Sailing Boston!

July 30

We arrived in Hingham by 10:45 a.m. after fighting the Boston traffic which delayed us by an hour. Stopped by the Hingham Shipyard Marina to get our slip assignment and directions to the Back River Public Ramp. The marina is very nice with good security, floating concrete docks, clean restrooms and a friendly staff. The ramp was a great facility and we had SunShower in the water and her slip for the week by Noon.

This afternoon we got a little sail in as we oriented ourselves to the harbor. It was a smooth transition from Maine and we were off the water and on our way to Josephine's B&B by 5:00 p.m. The B&B is a great place about 5 miles from the marina in Hull. We went to the Brew Works for dinner tonight which is literally on the waterfront by our slip. We sampled several of their beers made on the premises before selecting the Hingham Pale Ale to go with our burgers.

 

BTW, I found my five year old inflatable life vest works today. In preparing to leave the dock, I snagged the pull handle on a line and found myself holding an inflated life jacket! Subsequently, I learned how to deflate, fold and recharge it with a new CO2 cartridge.

 

July 31

Fine day for sailing today. We began by heading out the Hull Gut with the intention of going out to the Boston Light House. But beating directly into 15 mph winds and 2-3 foot waves made for a very long trip so we decided to go the other direction. We circled George's Island on which Fort Warren (circa 1850) looms when Gretchen discovered she had not put our sandwiches in our lunch bag. So we decided to land at the dock of GI since they have a concession there with food! Well, that brought immediate protests from the National Park staff since private boats are not allowed to dock on the island. But Gretchen sweet talked the ranger and he allowed us to stay long enough to get take out since I have hypoglycemia. Good job Gretchen! The harbor islands provide miles of protected sailing and we enjoyed the afternoon sailing between Long and Rainsford Island, around Peddocks Island and back to Hingham. It was just a fine day on the water.

August 1

Today is our 42nd anniversary! Gretchen and I both wonder how that is possible? :) The wind forecast was for 5-10 mph so we headed once again for the Boston Harbor Light. Ten mph winds and one foot waves made for a delightful sail to the lighthouse today followed by a five and a half mile broad reach into Boston Harbor.

Dark clouds were gathering on the western horizon as we left the harbor and headed back to Hingham via the Long Island Bridge. Once under the bridge, the approaching storm prompted us to crank the motor to speed up our trip to the slip! When the Boston skyline disappeared we donned our foul weather gear and when the bridge was blotted out by a white rain curtain, we thought we would get drenched....but the storm passed a half mile to the north! We arrived at the slip with nary a raindrop falling on us. Another fine sailing day today!

August 2

No wind was blowing when we arrived at the marina this morning. With light wind and storms beginning at 1:00 p.m. in the forecast, we decided to prepare SunShower for travel and get her out of the water since we leave for home tomorrow. As it turns out, we could have sailed as there was a breeze with no storms this afternoon. Oh well, we had two great sailing days here and really got to see a lot of Boston Harbor. Wish we had planned a few more days to sail here.

Harbor sounds in a sailboat.

This evening we celebrated our anniversary with a fine dinner at Saparito's Florence Club Cafe in Hull. It is a gourmet restaurant in a run down old beach house which you would not choose to eat at without some local knowledge; in this case a glowing recommendation from Ann Marie, our B&B hostess. Gretchen's grilled salmon with a mushroom, fennel risotto topped with arugula was outstanding. I will definately make the risotto at home!

 

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