US East Coast to the Caribbean - Pacific Crossing Notes: A Sailor's Guide to the Coconut Milk Run - page 156

The To-Do List
When it was time to push off again, we opted for the inshore route and immediately experi-
mented with the Hydrovane, which can steer the boat with wind power alone. Once we had
Namani's new sails trimmed and balanced, this turned out to be a smooth operation, and
we could put our hands to other tasks. It was September, and high time for Nicky and me to
get serious about home schooling, for starters. Meanwhile, Markus repaired the cockpit
speaker so that we could hear the VHF clearly instead of only a faint squawk from below.
However, we also uncovered a new problem: a minor but persistent leak through a low-set
porthole. Prospective cruisers, beware of this law of boating: scarcely is one item crossed
off the to-do list before another is added to the bottom. In fact, it's better to imagine a
boat's chore list as an endless scroll rather than a single sheet of paper with a deceiving end
point!
Over the course of the afternoon, the innocent morning haze gradually morphed into men-
acing storm clouds that gained height from one hour to the next and sent us scurrying into
Gloucester harbor. There we waited out a strong cold front and addressed the leaking
porthole. The exercise reminded us of another law of boating: each do-it-yourself job starts
with at least a day of locating parts and supplies. In the end, we could only find an inferior
sealant and settling for a temporary fix until our planned work period (as distinguished
from the unplanned ones) in the Chesapeake Bay. Still, we were happy to spend time in
Gloucester, a friendly working harbor with an interesting history. Joshua Slocum set off on
his circumnavigation from this very port in 1895, and generations of fishermen have
worked the waters of New England from its docks.
Underway again under a cold, blue sky, we bundled up in thick layers of clothing. Namani
left the imposing twin lighthouses of Cape Ann behind and gradually passed by Boston's
glittering skyline. Timing our arrival at the Cape Cod Canal to coincide with a favorable
current, we shot through the seven-mile slot at a speed of eight knots and ended a long day
in pleasant Onset. Fall colors on land blended with the setting sun to wash the anchorage in
red, orange, and pink hues: a living postcard of autumn in New England.