Hyannis, MA 41°38.155’N, 070°15.794’W

Slept in the saloon last night. I left the plotter on, and set an anchor alarm to go off should we drift more than 0.05nm. Despite the rising and falling howl of the wind through the rigging, and the rain pattering on the hatches above, I slept pretty well, and Bandit didn't move an inch. Today I recovered the two anchors I had over, and repositioned on the south-west side of Lewis Bay (Hyannis) in anticipation of a SW change. On that note, the weather forecasters around these parts are absolutely top-notch. Greg and I were able to snatch a forecast weather window to get back to the mainland from Nantucket, and did so on a ripping, fast sailing breeze, so we were nicely sheltered before the true ferocity of the storm came through. Thus far, the forecasts have been very accurate, and they certainly make life a lot easier. The forecast I am currently using (apart from that broadcast on the VHF radio) is here:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/east/boxmz.htm

Select Nantucket Sound for the area that applies to us. But here it is:

OVERNIGHT
SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. GUSTS UP TO 20 KT AROUND
MIDNIGHT. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT. A CHANCE OF RAIN. PATCHY FOG. VSBY 1 TO 3
NM.

SUN
W WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. GUSTS UP TO 20 KT LATE. SEAS 3 TO 4 FT.
A CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE MORNING.

SUN NIGHT
W WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 20 KT...BECOMING
NW 5 TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT. 

So pretty mellow from here on in. The only other item that may be of interest is the water temperature; the instruments suggest its 15.3C. I've had one swim of well over 0.001 of a second. This is only for contrast value later.

I also look at the synopsis, which you can find at:

http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/raw/fz/fznt21.kwbc.off.nt1.txt

NEW ENGLAND CONTINENTAL SHELF AND SLOPE WATERS FROM 25 NM
OFFSHORE TO THE HAGUE LINE...EXCEPT TO 1000 FM S OF NEW ENGLAND
ANZ080-200230-
400 PM EDT SAT MAY 19 2007
.SYNOPSIS FOR NEW ENGLAND WATERS...LOW PRES APPROACHING THE MAINE
COAST FROM THE E WILL DRIFT SW OVER NEW ENGLAND TONIGHT. THE LOW
AND ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL THEN TRACK NE ACROSS THE WATERS
SUN INTO SUN NIGHT. HIGH PRES WILL BUILD SLOWLY SE TOWARD THE
AREA MON THROUGH THU. LOW PRES WILL DEVELOP TO THE SE OF THE AREA
BY THU.

To be honest, I don't really understand it, but I'm reading 'Weather Predicting Simplified' by Michael Carr (his idea of simplified, and mine, seem a Rossby wave apart) but I'm trying to work it out.

A Nantucket or Vineyard ferry just passed my stern. My current anchorage is about 50' from the channel, and these are big ferries! However, I'm flying and all-round white light - which signifies yacht at anchor - and rigged a radar reflector - so we should be pretty visible to them. While we're on the edge, this is also a mooring field for a number of boats, and we're not sticking out too much, so I think it's pretty safe. On that note, good night to you all. If you wake up to your bed rolling from side to side, go back to sleep: It's just the Grey Lady bound for Nantucket.