It started out as a delivery trip - my boat at the time was an Olson 30 ULDB from SoCal - and it needed to be moved from my work location at Oyster Bay to my home port Salem, Mass. We did have a trailer and could have towed her home -- but this became a potential cruise  when 'Dad' realized his oldest daughter had a weeks vacation to donate to the delivery trip. Not planning for the obvious, an outboard that never ran, the 'vacation week' ended up stretching considerably.

Jennifer and I travelled from Oyster Bay, Long Island to Salem, Mass via numerous gunk-holes along the Connecticut shore, Pt Judith, Menemsha, Vineyard Haven, then thru Woods Hole into Buzzards Bay via the Cape Cod Canal to Provincetown with a final leg to Salem.

Let's just remember that this cruise took place in 1986. In the early spring - 3 weeks from mid-April to the beginning of May. That's 'early season' here in New England - Marinas and Yacht Clubs are still buttoned  up - only the old sea dogs and fishermen are out and about - and the weather can be less than tropical.

Fortunately, both of our kids are goods sailors. They began sailing in grade school, added the experience of sailing camp out of Pleon, and frequently took over sailing our boats themselves. I always thought it a stroke of luck that one prefered the tiller while the other prefered the fun of trimming - gosh how blessed can a skipper be.

As you can imagine, there were a few back-stories.

Wife/mother Lucille's memories of some of my escapades definitely added a certain spicy flavor to the regular updates we were required to provide along the way (those memories included a two-handed Bermuda race and the CG search for the boat because it was misidentified by another racer, hence considered 'overdue' ;-)

 Jennifer's school chum's and teachers we tracking our progress on a regular basis - especially after the legitimate 'vacation week' expired and we kept extending the ETA and return for school - all unbeknownst to us travellers.

 We'll cover: Nuclear subs off of CT shore, incredulous barflys at many Yacht clubs, a cupcake 14th birthday party, Pt. Judith's hippy culture, the jetties of Menemsha's entrance, lady boatbuilders of Vinyard Haven, adventures in Wood's Hole cut, sailing the CC Canal, sleeping on beam-ends in P'town, plus more.

I'm going to ask Jennifer to contribute -- from her original "log" of our trip.  It's too precious to leave out.

 More anon...