Conference vicki::boats

851.0. "Buzzards Bay/Memorial Day fun" by BOSTON::DAGOSTINO () Tue Jun 04 1991 17:57

    Share your experience of Buzzards Bay navigation here!
    
    I recently motored down to Nantucket for Memorial Day weekend in my
    33ft Cruisers Inc. Ultra Vee and had fun exiting the Cape Cod Canal - 
    at night...
    
    If you'll remember the Friday before Labor Day was a posh 75 degrees
    with no wind. Seeing a beautiful day to depart I hooked up the Loran,
    punched in my course, met my buddies and off to Nantucket!! (via
    Hyannis) Well, after a few delays we didn't leave Boston Harbor until
    4:00pm. By the time we got the Loran figured out (first time using the
    new unit - Apleco Loran-See 6800), gassed up and hit the open water we
    found ourselves at the mouth of the Canal at 9:00pm! Seeing the wind
    had picked up considerably, the trip took a tad longer. Going through
    the canal and coming out in Buzzards Bay, in the pitch dark, wasn't as
    scary as the 6 foot waves that met us at the end of the last marker
    going toward Woods Hole. After 15 minutes of vertical (as in front to
    back) pitching we found ourselves on a steep pitch. The next wave buried
    the boat in water up to the top deck (about 7 feet off the water).
    An illumination of the spotlight revealed the waves are now 10 feet!
    
    A quick call to the Coast Guard (and a prayer) says the waves are 10-12
    feet all the way to Woods Hole, and, the Woods Hole passage is closed
    because boats were getting blown into the rocks.
    
    Deciding to turn around was unanimous, however please remember, you
    can't turn on a dime in 10ft waves. I waited for the next sizable gap
    and gunned around. I noted a following sea is best handled zig-zagging
    and controlling the throttles so as not to pitch pole.
    
    Returning to the canal surprise #2 arrived. The Coast Guard pull up and
    announce they will board. Once aboard (it took them 10 minutes because
    they insisted I keep moving) they did a routine inspection. Luckily I
    was all prepared. They could have been really mean but I'll hand it to
    them, they were just doing their jobs. To make a long story short we 
    holed up in the Sandwich Marina and got to Nantucket safely the next 
    day (but returned in the fog).
    
    I always knew the water was rough on the West end of the canal and I 
    may have kept going if the passage wasn't closed - but never at night.
    
    Thank God I wasn't in a sailboat - God Bless Cruisers Inc!!
    
    Regards
    
    Joe D.

    Hi Joe...
    
    If you'd kept your 17' Grady instead of buying that gas guzzler, you'd
    never get into situations like that :-)
    
    Seriously, I'm convinced that 30' and vicinity is a problematic length
    for a boat.  Big enough that it'll handle most typical conditions, but
    so easy to forget that the 8' seas it can handle are but a fraction
    of what can really get thrown at you.

    Well Joe, your note convinces me of two things. Never accept an
    invitation to go boating with you and warn the FAA never to issue you a
    pilots license!
    
    You need to thank more than Crusiers, Inc for your survival.
    

    The West End of the Cape Cod Canal can be quite brutal at times.
    We keep our 38 footer at Kingman Marine [Just on the other side of
    Wing's Neck] and know what it's like to be stuck in those kinds of
    seas.  The prevailing SouthWest and the outbound tide from the
    Canal can meet and make for some tremendous swells.  They tend to
    be steep and short.  Not a good mixture for relaxed boating.
    You're lucky you were able to turn around; it can be quite a 
    nerve-racking experience.  I'd hate to capsize and have to swim
    in those kinds of seas.  That's why we tend not to go out when the wind
    is over 15-20 knots from the SW.  
    
    John

    >>>That's why we tend not to go out when the wind
    >>>is over 15-20 knots from the SW.  
    
    
    Doesn't that cover most of the Summer?  :-)
    

            RE: 2
    
    Never accept an invitation?? oooh that was low... I guess I'll have to
    thank my piloting skill AND Cruisers Inc :^)
    
    re FAA, I beat you to it have private pilots license for a while...
    
    
    DUCK!!!
    
    JD