Arabella anchored off Newport
Arabella anchored off Cuttyhunk
Arabella's sails underway
Arabella, a 157-foot 3-masted schooner, cruises two main locations a year, New England and the British Virgin Islands. We joined the ship in Newport, RI, and sailed to Martha's Vineyard, on to Nantucket, back to Martha's Vineyard, on to Cuttyhunk , and back to Newport. Arabella's mainsail is a spanker off its mizzen mast, and going forward, she sports a mizzen staysail, a main fisherman, a main staysail, a fore fisherman, a fore staysail, and a jib. The crew of 7 (skipper, master, deckhand, engineer, plus chef, and two stewards), quickly put up all the sails on Monday morning on our way to Edgartown, in breeze of about 13-15 knots -- it helps that 5 of the 7 are on hydraulic winches. We were fairly quickly moving along at 8 knots, though the engine remained on, since we were 'on a schedule.' The skipper was happy for any of the 30 passengers who wanted to to steer, which I did a good bit. Arabella has a sea-kindly motion, and easily translated 20-knot gusts of wind into forward motion, hitting 11-12 knots during those gusts. Since this 98-ton vessel draws 13 feet, we anchored well outside the harbor at each stop, putting out "two shots" of chain with the anchor, a shot being 80 feet. On Wednesday night, we put out 3 shots, since tropical storm Ida was coming, and good we did, since we were awakened at 5 a.m. with someone alerting the captain 'the anchor is dragging.' A 180 degree windshift had pulled the anchor free -- that along with 36 knots sustained, with gusts to 61. Once they got the engine on, the anchor re-set, and the crew kept the engine on to ensure we stayed off the lee shore -- which had been about half a mile off the night before, and ended up being about 100 yards off. Wind dissipated as Thursday wore on, eventually lowering the wave heights so people could go into Edgartown on the 20' dinghy. A fabulous lobster bake on Cuttyhunk the next day was a fitting follow-up to Ida -- a gorgeous day of sailing, with fresh lobster to enjoy afterwards. Heck of a week!