Pages

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Days 32-35, August 1-3. Martha and Cape Cod

We've learned how to effectively trim the boat so she sails herself mostly. We tie the tiller to one side with an adjustable knot, and a bungee cord to the other, and she just keeps going. With variations in the wind she'll head a little upwind or down, so we often make little adjustments, or to dodge a lobster buoy. It makes for easy sailing.

From Cuttyhunk east, through Woods Hole and across to Martha's Vineyard. While looking for a place to anchor for the night, a motorboat came up to us and offered an un-used mooring ball. Yay! So we stayed two nights, spending a day riding the island busses around while occasionally stepping off to ride bicycles to points of interest.

We folded the bikes to board the ferry to Chappaquiddick which saved $4, as they were now 'luggage' instead of 'bicycles'. Lunch at a pricy cafe (everything on the island is marked up). At Gay Head we joined the throngs to look out at the tall clay cliffs and lighthouse. Then down to the bicycle ferry at Chilmark, then back on the bus to Tisbury and our floating home in Tashmoo lake.


From here we mis-read the tide charts and bucked a very strong current through the cut at Woods Hole to get into the quiet waters of Buzzards Bay. At times the engine was at max with our speed at only half a knot.

But we got the right tide for the Cape Cod Canal, and flushed through early saturday morning at up to 7.3 knots. Cape Cod Bay offered us great sailing with a nice quartering tailwind. Thunderheads were building and winds more erratic so we ducked into New River Inlet, south of Scituate for the night. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Days 36-38, August 4-6. Homeward bound

Exiting the New River near low is rather exciting. The whole estuary funnels through a narrow channel and can reach high speeds with rapids...