On our way to Boston

It's been a long time we haven't written anything in English, so English
readers, enjoy, this is for you ;-)

As you may see on the "Position" link on the right hand side, here we
are, on the road again! We are currently sailing North West, towards
Buzzard Bay, and intend to pass the Cape Cod Canal in the next couple of
days. Using this giant canal avoids sailing the whole way around Cape
Cod, which saves some miles, and possibly rough sea if the weather turns
bad.

Boston will be half a day after the exit of the Canal.

The journey so far has been very pleasant. On Thursday morning, we left
from Chesapeake where we've been staying for a couple of weeks for
fixing/improving things on the boat. After a couple of swinging bridges
and a good old lock, reminding us of the Caledonial Canal, we arrived at
the center of Norfolk. We passed right beside dozens of US Navy ships,
and among them was a aircraft-carrier almost totally covered and under
repair. It goes without saying that we felt quite small beside those
grey giants made of steel. The town of Norfolk did not seem very
beautiful, from our perspective.

Coming out from Norfolk to the Chesapeake bay was rough. We had about
two knots of current with us, but 25 knots of wind, and the associated
choppy sea against us. Let's say it was a good shake-check to verify
that everything was well fastened on-board. And it was!

Since then, the sea has been particularly calm. We are in a high
pressure area, meaning very little wind...and actually... headwind. But
with all sails up we still manage to progress with successive tacks at
about 4 knots over the water surface. Our progress is however made
slower by the coastal current from the North (1 to 1.5 knots). So we'll
have to be patient!

But the weather is good. Beautiful sunshine during the day, and full
moon at night. We cope with the low temperatures (often below 10 degC)
by enjoying our shifts inside or under "Veranda", our brand new dodger,
with which we are very happy.

I played a bit with our new radar (better to learn how to use it before
we really need it), but I still don't master all the tricks to make it
less sensitive, i.e. avoid false-positive alarms. But I'm getting closer.

Marie baked an excellent orange-polenta cake, so as you see, good old
habits are back on l'Olonnois.

That was all for today! Enjoy your week-end.
T.