Buzz and Lou Anne – the future owners of Relentless, flew to Mattapoisett from North Carolina and spent a day looking her over and running an informal sea trial on a very snotty day.
We’d agreed on the purchase price, but I still had a few hoops to jump through to prove that Relentless was everything we said she was.
“You know, you really shouldn’t use the boat once you’re under contract,” warned Dave Kaiser, MBY Owner.
“Well, you guys have taken good care of her, and besides, if there’s anything that’s going to break, I’d rather have it happen now so we can fix it before Buzz takes off for North Carolina,” I replied.
But the little voice inside my head said, “You know, he may be right.”
As I weighed Dave’s sage advice, I was also fully aware that once I turned the keys over to Buzz, I wouldn’t be back on the water until late April of 2023.
Thankfully, Mrs. Horne’s annual “Girls Weekend” had long been scheduled for the second weekend of September, and that always involves 1-2 day trips, so my days on Relentless weren’t quite over.
Girls Weekend
One of Mrs. Horne’s best qualities is her dedication to nurturing old friendships. She grew up in a small blue-collar city in Massachusetts. It’s one of those towns where people go to school, get a job, get married, raise a family and some never leave.
Mrs. Horne remains in contact with dozens of friends from grade school and even a few from kindergarten. Over the past five years or so, she’s gotten much closer to a few, and their “Girls Weekends” have become a tradition.
The year we got Relentless, we toyed with the idea of an overnight cruise but never did it. This is a confirmed day trip crowd.
Falmouth Saturday
With Dave’s words about “using a boat under contract,” I wanted to stay close to home. Knowing girls like margaritas, I proposed Falmouth and Anejo for margaritas and Mexican food.
Falmouth is really a Sleeper Destination for Buzzards Bay boaters. It’s extremely easy to reach, tucked a few miles west of Woods Hole.
Despite being a narrow harbor, it’s well-marked and very deep from edge to edge.
It also offers all of the things one looks for in a Cape Cod boating destination:
- Dock and Dine – Both near the harbor and downtown.
- Multiple Marinas – MacDougalls is a first class marina and the Town Marina has ridiculously cheap overnight rates in the spring and fall.
- Great Downtown Restaurants and Shopping – Albeit nearly a one mile walk.
- Free Dockage at the Town Bulkhead.
The walk to town is just right if you’re at the Town Marina or Bulkhead. If you’re at MacDougalls, you probably want to use Uber. Also, if you have a few adult beverages in town, you’ll want to Uber back to the harbor.
The good news is that Uber service is plentiful!
We did have a minor challenge. When the boatyard burned down, the set of keys they held for the boat was lost in the rubble. The impressive salon door on Relentless is made in Eastern Europe and has an obscure lock set. The only place to get the key is from The Key Man in New Bedford, so I ordered three.
The first two worked like a charm. The third one opened the door but then got stuck in the lock.
This meant that we couldn’t lock the boat and since the Town Bulkhead is near a little public park on a busy street, that was a concern.
The problem wasn’t just that the boat would be unlocked, but that the key was obviously in the lock. Mrs. Horne suggested hanging a life jacket to cover the key and that worked like a charm.
Online Waitlist at Anejo – HUGE!
I absolutely love Anejo, but so does everyone else, and they don’t take reservations. For this reason, we got to Falmouth around 11:30 and started walking to town.
I clicked on the Anejo website to see when they opened, and much to my delight, they now have an online waitlist for seating.
Despite trying many times, we’ve never had dinner at Anejo – the wait at prime time is around an hour. This changes all that and really enhances the dining options in Falmouth.
Anejo
Anne’s brother Ralph was joining us, so we were a party of seven – yet another reason to arrive just before noon.
The walk to town was a bit of a workout, and it was a tad humid, so we passed on the Al fresco seating and went inside.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, Anejo serves authentic California-style Mexican food (as opposed to Tex Mex or the stuff served in most Mexican restaurants in New England). Every dish is obviously prepared with care, the ingredients are fresh, and the recipes are light.
In addition to great food, Anejo overperforms every step of the way.
The chips are thin and hot, and the salsa is fresh.
And The House Margarita is as good as any top shelf served anywhere.
The girls were all dining light, and the Anejo menu provided several delicious options.
Ralph and I went with more manly dishes 😂
Smooth Cruise Home
People often ask me, “Do you drive from the flybridge most of the time?”
The answer is no. I did my time running center consoles at 35 mph on Buzzards Bay, and I prefer to operate in the living-room-like peace and quiet of the salon.
But now and then, a day will come when it’s a total treat, and that was the case running home from Falmouth.
Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay were flat, and the temperature was in the upper 70s. I run at 12-15 mph to keep it all civilized and conversation friendly. And with Falmouth to Mattapoisett being less than 15 miles, it’s only a little over an hour on a slow cruise.
And it was a beautiful ride!
The Finale at the Chartroom
The Chartroom was the perfect venue for our final Dock and Dine on Relentless. After all, it was my first D&D on my father’s sailboat Aquarius four decades ago.
It was also about 40 minutes of “engine hours,” and I wanted to stay close to the hours listed on Yachtworld.
It was another mixed weather day, but there was no rain in the forecast.
On the way to the Chartroom, I stopped in the Kingman office to say hi and thank them for doing a great job.
Sophie was out docking boats, but Megan was there.
Kingman has always done an excellent job, but a few years ago, things were starting to slip. This season, the dock crew is performing like some $500/night marina in Newport but still only charging $15 for a three-hour lunch tie-up.
Inside, the girls posed for a group photo with a blurry Relentless in the background.
Lunch was great…
It was a few days after Peter’s birthday. He visited Mary Lee’s grave at the National Cemetery in Borne and then joined us for lunch followed by a little chocolate cake.
I’ve never had dessert at The Chartroom, but it was extremely good!
Before he took off, Peter posed for a photo with The Captain.
Mrs. Horne is training Carol to be a second mate. After a drama free departure, they posed for a photo on the fore peak.
Our Last 20 Minutes on Relentless
Unlike the week before, when we left Edgartown after our final cruising weekend on Relentless, I wasn’t at all sad about my final run home. I guess our Day Trip Weekend was bonus time, and I was simply savoring the moment.
The Relentless era was very interesting. We embarked on it in the early days of the Pandemic and literally signed the offer 24 hours after I discovered her on YachtWorld.
We had a rocky delivery coming from Florida in the middle of two summer hurricanes and replacing the starboard transmission in Virginia.
But despite “the longest August,” she was a great boat. She never failed us, she gave us well over 150 days at sea, and we sold her for a profit.
We’re excited about getting our new boat in April and very happy that Buzz and Lou Anne will be her new owners. It’s clear that they’ll treat her to the way she’s become accustomed to being treated.
My Buzzards Bay 
The key got stuck in the lock???Geeze
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Thanks for sharing your season adventures with us. Looking forward to hearing about the next vessel chapter!
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I always look forward to your travel posts! Another great summer for the Hornes! ⚓️
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Love your posts.
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Such a great weekendDavid and Sue❤️
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