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Thursday, 09 October 2003 03:30 |
End of the Summer Cruise
Well
it is almost fall, where has the summer gone? In preparation for the
cold New England days ahead when we will be inside suffering from
"Cabin Fever," we decide on another cruise before the end of the
season. Casting off just before Labor Day, the marine weather forecast
calls for Northerly winds 20 - 25 knots. I decide that should be
perfect for an easy reach up the Rhode Island Coast to Cuttyhunk (41. 25" 34" N, 070. 55' 27" W). With a Northerly wind I would be in the lee of the land, minimizing the sea, yet catching the wind for a smooth quick sail.
Rising
early we cast off the lines before 0700 in anticipation of a great
sail. By 0900, I am still looking the wind. At 1100, the same. Where is
the wind that NOAA radio is still predicting? Unfortunately we pull
into Cuttyhunk harbor about 1600 after motoring all day. So much for
NOAA predictions.
The harbor is full, and we are forced to
anchor outside in an exposed area, however, the water is a flat as a
tabletop. Dinner and a little reading take up our time and before you
know it it is dark. After a cup of tea in the cockpit while
stargazing, before you know it, it is time for bed.
I no
sooner crawl under the covers when I hear a sudden wind developing. The
boat swings a little so I get up to see what is going on. Turning on
the anemometer, I see the wind is suddenly blowing from the North about
15 knots. I watch the other boats around me and all seems find. Before
I go below a sudden stronger gust of wind, and then a second, and a
third. Within minutes the wind is a solid 25 knots with gusts over 30.
I am anchored in an anchorage protected from all sides except north,
and is this a very rocky area. One does not want to do a lot of moving
at night in this area unless very familiar with the waters. I wasn't,
so we were going to stay put. I hoped!
I let out more chain
and decide to sit in the cockpit. Crews on all the boats around us
begin to do the same. Gale joins me and we watch the melee as everyone
is increasing anchor line scope and preparing for a windy
uncomfortable night. It isn't long before the waves in this unprotected
anchorage begin in earnest. As the ride gets bumpier, it isn't long
before spray comes over the bow as we fall down some of the larger
ones. Can you imagine that, water over the bow at anchor! Gale looks at
me and calmly declares she is going to bed, call her when this is over.
Someone should give those weather forecasters at NOAA watches!
After
a long night at anchor watch, we are happy to raise the anchor early
and move on. Following the North shore of Nashawena Island we head for
Quicks Hole (41. 26" 42" N, 070. 50' 49" W),
a passage between Nashawena and Pasque Islands. This pass takes us from
Buzzards Bay to Vineyard Sound. The sail is pretty rough as the entire
area is exposed to the open water churned by the northerly wind.
Passing through Quicks Hole we enter Vineyard Sound make a turn to
port, and are suddenly sailing in the lee of Pasque Island at 6.5
knots under jib alone.
Next stop is Vineyard Haven on
Martha's Vineyard. We make the sail in a little under two hours with
the favorable wind. Tucking in behind the land we are sheltered from
the wind as we set the anchor. We have been to Vineyard Haven a number
of times, this stop is to meet John our oldest boy, who will be joining
us for a couple of days. An hour later after picking John up at the
ferry dock, we are in town and enjoying lunch.
Although the wind persists we spend a quiet evening tucked in the lee of land called West Chop. Even I get to sleep tonight!
Dawn springs clear and bright and after a hearty breakfast we raise the sails and head to Nantucket (41. 18' 28' N, 070. 06' 15" W).
The sail across this piece of open ocean is strange because even though
you are out of sight of land, there are many shoals with depths of only
6 to 12 feet. We are fortunate to have a flat sea and steady winds
which have calmed from yesterday to 12 - 15 knots. The only excitement
on this part of the trip is when the engine starter key switch falls
apart just as we enter the harbor. It is amazing how fast a person can
disassemble, repair, and re-assemble a control panel when need be.
We
decide to take a mooring and the mooring service assigns us a front row
mooring over looking the town dock. A million dollar view for only
$50.00 a night. Ashore, Nantucket is so crowded you cannot enjoy the
ambiance. About the only thing that reminds us of the towns whaling
past, are the cobblestone streets that constantly cause me to stumble.
Lunch, a Nantucket sweat shirt, and a Nantucket burgee later, we are
back on the boat preparing to do a little fishing.
With the
dinghy loaded we head out to the harbor entrance jetties. Fishing the
eastern jetty we sneak through a pass and I manage to catch about a 15
pound striped bass. The water proves to be pretty rough, a combination
of the wind, current a constant ferry traffic. Over powered in an 11
foot inflatable with an 8 hp motor we head for the boat. After dinner
night fishing proves no better, so we call it a day with only one fish
to our credit.
The next morning John leaves to return home
on the ferry and Gale and I again raise anchor. Sailing back towards
Vineyard Sound, we decide to stop at Vineyard Haven again. They have
this great ice cream shop and we were both in the mood for a creamy
cold treat.
After a second night in Vineyard Haven we are off to Hadley Harbor, (41. 30' 42" N, 070. 42' 08" W)
a place we have never visited before. The problem with going to Hadley
Harbor is you need to pass through Woods Hole, a pass that separates
Nonamesset Island from the western tip of Cape Cod. If you haven't been
there, Woods Hole the home of the famous oceanographic center, is worth
the stop, but since we have previously visited, we head directly to
Hadley Harbor.
The Woods Hole pass is so full of buoys
marking channels coming and going in all directions, one must be very
alert piloting through this area. A chart, and a chart plotter are a
must. An uneventful passage takes into Hadley Harbor where we tie to a
Coast Guard Hurricane buoy. Hadley Harbor is so protected that the
Coast Guard maintains a series of hurricane buoys for their use in the
case of an impending hurricane.
Besides the Coast Guard
buoys which the Coast Guard allows boats to use for free in good
weather, there are a number of free mooring buoys, and of course areas
to anchor. When anchoring however, care must be taken to allow for
tidal flow and swing room in this harbor, which in reality is three
separate small interconnected harbors.
Hadley Harbor is a
nature lover's delight. Besides the three harbors that have enough
depth for boats, there are a multitude of little harbors that can be
explored by kayak or dinghy. And some of the small passages lead to
Vineyard Sound or Buzzards Bay. What a great place to explore, watch
birds or just lay around. However, because the island is private, going
ashore is forbidden.
After a lazy day at anchor, exploring
in the dinghy, dinner in the cockpit, and great nights sleep we awake
to a beautiful day and retrace our course out of Hadley Harbor, through
Woods Hole and back into Vineyard Sound. A turn to starboard and we are
reaching down the sound to Menemsha Pond (41. 21' 17" N, 070. 46' 08" W) , a small harbor on the western tip of Martha's Vineyard.
There
are only two moorings in the small harbor and no room to anchor, so you
must call early in the morning to get one. In addition, since they put
up to three boats on a mooring, you will often have neighbors rafted to
your boat. It's a great way to meet new people.
We went
ashore with our fold-up bikes, had a fast lunch, took the bike ferry
across the inlet and pedaled to the lighthouse at the top of the cliffs
at Gay Head. The trip took about 45 minutes with only the last half
mile to steep to pedal.
Returning to the boat we grabbed a
couple of sodas and went exploring the inner ponds. There are three
interconnected ponds accessible to boats with local knowledge. The
waters shallow quickly and based on your draft, are inaccessible at
certain tides. Also each successive pond is shallower and the two inner
ponds are accessible only to small boats. These ponds are quite big and
the round trip in the inflatable took us about an hour, and we never
went into the third pond.
After a nice lobster dinner we
returned to the boat for a third time and found we had two neighbors.
As it turns out, one of the boats was a Hunter 356 just like us owned
by the DiBartolla's (spelling?). We had met them at Sailing Specialties
when we were purchasing our boat. They purchased theirs the same day we
did. It is a small world! They were on the way out for a weeks vacation
to the Cape, while we would be heading back tomorrow.
Next
morning we bid our neighbors farewell exited the pond, as we motored
out of the shadow of Gay's Head, we caught the wind. Turning the motor
off we broad reached first at 4 knots then as the wind freshened, we
were sailing at a solid 6 -6.5 knots in what remained a calm sea. Other
than an occasional manual intervention of the autopilot to miss a
lobster buoy, Helmsly the autopilot, steered the boat all day.
This
has go to be one of the greatest sails we have ever had. Although we
were supposed to stop at Block Island for the night, with a non
favorable weather report for the following day, we just let the boat
sail on auto-pilot past Block Island all the way to Watch Hill Passage
and into Fisher's Island Sound.
By 18:00 we were tied to our dock at Stonington on The River (41. 20' 58" N, 071. 40' 51" W). The end of the Summer Cruise.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 05 July 2007 14:42 |
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