Hull Bay, Massachusetts
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Tue 18 Sep 2007 19:04
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42:17.893N 70:54.006W
On Thursday (9/13), we motorsailed (light wind) the
short hop from Cohasset to Hull Bay (about 7 miles) passing the famous Boston
Light (picture below). Boston Light was the first lighthouse to be built
in the US (1716). We've seen so many lighthouses along the way that Don
had to convince me to take a picture of this one (looks just like any other,
doesn't it?). Later I read about its special nature in one of the
guidebooks - good thing we got the picture.
Although the sail north from Plymouth to Cohasset
and then motorsail further northwest to Hull Bay just felt wrong (the weather
really feels like fall and we're heading north??), we had a very good
reason for it. Curt and Karen Mahlstedt, both of whom used to work for
Fisher-Price (two times around, actually), now live in the Boston area (Duxbury
to be exact, which isn't too far from the famed Plymouth) and have a 36 foot
Pearson [non-boater translation: sailboat] that they keep moored in Hull
Bay. Not only does Don know Curt from his Fisher-Price days, but
Curt and Karen are good friends with Bryan and Michele Brown, who are both
Fisher-Pricers and worked with Don. Bryan and Michele made the long drive
from Buffalo to Boston for the weekend and we all got together Friday night and
Saturday.
Before I describe the time we had, I have to
mention the sacrifices that Curt made for us on Friday. First,
he took the day off from work (ok maybe not so
much of a sacrifice, but even retired people know that vacation days are
precious). Then he drove to Hull Bay (not a
short drive in Boston area traffic) to meet us at the yacht club (we
were anchored just outside of the yacht club moorings), and drove us to the laundromat. Then he drove Don to the
liquor store and after that, drove me to the grocery store
(Don stayed and finished the laundry, and I might
add, did a fine job). Then, he loaded the groceries into the car, drove me back to the laundromat,
picked up Don and the laundry and drove us back to the yacht club. Then
he took a mighty wet ride in our dinghy (it
was windy and wavy) to our boat and helped us bring the boat to
the yacht club dock to fill our water tank. And finally,
he drove back to his house in Duxbury to pick up
Bryan and Michele, and brought them back, along with Karen, to our boat for
Friday night happy hour. Shew. This degree of self-sacrifice reminds
us of the time we spent in Montreal with Real and Sylvie and our stay in
Summerside, PEI with Chick and Cheryl. Being on a boat is great, but it
does have it's disadvantages....particularly when it comes to traveling
distances on land that are beyond what we can do on foot or on a bike.
Plus, I can't really picture lugging four loads of dirty laundry on our
bikes. I wonder if boaters really do this, or just have friends in
strategic locations along the way to help? Speaking of friends
in strategic locations, this was the first planned socialization we've
had since meeting Real and Sylvie with my sister Suzanne and
brother-in-law Bob in Montreal. That was two months ago. Wow. like
I've said before, it's good we like each other.
Anyway, boat happy hour was fun (picture below),
and after that Don got his Italian food fix at a good restaurant in Hull.
On Saturday, Curt had asked all of us to help crew on his boat in a race.
I'm not sure he realized when he asked us to participate that between Don and I,
we have extremely little racing experience (Don more than I, but still with only
about 5 races under his belt). Also, the few races we have done were all
for fun For example, when we passed a boat or another one passed us, both
parties would wave with their beers and smile and laugh. Not so with this
race. These people were serious! And some just a little nasty.
When they passed us or we passed them they wouldn't make eye contact (kind of
like driving in Boston). When approaching a mark [non-boater translation:
the orange or yellow floaty thing that marks where the race course turns], these
people were ruthless - trying to squeeze us out of position and stealing our
wind, etc. Of course we did the same thing to other boats, but at
least some of us tried to make eye contact and smile while we were
doing it. There were about 100 of these serious, somewhat
nasty boats. And it was really windy. In the end, we survived,
and unlike some of the other boats, had fun. Curt was gracious enough to
compliment his crew for a job well done. Really? Well, we did finish
with all aboard and the boat intact, and we didn't come in last. Actually,
we are not sure where we came in, but it was somewhere in the middle. Not
bad for us racing novices. Afterwards, there was the most important part,
that being the after-race party, which we all fully participated in. Then
we had to say good-bye, which is never an easy thing when
you know your next meeting could very well be years away.
On Sunday (9/16) we left Hull Bay and headed
south. Aside from a short detour to Martha's Vineyard, we plan to get
serious about heading south over the next two weeks and arrive in Baltimore
sometime the week of 9/24. All topics for future postings...
Anne
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