Departing Nantucket

We arrived in Nantucket from Montauk Yesterday (Friday) just after 5 PM and tied up at Straight Warf, slip #1022. Our first task was to retrieve the mailsail halyard. In the middle of Thursday night, while motoring into a head-on light breeze, the breeze shifted enough (30 degrees) off the nose so that we could make some use of the mainsail. JD was sleeping quietly on the sole. As I hoisted the mainsail I noticed there was not much resistance. Flashing the light at the mast I could see that the halyard shackle had come loose from the sail, and now it was too far up to retrieve. I woke JD and asked him to bring up the boat hook to try to retrieve the flailing halyard. No Luck. But JD cleverly used the jib halyard to hoist the main. We were sailing again but with the continued help of the engine to provide additional speed in the 5 MPH breeze. Once in port we hoisted up the MastMate, a series of foot-holding strap loops that attach to the mast with slugs that go up the sail slot. Without hesitation JD climbed the mast useing the MastMate and retrieved the main halyard, afterwards noting that he had been deathly afraid of heights. He went out of his comfort zone and thereby expanded his comfort zone and felt deservidly pretty good about his accompolishment. Our dock neighbors offerred us beer which we readily consumed with thanks. I treated us to 2-pound lobsters and a bucket of clam steamers for dinner at the Lobster Trap restaurant.

We are having some issues with the electronics, particularly the radar and AIS. I am trying to get help for these here in Nantucket before we depart at 2 PM but the only local knowlegibe about these things works in a retail store and says he can't get off until later in the day, by which time we will miss the tide and again fall behind in our plan which we constantly revise as circujmstances dictate. We can do it the old fashioned way, using our radar reflector, ships bell, and fog horn in the event of fog, but the other stuff would provide additional comfort.

Nantucket is a nice small walkable town. The cobble stone streets were made from ships' ballast stones in the 18th and 19th centuries. We spent the night at Hawthorn House, a B&B about 4 blocks from our Jubilee's berth in the boat basin. JD did the laundry this morning and is off exploring the town. Real estate is not cheap here. A basic place with a water view (from the second floor) starts at about $2 mil. A nice place with a good view can be had for abour $3.5 mil. There is a very nice estate here with some acreage that could be yours for $23 mil.

Woody