Sailing advice: Trip to Cohasset, MA. 4-12-08

I’m 45 and live in Pittsburgh, PA. 4 years ago I got back into sailing when I bought a Hobie 16. I’ve been sailing on lakes Erie & Arthur with a good group of people. I’ve learned to handle the boat well and mostly sail solo.
Hingham MA is where I grew up and learned to sail, but on much smaller dinghies and a sunfish. Most of my family is still in the area but no sailors. As a kid, I always wanted to sail out to Minots Ledge Lighthouse off of Cohasset beach but so far it’s been a dream.
This April 11-18, I have a business trip to Massachusetts. Instead of flying, I’m thinking of driving up with my boat and trying to fulfill that dream.
So now I here looking for advice. I have a good cold water wetsuit, boots and gloves, a gps/vhf radio and the regular gear most of us have. I can right the boat by myself but also have a righting bag if needed. I’ve done a lot of white water rafting in March, so I know what cold water is like, I just haven’t sailed in.
What am I not thinking about? Overlooking or need to take?
Does anyone know that area? Maybe a good place to launch from or have any suggestions?

Thanks for any help,


Bob Buxton

It sounds like you have everything covered. Although I know nothing about the place, in Google Earth the distance from Cohasset to the lighthouse is less than 2.5 miles, so it's not much of trip and should be a quick one given favorable conditions.

As always, use good judgement on the weather conditions, make sure the battery is charged on the radio and you know your distress signals, your boat's gear is in good order, notify folks of where you are going and how long you expect to be out.

And. . . make sure your trailer is up for the trip!

Going solo? get a quick release hook for your harness if you don't have it yet. I've got stuck under the trampoline two weeks ago in a capsize. Had to cut the trampoline lacing to free myself. Luckily I was trap near the rear beam and I was able to barely keep the head out of the water when the cat did turtle. The crew had no knife, so, it was like I was solo.

I've changed the spreader bars of my two harnesses already. I've got the RWO I believe it is the easiest to use. Just a push of a button with either hand. With others you have to find a string to pull–quite strong–to one side.

Have fun with your trip.

I live in MA and am thinking you have a serious wish to die.
The water temperature will be in the thirties or low forties so if you are wearing a good wet suit with full hood and booties (very difficult to sail in this outfit) you will have about 10 to 15 minutes in the water before you are comotose from hypothermia; i.e. dead. You will probably be partially hypothermic just from the air temperature alone and wind chill.
You will be the only boat out there except commercial traffic so if you get into trouble you are going to be alone and on the expresslane to dying.
This is a really stupid idea!!!
Hire a charter boat to take you out there and enjoy the rest of your life.

I can understand your wanting to fullfill your dream. But to do so in April does not sound like a good idea at all. Can't you plan it for July or August?

Beachboy: "I live in MA and am thinking you have a serious wish to die."

I have no wish to die, that's why I posted the questions. And I do listen!
I've been thinking about it alot, with most of the points you made.
So before I did something stupid, like die, I though I would ask. I think I would have chickened out when I got there, only because of the water temp.
It will be over a year before I get back up there but I can wait, I've waited this long already. I'll be sailing here in PA mid April but on the lake with other boats is different. I'll still enjoy my trip

I didn't mean to be rude, just stern enough to really send the message. I was by the North shore of Boston a month or so ago and saw an An Island off Cape Ann that I was last on when I was 21 (long time ago) and had a yearning to return, I know the feeling.
Come on back in the summer months and enjoy the great sailing in the Harbor area and around the Cape and Islands.
I'm glad to hear I won't have to watch for bad news about a Hobie sailor, discretion is the better part of valor.

buxtons, here's a good temperature reading for Boston.

http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/cwtg/natl.html

I forget, but someone posted a rule of thumb which added the air and water temps together to get a minimum for the kind of cold weather gear needed. Folks do sail in the dead of winter (I'm not one), but they are prepared for it like the dickens.

I've surfed here in CA on cold winter days, and being in direct contact with the water constantly I know it doesn't take long for unprotected hands to stop working, then try to unrig your boat. Yeah. . . we needed to help each other getting out of our wetsuits, and then just unlocking the car door I had to use the two edges of my hands below my pinkey finger to hold and turn the key. So although you might not die, if the temps are low enough you may lose hand functions and coordination which lead to other problems.

It sounds like your excursion might not be worth the effort you would need.

I've sailed in low forty water temps and air temps of 26 f with crew. I was only about a thirty minute sail as the lines froze and recall pushing the boom out with my feet. I wore two wet suits, I was warm, but hardly comfortable. I never tipped, but when we came back to shore. I remember going out to waist deep water, just to see how it felt. I had a small one inch gap between my booties and my wet suit. I got an ice cream headache in my lower leg within 5 minutes. It really made me think, it wasn't a great idea. I was lucky I didn't get in trouble, adreneline probably would save me for a little while, but that was cold to the core and you would eventually lose your faculties. I'd rather die launching off a wave into the mouth of a killer whale than freezing to death.