell you how we ran aground just south of Barrington and had to be pulled free by a monster jet ski.) Under the Mount Hope Bridge to the Sakonnet River Bridge, where we were met by a good rip, having just missed the outgoing tide. A few hours south on the Sakonnet, all under power because the wind was from the South. We finally cleared Sakonnet Point and hoisted the new sails on my my boat.

Ironically, we sailed for less than an hour when the wind died and the fog drifted in. We lost sight of land as we took the sails down and once again relied on my 6hp Tohatsu to get us home. Thanks to my new Cape Dory friend, his iPad, and some navigation software, we eventually found the channel into Westport Harbor. We tied up at 6:00 pm and had a beverage to celebrate.

So we made it a little more than halfway. Part two will come on Tuesday, when the wind is supposed to be 10-15 mph from the SW, which will be ideal for making Marion from Westport.

I am glad to be out of Barrington. A good day.

Chris

[casampson]

Self-delivery to Marion successfully completed. The money I saved on shipping will be spent on roller furling.

[jbenagh]

Fantastic! I can't wait to hear part 2.

Jeff

[casampson]

Part Two:

We cast off from the F.L. Tripp mooring in the Westport River at about 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday. The sky was a beautiful blue with only one or two clouds to the south. I'm not exactly sure what the wind was doing at the time, but it was not really relevant, as I don't think Joshua Slocum could have made it out of that harbor under sail. Fortunately the tide was going out, and we easily motored out around the long winding channel to open water. We continued under power from about an hour until we could put up some sails. By that time the wind was clearly from the south, and the weather seemed even softer and lovelier than when we had started out.

I have to say that my little Tohatsu 6 hp is a wonder. I refilled the gas tank on the mooring Monday evening and calculated that, on Sunday, when we travelled from Barrington to Westport, we had used less than 2.5 gallons of gas to travel more than 20 miles in just under 7 hours. I never ran the motor at full throttle partly to conserve gas, but mostly to keep the noise down. The strategy worked well. Now I know that my range with a 6 gallon tank is probably about 50 miles, which is pretty darn good.

So we set the jib and the main, killed the motor, and set a course for Marion. We had to sail due East for a good ways to keep the jib from luffing, which put us a little away from our destination but was close enough. Navigation this time was done mainly using the paper chart and visually sighting the buoys and bells along the way. We corroborated our position with the iPad every now and then, but we had to go below to see the screen.

I bought my chart from West Marine for $27.50. It seems a little flimsy to me, but it is advertised as being waterproof and up-to-date. One side has Buzzards Bay and the other Narragansett Bay. What is odd is that a good part of the Westport area, which has lots of hazards, is covered by neither side. I think I need some better charts.

There are virtually no details to bore you with. We had Buzzards Bay to ourselves. The weather was spectacular and the wind, which shifted around to being fully southwest, was perfect. We flew down the bay as if we were gliding on a sleigh going downhill. I made the sandwiches and fig newtons while my two friends did most of the sailing and skippering. We were two captains and a cook, and it worked out just fine.

Visibility couldn't have been better and we could make out the wind turbines of Fairhaven and Bourne in the distance. Eventually we could make out the railroad bridge at the entrance to the canal, long before we expected to see it. We flew past Padanaram, New Bedford, and Fairhaven and settled in for the final run to Marion. In no time we could see the light houses at Ned's Point and Bird Island. Just at that point, the wind decided it would get serious and cranked up significantly. We flew into Sippican Harbor, doused the sails, and picked up my mooring without a hitch. The only obstacles we encountered along the way, really, were the little squirts sailing around in their optis just instead the channel of Sippican Harbor.

My boat performed admirably. She's a good one. We averaged over five knots while sailing across the bay, and it was a sweet and gentle ride. At one point I heard a strange, periodic, and undefinable rumbling sound coming somewhere below the waterline. After poking around for a while, I finally checked the outboard. It had worked its way loose and was lying cockeyed in the well. I straightened it out, tightened it up, and the noise went away. Lesson learned.

I also learned that a roller furling jib would really be a nice thing to have. I hanked on the jib in a rather gentle sea, but even in those easy conditions I didn't like being up on the bow exactly where the lifelines come to an end before the bow pulpit provides safety. Taking in the jib down in a 15 - 20 mph wind was a little anxiety-producing as well. So I think I will be visiting my local sail loft to price out a new system very soon. This is a shame in a way, because the working jib I have was made by Thurston sails is a fine one and is less than a season old. Perhaps I will try to sell it and use the money to help finance the roller furler.

Final note. After we picked up my mooring, I slipped off in my skiff to pick up a bottle of chardonnay. I left the two captains behind to furl the main, stow the jib, and tidy up the boat. They did a beautiful job.

[Dick Kobayashi]

Just terrific, Chris. Thanks for sharing. I waved as you sailed past Mattapoisett. Just a thought. A sailmaker can convert your headsail from hank on to on suitable for rf. I had this done for about $200 if I recall correctly a few years ago. My boat is a little bigger but I bought Schaefer 750 rf in my first year of ownershi and never regreted it. All of BB is yours now.

Truly yesterday was a perfect day on BB. Long remembered by you and your crew for sure.

[Northstar1014]

Great work Chris! I am moored in Marion harbor as well, I will look for your boat next time I am down.

Fantastic cruising is now within reach, as well as top notch service yards should you need it --- I highly suggest checking out the east side of buzzards bay, lots of great bays to explore with sandy beaches.