Hingham Adventures: Return to Gloucester

We last visited Gloucester in September of 2011 during our Great Loop adventure. It was the furthest north that we traveled along the east coast. We stayed for seven days, then headed south to Salem. We had fond memories of Gloucester.

Fast forward to 2016 and the trials and tribulations of getting the Caterpillar 1,000 hour performed. We finally found Guy Crudele, a Caterpillar Authorized Marine Dealer who operates out of Gloucester.  We agreed to move the boat to Gloucester rather than have him travel to Hingham. This saved us considerable money.

Explanatory Note: Cat dealers charge time and miles for travel to the boat's location. In Crudele's case, he and his assistant would have had to travel 60 miles through Boston traffic each way. That trip is an hour and twenty minutes without consideration for traffic. Throw in Boston rush hour traffic and it could easily be two hours. The 1000 hour service could take as much as three days. Do the math. Two guys at $100/hr times 12 hours plus miles equals well over $2,400. Cruising to Gloucester used less than 60 gallons of diesel ($120). Dockage cost $480 for the entire week. $600 versus $2400.

Cape May and the Annisquam River

So on Monday, October 3 at 10:30 AM I headed for Gloucester with my friend Skip Roper aboard. Diana and Kodi went by car. The time of departure was not accidental. Our destination, Cape May Marina, was in the Annisquam River just north of the Blynmam Bridge. The Annisquam River is a 4.5 mile tidal estuary that connects Gloucester Harbor to the south with Annisquam Harbor to the north. This tidal river is subject to powerful currents (3 to 4 knots). My goal was to arrive at the Blynman Bridge on the 2:00 PM slack tide.

Important: Hurricane Matthew was turning north just south of Haiti packing winds of 140 MPH. It was predicted to make landfall the following day,

Approaching the Blynman Bridge at slack tide with a vessel exiting

Approaching Cape Ann Marina and Resort

Guided Discovery at Cape Ann Marina and Resort

Tuesday at 8:00 AM, Guy Crudele arrived with his assistant and began the 1000 hour maintenance project. (For details read my article Guy Crudele: A Class Act). That freed us up to go exploring.

We chose to explore the the Eastern Point section of Gloucester Harbor. This proved to be a good decision as this represents the "high rent" district with beautiful homes, a yacht club, a historic lighthouse, a historic home (Beauport Sleeper-McCann House) and great walking on roads with no traffic.

Map of Gloucester

We parked the car at the Beauport Sleeper-McCann House and began our walk to the point. Our first stop was the Eastern Point Yacht. Founded in 1923, this beautiful club overlooks the Eastern Point Light Station.

Eastern Point Yacht Club

View of Eastern Point Light Station from the clubhouse

Next we visited the Eastern Point Light Station. Built in 1832 this lighthouse remains active under the supervision of the USCG. The grounds are closed to the public, which we learned when a "Coastie" politely told us to exit the grounds.

Eastern Point Light Station

Our next adventure occurred the following day when we visited the Beuaport Sleeper-McCann House.

Beauport Sleeer-McCann House

Explanatory Note: Compliments of Wikipedia. Beauport was built starting in 1908 as the summer home of interior decorator and antique collector Henry Davis Sleeper. Situated on the rocks overlooking Gloucester Harbor, the structure was repeatedly enlarged and modified by Sleeper, and filled with a large collection of fine art, folk art, architectural artifacts, and other collectible materials. Sleeper decorated the (ultimately 56) rooms to evoke different historical and literary themes. After his death, Charles and Helena Woolworth McCann acquired the house and its contents. They preserved much of the Sleeper's designs and decorations, but made some modifications, including adding their porcelain collection to the house. Their heirs donated the property to the Society for the Protection of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England) in 1947, who operate the property as a house museum.

56 rooms! We only got to see a few of them on the guided tour. Turns out Henry Sleeper was a prolific collector of antiques who organized his "treasures" in individual rooms, each with a theme. He continued to add additions throughout his ownership of the home to house the stuff he collected. Bottom line. The house was ALWAYS under construction. Here's a few photos of the home.

Adding to the excitement was Hurricane Matthew, which made landfall in Haiti and Cuba as a Category 4 Hurricane and then proceeded north along the east coast wreaking havoc on Georgia and the Carolinas.  The eye came ashore in South Carolina on October 8 and then headed north. I had been watching the storm daily since its formation and especially after we headed for Gloucester. The question was would it make it to New England.  My prediction, highly influenced by NOAA, is that we had a weather window up until Sunday (October 9).

Hurricane Matthew approaching the South Carolina

The 1000 hour maintenance project was completed on Wednesday. However, despite the hurricane, we stayed until Friday afternoon so that I could meet with Guy Crudele and an engineer, Chris Murray, from Soundown to assess a problem with the port engine transmission coupling. The coupling, which deadens vibration and noise where the shaft connects to the transmission, has been shedding rubber dust for the last 300 hours. The question here was the timing of making the repair.

Explanatory Note: A repair of this nature is somewhat complicated. Essentially, before rebuilding or replacing the coupling, you have to ensure that the running gear is completely sound. This involves hauling the boat to inspect the cutlass bearings that encompass the shaft. Since we had a soft grounding last November off Sarasota I felt it essential to check the bearings and the condition of the propellers. The propellers can be scanned by computerized equipment and any deviation can be corrected.  Note: Several divers have checked my propellers and each has reported that there is no visible damage. Once these items are verified, the new coupler can be installed. Then the running gear is checked for alignment.  I purchased a replacement unit which is now carried on the boat.

Back to the hurricane.  The National Hurricane Center predicted that Matthew would make it to Cape Hatteras and then turn east (i.e., a sharp right turn) into the North Atlantic. NOAA got it right. On Saturday October 9, I cruised single handed back to Hinghan or relatively smooth seas.

We felt the effects of the Matthew as it brushed by well south on Monday with winds gusting to 35 knots. 

Written by Les.