Boston Harbor was quiet and cloudy as we pulled away from Fan Pier at 8 a.m. Sunday morning.  Wind was light out of the SSW, right on our nose, so we decided against setting any sail.  We had four passengers join us for the transit, and although they were anxious to sail, they were happy to be at sea regardless.

The first order of business as we motored through the inner harbor was to untangle the large, yellow Ernestina banner that flys from our main topmast. The shifting winds through the night had wrapped the banner numerous times around the main topmast stay, making it impossible to lower it by the halyard alone.  That meant some lucky person got to go for a ride in the bosun's chair.  Incidently that lucky person got to be me, Crista.  Small size helps when you're relying on your crew members to manually haul you up. I didn't exactly get a full ride, I had to climb to the top of the main mast before I got my free one.  Scot, the first mate, rigged up the bosun's chair - we used the main topsail halyard, and he helped repeat my commands to the crew 107 feet below me on deck so they wouldn't catapult me over the topmast.  It was a pleasant ride to the top, not as scary as I thought it might be, and it was a great view of Boston Harbor, probably one that few people get to experience.  The banner was easy to untangle and before long I was safely back on deck.

The remaimder of the 12 hour transit was uneventful, we did see the Mayflower II heading from Plymouth to Boston, and a few of us sat aloft on the mainmast as we went under the 3 bridges that cross the Cape Cod Canal. Once we hit Buzzards Bay the fog closed in around us and we made our way to the hurricane barrier not being able to see it until we were right around Butler Flats.

Captain: Willi Bank
Program Coordinator: Crista Mellican