(Photos when I find a decent internet connection!)

Following the conclusion of the OCC Cruise, we stayed a couple days in Gloucester and relaxed. It’s a nice little fishing town with good memories from a previous visit. David and Blue Yonder were also with us and we enjoyed his company until we left with a fair wind for Nova Scotia on Tuesday afternoon.

We motored out of the harbor – and that was the last time we used the engine until we were taking a mooring in Shelburne, 45 hours later. We enjoyed a 15 – 20 knot wind from abaft the beam the entire way – the first night it was almost right behind us leading to a difficult night to rest with the constant rolling motion. The second night was better – having taken 2 reefs in the main and using the smaller jib, but still making 7.5 – 8 knots. Our difficulty was to not arrive too early at Cape Sable which in the end we reached well offshore, so it became a non-issue. We had a lovely sail up the bay to Shelburne in flat seas with 15 knots chasing the entire way, finally dousing sail once we’d past the Shelburne Harbor Yacht Club’s outer mark.

We ended up tying to the dock – in order to plug in and bring our batteries to full charge and with the hopes of equalizing the batteries. Not a great decision since the wind grew to 30 knots and we were on the outside berth and took something of a hammering – plus I was unable to decipher the instructions for the new charger to work out how to run an equalization cycle! Fortunately, the wind was not an issue for us – we slept like babes! It was however a pain for the yacht club who ended up cancelling the evening’s yacht races due to the high winds!

Shelburne

Shelburne, home of the Loyalists following the War of Independence – was celebrating Founders Day – so there were various street activities going on – and we were treated to another firework display! Excellent!

There were two other OCC boats in Shelburne – Over Budget with JW and Jinny who had been on the Cruise until Boston and Jule III with Bob and Ann aboard who we’d previously met last year at the end of the OCC Cruise…

We also met Allan at the yacht club – ex-pat Brit and former OCC Port Officer for Shelburne then watched him race the following evening aboard his sleek 24ft racing sloop.

After a couple of days on Dock, we left early, following a ketch that had left about an hour previously, destination Lunenburg – some 10 hours distant. We motored down the bay in no wind – which then turned to thick fog and no wind… We motored out into the ocean swells and turned east for Lunenburg.

Around midday we were finally able to turn the engine off and sail wing on wing on the rhumb line – making 7.5 – 8.5 knots constantly. As we came out of the fog, the ketch was spotted off our port side and we quickly overhauled her. The fog was still around – and we didn’t see any land until the approach to Lunenburg – though we were bathed in sunshine for a decent 3 – 4 hour spell though the temperature never got above 65F. As we approached Lueneburg Bay, the fog returned and the wind died – but it cleared and the wind returned once we’d past the headlands and we were able to sail most of the remaining way to Lunenburg where we anchored at the back of the mooring field – the only boat on an anchor – in sweltering 80F temperatures!

Lunenburg

We had a great view of the very pretty little town from our vantage point and were looking forward to exploring in the morning.