Welcome to the 2022 boating season. We left our winter home in California on April 25 – a little earlier than usual…

Mrs. Horne competes in a couple of traveling golf leagues around Massachusetts and her spring season started on April 28 and thus the early return.

And knowing I’d be back on Tuesday and knowing Saturday was April 30, I came up with the urge to get Relentless launched and hit Buzzards Bay in April – something I’ve never done!

Weekend with Peter

My dear old friend Peter has had one hellova lousy winter. As you may recall, he lost his wife Mary Lee in September, his sister in January, and the ultimate heartbreak was losing his oldest son Matt in March.

Peter, Matt, and the Captain in the 80’s

Spending time with Peter was one of my top priorities when I got back, and I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather have on my first April cruise than my oldest first mate.

MBY – A Great Opportunity for a Career on the Water

We all know about the national labor shortage, and we all know why (but that’s another story for another day). When I pulled into the parking lot at the Mattapoisett Boat Yard, I saw the owner – Dave Kaiser, working on boats.

“Well, the labor shortage has finally hit Mattapoisett Boat Yard,” said Dave. “We’re down four guys, and some people will need to wait a while to get out on the water this season.”

SIDE NOTE: If you know anyone looking for a career on the water, let me know, and I’ll make the introductions.

One of the advantages of having a big boat is that we’re generally the last boat hauled in the fall (December 11), and thus we’re the last boat in the barn. This means we need to get out of the way before they can start working on any of the other boats.

We’d planned on launching Friday morning, and I went over to video the event, but it was not to be. The wind was whipping out of the west, making it challenging to install the top on the flybridge.

It was actually the first time I’ve seen Relentless out of the water, so I shot a few photos of the glistening blue hull…

The bottom paint is a special blend Mrs. Horne created called Vigilant Green after our last boat.

Ned Comes Through

Ned said he was hoping the wind would die down after 4:00, and since he was committed to watching the kids on Saturday, he was going to try to get her launched.

At 5:04 PM on April 29, Ned texted me “She’s in.”

Where to?

The nice thing about cruising before Memorial Day is that you can pretty much go anywhere you want. As much as I’d love to visit the Vineyard, we still had a brisk wind and a rusty crew, so we set off for the Canal, Sandwich Marina, and The Fisherman’s View …

Although there were no other pleasure boats on Buzzards Bay, it was pretty flat. But with the mercury barely clearing 60, we stayed in the cabin with the salon door sealed tight.

Hail Heat Pumps

I’m reasonably well versed in science, but “for the life of me,” I can’t figure out how our AC heat pump works. The water in Buzzards Bay was 49°, but somehow Relentless converted this to a 72° warm cabin.

We’ve enjoyed this option going back to Tenacity in 2015, but it took us a while to fully appreciate its value. It makes cruising in May and October pleasant, effectively extending the season on Buzzards Bay by 50%.

Saturday at the F/V

Surprisingly, Harbormaster Dwight was working (in shorts) as we pulled into Sandwich Marina. We tied up and made the half-mile walk around the boat basin, only to discover that my 12:30 reservation had somehow disappeared.

We managed to find three seats at the bar and met up with Tara after lunch…

There was a very talented young lady performing in the bar – Carly Trefft…

She is a local but spent six years in Nashville honing her musical chops. She told me she expects to perform often at the F/V this season.

She’s got a great website – carlytefft.com, and she’s diligent about posting info on her upcoming performances.

I discovered this video of her remake of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean on her website – very cool.

BBB Kickoff

As good as Saturday was for boating, Sunday was even better. There was almost no wind, and the temperatures climbed well into the 60s. Unfortunately, we didn’t go boating on Sunday but we attended a season kickoff event with friends from the Buzzards Bay Boaters Facebook page.

About the time I was starting My Buzzards Bay, Elizabeth Giordani Roy began a Facebook page called Buzzards Bay Boaters. Elizabeth invited me to share my stories on their wall, and we’ve been partners of sorts ever since.

The BBB page has almost 3,000 members, and it is an excellent spot for Q&As about boating and weather in the region. It’s also a great place to tell stories and share photos from a day at sea.

A few months ago, I saw this post, asked Mrs. Horne if she wanted to attend, and sent Elizabeth our money for the May 1 kickoff event…

It was a great afternoon and our first visit to the Stone Path Malt Taproom. We joined about 30 other local boaters for food, drink, and a little Corn Hole toss.

Mrs. Horne teamed up with her new friend Alyssa in an epic Corn Hole match against a couple of obvious “sharks”…

It looked like a rout by the sharks, but then my girls waged an incredible comeback, and Alyssa slam dunked the sharks scoring 7 points in the final frame to emerge victoriously!

Mrs. Horne and Alyssa

I think we’re off to a great season if we can just get the cost of diesel down few bucks.

But more on that later…