History and Mystery in Blustery Massachusetts

In the cruising community, “hot feet” refers to the desire to frequently move the boat and hop from one anchorage to the next. After more than a month in Newport, the Burnetts got that way, except Mel would rather call it “cold feet”.  So several days ago they sailed east from Newport, bound for the romantic destination of “Cape Cod.”  Dagnabbit! They didn’t quite make it. Instead, they are now hopping around a lovely place called, “Buzzards Bay”. It is strange how cod can be more romantic than buzzards.

After a day on a mooring in Onset, MA, the Burnetts moved to a cuttysunk mooring in the harbor by Marion, MA.  Mel approves of this mooring design, a feature unique to this area.  It must have been invented by a woman, or at least a tidy gentleman, as when mooring, the grabbing and heaving of slimy, stinky, floating lines is replaced by the elegant threading of a tall metal needle bobbing sparkling clean about 3 feet above the waterline. Mel loves it so much she tolerates the periodic bong of the metal against their crossbeam when the wind dies.

It has been made clear to us that we are visiting during the off season of a resort town. Dockwa would not let us make a mooring reservation after Oct 14. While the harbor buzzed with dinghies over the weekend, they carried people that were closing up their boats for the season.

Marion, MA, is not a big town, and so as the only liveaboards in Sippican Harbor, we have become local curiosities. Walking into the local playhouse, the Marion Arts Center, to partake of their showing of Proof (excellent production, but the writing has not aged well), our foulies attracted the attention of the exuberant Gary Sousa, a sailor since his teens and history teacher at the local boarding high school, Tabor Academy. Exhibiting the open and welcoming manner we have encountered as sailors all over New England, Gary invited us to brunch, in which we swapped sea stories and learned a lot about the fascinating “School by the Sea”.   As per the unspoken rules of the cruising community, we will pay forward the generosity Gary extended to us at the next opportunity.

We chose Marion as a stop after reading that it is the starting point on occasion for rallies to Bermuda.  We hoped that meant it had a bustling marine industry, which it does not.  We no longer count West Marine as a chandlery. But what it lacks in toilet pump maintenance kits, it makes up in charm. Marion is like that person at a party that melts into the corner, nondescript and quiet, until someone takes notice and finds out that she is the most interesting person in the room.  For example, at the fastidiously curated Sippican Historical Society Museum, we learned about the personalities that have passed through Marion over the years, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and Grover Cleveland’s charismatic wife. Also whaling.  Always whaling.  

Marion also plays a role in a mystery so intriguing, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a story about it.  

Easily spooked captains aside, the Marion personality we found the most fascinating was the painter Cecil Clark Davis , a gifted painter who was associated with many famous people in the early 1900s, smoked in the men’s room, had a “platonic” relationship with her socialite husband, and was active in the women’s suffrage movement.  Marion adores her; she looks out defiantly from her self-portrait hanging in the Marion Arts Center. She also hung out with Charles Dana Gibson, a popular illustrator who used Cecil as inspiration for his “Gibson girl”. Given that Gibson created many unruly hairstyles for his Gibson girls with Cecil as his muse, Mel doesn’t find Greg’s thought that Cecil is a distant relative of Mel too far off.

Time to wrap this up.  30 knot wind gusts and constant rain has kept Mel inside writing way too much, drinking tea after tea, and eating all the scones they bought at the impressively-provisioned Marion General Store.  She hopes this storm will clear up in a few days. Otherwise, as her boat fever sets in, she may manifest the spirit of Marion and find herself donning a feathered cap and tie and making cartoons of pouty women irritating men. At least there are no whales around, and now she has an even stronger desire to not abandon ship!

Recent boat projects: Replaced halyard with Dyneema (required an up-the-mast by Greg!), replaced halyard clutch to handle smaller, 10 mm line, washed the bilge to get rid of bad smell that came out from upwind sail, tested out a better way to divert rainwater off the aft topsides (Gorilla tape – really, Greg??), installed a new sink faucet in master head, installed Raymarine RS150 GPS receiver, installed Bilge Buddy, swapped out grey sailbag for navy sailbag, commissioned new seat cushions, investigated best replacement for broken Sena marriage saver headsets, commissioned artist for Jerry’s logo/illustration, troubleshot broken Raymarine chartplotter networking with Raymarine customer support (no resolution yet.)