Seven Days in May – Day Three

We are on day three of our first long cruise in the month of May (see Seven Days in May – Part One).

I booked Memorial Day on Oak Bluffs about twenty seconds after they opened for booking on dockwa. The three-day visit to Boston was added later. It’s about 100 miles from Marina Bay to Oak Bluffs, and when you add in 10 miles in the canal at 10 MPH, it feels like 125.

It’s also dead into the prevailing southwest wind so that it would be pretty ugly in a 20-knot blow, and the only day that looked shaky was Thursday. With this in mind, I booked Plan A, B, and C!

• Plan A – Spend Thursday night on the boat in our slip in Onset. It would simplify things and allow us to check out the scene in Onset.
• Plan B – Run to Plymouth and enjoy a night in one of our favorite seaside towns.
• Plan C – If Thursday was really snotty, stay in Marina Bay until Friday, get up early, and make the 4-5 hour run to Martha’s Vineyard.

We woke up to one of those days you dread as a boater. Major cells were passing through New England all day—the kind with thunderstorms, torrential rain, and maybe even a little hail. To make matters worse, none of the weather services could say when or where the cells would hit.

Thursday morning looked okay in Marina Bay around 7:00, but we could see thunderclouds over Boston.

They seemed to be moving Northeast, and by 8:00, it looked better, so I made a call to plan a 9:00 AM departure.

Mrs. Horne doesn’t like uncertainty, and I assured her we could always return to Quincy. But radar showed the thunderstorms drifting north around noon, so it made sense to get south before lunch.

I had docked with a port-side tie-up on Wednesday afternoon to avoid the 80° sun. This meant I would depart “blind” with our helm to starboard. If it were complicated, I would have used the dockmate, but the only challenge would be knowing when the lines were all dropped and it was clear to depart.

This called for headsets!

We left Boston’s outer islands with clearing skies to the southeast.

Meanwhile, the USCG Boston station (channel 16) repeated a Notice to Mariners reporting an unmanned 16’ skiff found and asking anyone in the area to search for survivors.

Mrs. Horne’s Dream

The USCG officer announcing the lost mariner was hard to hear. The third time she made the announcement, Mrs. Horne said “I had a dream last night that we found a body floating in the water. Call the Coast Guard and find out where they found the skiff.”

At first, I scoffed, but then I picked up the VHF and hailed the Boston Coast Guard. She said, “Cohasset, near the breakwater.”

Peter immediately grabbed his iPhone, opened the map and said “Cohasset is over there.”

Needless to say, Mrs. Horne quietly freaked out. I slowed to 15 MPH, and we all studied the sea for the next 15 minutes—no bodies we found.

Plan A It Is

Thanks to being a Safe Harbor Black Card Member, I can make reservations for free (space permitting). I am very diligent about canceling any reservation I don’t use. Still, given the risk of severe weather, I had booked both Marina Bay and Plymouth for Thursday night to give me bail-out options.

As we got to Plymouth outer harbor, we unanimously agreed to proceed to Onset.

I messaged Doug (Safe Harbor Plymouth Dockmaster) via Dockwa and told him to cancel our reservation.

All went well until we got just past the Sagamore Bridge. Mrs. Horne was texting back and forth with her golf team playing in New Bedford, reporting “frightening” weather. Radar showed it heading right toward us.

Just before the Bourne Bridge, the sh*tstorm began.

BEWARE: Radar Failure In Torrential Rain

Mrs. Horne and I debated telling the story of what happened next. We both have a little PTSD, but my logic is to alert you to this potentially serious issue to fellow boaters and also reach out to any marine electronic techs who can explain what happened.

Right after we passed Mass Maritime, we entered a dense fog bank. At the same time, we were pelted by torrential rain. Mrs. Horne shouted out “Look, there’s a boat!”

I had dropped to 15 MPH, but coming through the fog was another big flybridge on full plane. I stopped, sounded the horn, and passed to their port side.

The boat was not showing up on radar!

My guess is we weren’t showing up on their radar either. In these conditions, neither of us expected to see anyone else.

SIDE NOTE: I checked it right after, and it was functioning fine. I also looked back at some videos I shot before the rain got heavy, and they were working then, too.

Thanks to Mrs. Horne we escaped unscathed, but it seemed that heavy rain (torrential) shut down my radar.

Although this may have been one of the most dangerous moments I’ve had on a boat, it was over in a minute or two. The fog bank was only about 1,000 feet long, and my next challenge was docking in pouring rain and foggy windows.

UPDATE: Radar Failure In Torrential Rain

My friend Dave Hogan read this story and just sent me a report from the National Safety Transportation Board.

It turns out that 44 years ago a Liberian tanker encountered a similar radar failure. They were not as fortunate. They struck the Skyway Sunshine Bridge in Tampa suffering severe damage to the good ship, bridge, and motor vehicles on the bridge.

Here is the NTSB Incident Report: RAMMING OF THE SUNSHINE SKYWAY BRIDGE BY THE LIBERIAN BULK CARRIER SUMMIT VENTURE
TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA MAY 9, 1980

As Dave pointed out, even when adjusted to filter out rain, Radar becomes in effective when the rain gets so heavy that the signal gets obliterated before it gets back to the boat.

By the way, Amazing Grace has an upgraded Garmin 54 Open Array radar system.

Onset Thursday

Thanks to Curtis and Owen at Safe Harbor Onset Bay for coming out in the rain and helping us secure Amazing Grace.

Since we weren’t scheduled in Oak Bluffs until Friday, and we’d already delivered the boat back to Onset, Thursday was kind of an off day. We certainly could have driven back to Mattapoisett for the night, but I liked the idea of getting to OB early on Memorial Day weekend. So we decided to stay on the boat and check out Onset.

We’ve been driving through Onset Village to get to the marina for almost a year. We had lunch once at The Quahog Republic, but that’s about it.

My friend Joan told me that Stonebridge was very good, and my George Piva performs at the Glen Cove and said the food was great, so we decided to try one for lunch and one for dinner.

Stonebridge Bar and Grill

This is the sort of spot that’s probably packed on a warm summer day. Thursday wasn’t that kind of day.

It was 59°, according to my car thermometer, when we walked in. There were more people than I expected, but it was pretty empty. Our server could tell I was cold and offered to close the doors (who has doors open on a rainy day in the 50s?)

Our server turned out to be Nancy.

All I could think of was the line from Rocky Racoon!

“Her name was McGill; she called herself Li’l, but everyone knew her as Nancy.”

Anyway, she provided us with excellent service and shared a lot of local stories about Onset.

The Stonebridge boasts eclectic memorabilia…

The food was quite good…

The pizzas were delicious but more flatbreads than pizzas. I would describe the crust as classic Southcoast Portuguese style.

Although the worst rain fell as we left the canal, it was off and on all afternoon, so we had a movie double-header in the salon.

If you’re interested in adding or upgrading the A/V on your boat, check out this report.

The Glen Cove

The other Onset restaurant we wanted to try was the Glen Cove Hotel. There are two restaurants in Glen Cove. The Bay Room is a traditional New England Dining Room with magnificent views of Onset Bay.

The Glen Cove boasts live music four nights a week. The musicians perform in the 1883 Lounge except for Oak Bluffs Johnny Hoy and The Bluefish, who perform in the Bay Room.

My only issue with the Live Music Calendar at the Glen Cove is that it doesn’t start until 8:30 on weekends. Fortunately, the music begins at 7:00 on Thursdays (Karaoke at 7:30 on Sundays).

The 1883 Lounge

The 1883 has the vibe I live in. It’s downstairs, with low ceilings and wall-to-wall brick.

Tequila Jim provided the live music on Thursday. He sounded great and performed a lot of songs from my own setlist!

As usual, we sat at the bar and had excellent service conversations with Heather and Vanessa.

I’m one of those people who believes pineapple should only be an ingredient in cocktails or desserts, so I substituted fries (which were hot and excellent).

Art By Trevor

A few years ago, Mrs. Horne discovered an artist in Onset named Trevor. She is a huge fan of his work and his willingness to work with her with bespoke colors.

As we were wrapping up dinner, Trevor walked in and joined us for a spirited conversation (as her husband, I was impressed by how well Trevor read Mrs. Horne 😂).

If you’re on the South Coast and looking for art you won’t find in the tourist galleries, check out Trevor at 95 Main Street.

OB Bound

We woke up to a thin fog Friday morning. It created a surreal aura over Onset Bay.

By 10:00, the fog was gone, and I motored south to Oak Bluffs for Memorial Day Weekend.

Next up – OB Friday…