After arriving in Vero Beach we had a delightful few days with Willie and Melanie. We even got to celebrate Willie's 28th birthday by looking for fossils on the Peace River. We found lots of shark teeth and fossil shells.
Although Nico and I flew home for a bit we still needed to get Far and Away home to Maine. Luckily, some friends stepped in and helped Nico out. After Nico finished with business home he flew back to Vero and a couple of days later his friend Steve Holtman joined him. Steve had never sailed but he was enthusiastic, competent and up for anything. The two of them sailed down to Fort Pierce, anchored in the dark and headed out the inlet at dawn. They had fair winds and once they hit the Gulf Stream they rocketed north at 11 knots.
The Gulf Stream
The only issue was that Nico thought was sending me his location with his GPS SPOT but I wasn't receiving his "All well" messages. I followed the plan, which was to alert the Coast Guard. They called and called on the radio and finally picked up a faint response 90 miles south of Charleston. All was well but it was not transmitting. They made it to Charleston a few days early.
At that point, Malcolm Poole flew down and joined Nico while Steve enjoyed his remaining week in Charleston with his wife. Malcolm is a real sailing pro. The two of them headed out and didn't touch land until Cape May, New Jersey when they made a trip in for fuel. Next stop was Newport two days later. They skirted a fierce front but the trip was uneventful.
During the night watch
During the day watch
I drove down to Newport and Malcolm headed home in my car. Back together again!
Some of the boats in Newport Harbor.
The exhaust system developed a leak, spewing soot and exhaust in the cabin area. Nico fixed one and then another and we headed off with low RPMs to Hadley Harbor in the Elizabeth Islands.
The early fog burned off and we reached the canal at 2:30 to catch the fair tide.
Crossing Cape Cod Bay, heading to Provincetown
We anchored in Provincetown Harbor but had 60 miles the next day in thick fog, cold and damp. Back in New England!
The fog by Isles of Shoals was even thicker.
Luckily the last leg was on a Sunday so there weren't lobster boats zipping around. We took half hour watches peering into the thick fog and rain. It lifted around Cape Elizabeth and we made South Freeport Harbor mid-afternoon, nine months and over 3,500 miles after leaving last fall. I have great fondness for our sturdy boat and admiration for all that Nico did to get us through our adventure safely. We had fun.
Nearing the harbor
Furling the sail one last time on the voyage.
Back at the dock
We are now official members of the Harraseeket Yacht Club.
The team!
