We knew Tuesday morning would be a little wild, with 15-20 knots of wind on our nose and plenty of thunderstorms to add a little excitement. The forecast for the afternoon was much better: Once we got through the Cape Cod Canal, we knew the wind would come from a direction that would let us sail right down to Martha's Vineyard. As things turned out, we were surprised at every turn!

We left Provincetown at 6 am. When we rounded the lighthouse and turned toward our destination, we were hit with the full force of the wind and waves. We were rocking and rolling, but mostly hobby-horsing: The bow was pitching way up and then smacking down with each big wave. That continued for about a half hour and then a little miracle happened. In spite of the 15 knots of wind on our nose, the sea laid itself down and formed a smooth carpet. It made no sense to Tim, Russell or me. We each knew from our sailing experience that wind blowing for 20 hours across 20 miles of open water at 15-20 knots will produce waves of 2-3 feet or more. Instead, we had waves of no more than 1 foot. We still don't understand that.

We watched the radar and saw two large storms that would be crossing our path. As it turned out, the larger of the two storms passed a little to our north as we headed south. The other, more southern storm ran out into the Atlantic before we could catch up with it. After four hours underway, dodging storms, we were amazed that all we had to show for it were a few drops of rain.

My friend Dave Snell is vacationing in Cape Cod this week and suggested I give him a call when Options was going through the Cape Cod Canal so he could bring his family down to see the boat and wave as we went by. Dave's timing was flawless! He pulled into the parking lot just as we were coming down the canal. However, as they got out of the car, the heavens opened up with a drenching downpour. We waved back from under the protection of our bimini and side screens. As soon as we passed, the rain stopped as suddenly as it had started. So much for flawless timing!

The big surprise still awaited us. Tim had been reading one of the cruising guide books to find out more about the Cape Cod Canal Some trivia: It is the widest sea-level canal in the world. The book went on to tell about how rough the waters can be when a strong current is flowing southwest out of the canal and there is a strong wind coming up out of the southwest: Strong wind against strong current can whip up some vicious waves.

As it turned out, we were flying through the canal with 4 knots of current carrying us to the southwest, right into the teeth of a 20 knot southwest wind. Arrghh! After 20,000 miles of cruising aboard Options, I thought I had been through some pretty rough water, but these waves were the worst. We were tossed around like we were in a washing machine. One moment, we we'd be moving at six knots. The next moment, after being bashed in the nose by a wave or two, we were crawling forward at 3 knots. The beating continued for about 30 minutes, until we could get out of the canal, veer away from the wind and lose some of the current.

But there's more. We had wisely reefed the mainsail, seeing 20 knots of wind in the forecast. The first reef reduces the main's sail area by about 20-25% and makes it safe to sail in winds up to 25 knots. We raised sails after exiting the maelstrom and were instantly greeted by 20-25 knots of wind. We had a romp through rough seas, tacking back and forth into the wind because Wood's Hole, our next target, was a little upwind of where we could reach with the sails pulled in tight. There was another sailboat going the same direction, so we of course were racing them. Sad to say, the sailboat, not being a catamaran, was able to sail directly to Wood's Hole without having to tack, and beat us by a mile.

We dropped sail before threading our way through the Wood's Hole channel. This channel can be treacherous, with sideways currents pushing you out of the narrow channel carved through the rocks. Traffic was mercifully light. Between our three pairs of eyes and the chartplotter that shows which direction the boat is actually going (it can be very different than the direction the boat is pointing, due to wind and current), we had an easy time of it.

Coming out of Wood's Hole, we had 20-25 knots of wind on our starboard quarter (i.e., wind coming from the right rear corner of the boat). We unleashed the fabled Code Zero sail, our downwind "screecher" or "gennaker", and took off. In fact, we had so much wind at first, I was worried it was beyond the boat's capacity. The wind must have been squeezed and accelerated as it came through Wood's Hole, but it soon died down to 15-20 knots as we got into the thick of Vineyard Sound. We relaxed and enjoyed a comfortable downwind sail, surfing the waves as they passed under us and dodging the occasional ferry.

As we approached the top of Martha's Vineyard, we spied another sailboat about a mile inshore of us. They also seemed to be headed to Edgartown, so the race was on. We were flying downwind, drawing ever closer. As we approached the final turn towards Edgartown, we were breathing down their necks. We could see the fear in their body language. Then, they cheated! As they made their final turn onto a beam reach (wind coming from the side of the boat), they raised their mainsail and left us in the dust. Raising our main would have required some effort and made no sense for the short distance remaining. So we went 0 for 2 on the racing card for the day.

We had a pleasant evening in Edgartown, hooking up to a mooring around 4 pm and heading in for a walkabout and dinner around 6 pm. Later that evening, Russell was checking the upcoming weather and figured out that we should leave for New York City first thing the Wednesday morning: The forecast showed we could face winds up to 30 knots on the nose if we left as planned on Thursday morning.

David

P.S. The picture is of the downwind romp through Vineyard Sound.