Onward to Cutty Hunk Island and The town of Gosnold, MA, the smallest in Massachusetts with 120 registered voters. I had some work commitments in the morning to tend to while Scott checked the weather. He made a determination that we had a short window before heavy south easterly winds were estimated to kick in.
We have had trouble before entering Buzzards Bay from Onset with a combination of wind from the south, against tidal currents running through the narrow channel causing a choppy wind over wave sea state and an uncomfortable ride.
The departure timing of 11 AM was a bit in conflict with my work and we had a difficult but doable ride through the channel. Once we were in the Bay the confused sea state and steady 15 knot winds (gusts over 20) made for a sporty ride. We had a double reef in the main and a double in the jib and were easily making between 6 and 7 knots without the motor. The only issue was our Cutty Hunk way point was directly into the south easterly winds. We had to tack at a 40-degree apparent wind angle into the wind against current which lengthened the trip.
We tacked to a point just north of Woods Hole to east and then to the western shore near Mattapoisett and then back again to a point just south of Woods Hole. It really felt like we were making no progress, and we contemplated giving up and heading for Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard. On the last tack the wind shifted slightly making for a more favorable sail tack in the lee of the Elizabeth Island chain. We were able to make better forward progress as the seas calmed a bit. All-in-all the 23 NM trip turned into 35 NM and a bit of a wild ride.
The green and red channel markers to Cutty Hunk were a welcomed sight. We went through the normal process of bringing in the sails, but didn’t ease the main enough to depower the sail and the roller furling line jumped the winch. This meant that Scott had to get on deck and manually crank in the Main Sail. Crisis averted.
It was the first time we had been in Cutty Hunk in June and the Harbor was virtually empty, with a multitude of mooring choices. Scott selected the perfect mooring after tying to 3 different locations. The daily raw bar service was a nice reward to the long-day and we feasted on clam chowder, oysters and shrimp and a celebratory bottle of wine from the Azores.
One of the things that I love about sailing is that conditions can make the journey challenging and tense at times. It doesn’t matter that things happen, all that matters is that you deal with it and move on. What a great metaphor for life…….
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