We left Plymouth early in the morning, about 4:30AM so we could time the Cape Cod canal currents to be in our favor. After our engine checks we were underway and once again snaking through the sand bars and narrow channel following a few lone fishing boats till we hit open water.

The sun had just started to rise and we had the most beautiful scene for departure. The sun was blazing orange through the horizon and was peeking through the homes aligned on the shore. Once outside the channel we had a few Crab/lobster pots to dodge but nothing like what we had over the last few days. The winds were non existent and we motored our way past the huge rock cliffs that lined the shoreline. There are basically no safe havens between Plymouth and Cape Cod Canal ( Sandwich, MA) so you want to have a good check on the weather before you make this crossing.

As we approached Cape Cod canal we could see the channel markers and made our way easily through them. We contacted the Canal Controller on the VHF and gave him our heading and vessel particulars to get authorization the enter Southbound. They politely thanked us for the information but they did not require us to announce our intentions due to our small size. That being said we continued on and prepared for our very first canal transit!!

As we entered we could not have planned a better time to execute this. The current started to take us south towards Buzzard Bay. Crossing under bridges were a breeze and we had many people on the shoreline wave as we passed them by. As the current moved us through we hit 10 knots of speed and made great time as we progressed through the canal system.

Once we got through we were surprised at the distance we had gone in such a short period of time. We were way ahead of our predicted schedule and with the winds behind us we were getting ready for a great downwind sail. We hoisted the main and stretched out the genoa, set them for wing on wing and began running our way through Buzzards Bay towards Cuttyhunk Island.

Our plan was to stay at Cuttyhunk overnight and finish our trip to East Greenwich the next day. We had been to this island before with our C&C 37R “Ocean Phoenix” and had really enjoyed how quaint the island was. However due to the early start we got and the great speed we maintained we actually reached Cuttyhunk at 12:30 in the afternoon. With this in mind we decided to push past and continue on to East Greenwich.

We approached Newport and made our way into Narragansett Bay. We decided to lower our sails and run the engines to charge up our house bank one last time before we got to our mooring. The wind was on our nose at this point anyway and we would not make it home before dark tacking all the way home. The entrance to our mooring field was quite busy and we took our time approaching the field. We called the Prime marina water taxi, Hitchhiker, and he lead us right to our mooring just like the harbor police did in Plymouth.

As we finally settled into our new home for the summer we looked back at all the great sailing and sights we had seen along the way. All the amazing people that helped us through our journey to get our new vessel underway and safe to Rhode Island. We completed the long day with a “sundowner” and got ready for a good nights sleep.

Cheers,

James & Tammy