April 8, 2010.

After a peaceful nights sleep we were once again up and underway before dawn. This time the reason was that we had a forecast with favorable winds that were due to diminish as the day progressed, that and the fact that it was to be a 57 mile day predominately under sail.

We were the third boat of about 15 to leave the harbor. After 10 minutes Savage Son called us on the VHF and told us that they were once again overheating. Crap. We considered turning around or pressing on with the favorable sailing opportunity. The Savages decided to press on knowing that they would have to sail in through the cut at Little Harbor and into our chosen anchorage.

So we were hell bent for leather as we blasted northward under full sail. We had about 17 to 20 knots slightly behind the beam. The seas were up a bit as we crossed the Northeast Providence Channel. We were able to hold off Savage Son for the first 25 miles but then the winds started to abate a bit.
We still had 12 knots of apparent breeze but the lighter breeze favored the Valiant and they crept by.

Since the Savages hadn’t been here before, Solitaire motorsailed ahead to led them through the cut. Fortunately, the seas died with the breeze so the cut wasn’t so bad. Unfortunately, the wind was dead astern for a little over a mile as we made our way into the cut. The sea state was a little rolly but not very bad all things considered. Once inside, the 12 knots of breeze made for a pleasant sail into the anchorage where we all found perfect white patches of sand to drop and set our hooks.