All in all, a good day

After motoring som more yesterday morning, the wind cam up around 11am and I was back to sailing. Made good progress throughout the afternoon and, in fact, all night as well.

Although the wind was not strong (often only 7-8 kts), it was from an ideal direction, so I was able sail consistently in the 7.8-8.6 range, with a comfortable heel angle. The seas were still choppy midday, but smoothed out (pretty much) by evening, which also helped speed.

Outside the cabin, its not so pleasant. Full cloud cover. Dark, gray seas (no more Caribbean azure!). Cold. Wet. And, this morning, foggy (a real pea-soopah) with visibily measured in boat lengths (like, 5) and not miles. Its cold and moist inside the cabin as wellif I werent so focused on fuel consumption, Id have the heat on to dry things out (a bit). Maybe later.

I hit (well, crossed onto) the Continental Shelf yesterday around 4pm. And started across Georges Bank at 10pm. I was particularly focused on this patch of water because its a popular commercial fishing ground for the Massachusetts crowd. At the right (wrong?) time of year, therell be boats crossing back, forth and every which way as they fish. Most of these guys dont transmit their position via AIS, so I have to rely on RADAR and visual sighting to avoid them. Theres often a huge amount of chatter on the VHF (stuff like, Heads up, Im approaching on your starboard side. Whos starboard side? With 100 boats out here, it could be anyone. Whats the point?). But zero VHF chatter (at least on channel 16) last night. I only saw three boats on the Bank via AIS and didnt note any others within closer RADAR range.

The wind has now died down a bit (5 kts) and, while I was still making good progress (6.5kts) through the water, an adverse current was slowing me by a bit more than a knot over the ground. So on goes the engine for a bit (the batteries needed charging anyway). And Im recharging myself a bit: weak instant coffee and Ramen noodles au natural (meaning no saltI mean flavorpacket). Something nice to warm up the insides.

With 133nm to go, my trip-o-meter says I should arrive outside Camden harbor around 4am. My guess is a bit earlier, since the calculation right now is based in part on the adverse current. Between here and Camden, I should have two favorable tidal cycles and only one unfavorable. So my speed will likely be better on average. Plus the wind is supposed to pick up a bit this afternoon though, as always, the direction will be key. (It currently looks south, which wont be very helpful unless it exceeds 12 kts or so.)

But specific arrival time doesnt matter much. My recollection is that its unlikely that Id be able to see customs before 7 or 8am, so theyll be the time-critical step. And thats out of my hands. When I have a good sense of when Ill arrive in Camden, I call them to let them know. Then they tell me when theyll br there. (Assuming they will come to Camden, which is not an official port of entry. But it does seem to be on a shadow list of ports they will visitthey have for me in the pastso Im somewhere between hopeful and confident.)

First thing I want to do after clearing customs is to have breakfast at Boynton & McKay (?) the breakfast place down at the library end of town. Ive been thinking about breakfast there for the last weeksomething like huevos rancheros.

Of course, that assumes that my ride back to Blue Hill (via wonderful wife Ruth) can accommodate that. To be determined today.

I guess thats all for now. I can feel the boat heeling a bit more, so maybe I can turn off the engine and go back to sailing!