Storm in a teacup

You'll be glad to know that Hurricane Hanna became Tropical Storm Hanna and by the time she got to Massachusetts it was Mildly Windy Hanna.

We came into the inner harbour, behind the breakwater, to be sheltered and on a mooring buoy for the night. That made it much easier to get on and of the boat during the day as the wind was building. The forecast was for thirty five knots with gusts to forty or maybe fifty. We remember what fifty knots felt like a few weeks ago, so we prepared the boat carefully.

We took lots of loose things down from on deck, doubled up our mooring lines, tied back any flapping ropes on the mast and checked the dinghy lines five times. Then we put the kids to bed and listened as the wind built.

By ten pm, it was blowing a steady twenty five knots, enough to make the rigging sing and speak of gusts to come.

But they didn't come - we say a steady thirty knots in the middle of the night for a little while, then it eased away and we have a beautiful clear morning with a gentle westerly breeze.

So we will drop our mooring and return to the anchorage in a few minutes, then we can do some shopping and enjoy a last day on the island before heading of tomorrow to start our progress down Long Island Sound towards New York.

Alls well. N.