Martha’s Vineyard

Thursday, 31 July

Morning sun gave rise to hopes for a good sail.

At 0900, there’s just enough wind to ripple the waters of Mattapoisett Harbor and, with that, to suggest there may be enough to fill sails, too. So while Little Red sleeps in, the main is hoisted, Steadfast swings to starboard and moves slowly off her mooring. The genny unfurls, she tacks to port and quietly sails out of the harbor on a heading of about 160 magnetic.

Even reefed, she sails well with the new Ullman genny.

The light so’westerly—maybe 12 knots, that’s all—let’s her carry that tack all the way across Buzzards Bay, nearly to the Cape Cod shore. (BTW, the new benny from Latell Sails in Deltaville makes all the difference!)  Another couple of tacks take her close enough to Woods Hole to make it prudent to rouse Red. She answers the call, providing the push that Steadfast needs to handle the tricky current that boils through the passage to Vineyard Sound.

Flying everything but the bedsheets, Shenandoah didn’t slow despite her main mast spearing the clouds.

There’s traffic through there but the big girls, the ferries that shuttle back and forth to the islands, are still at the steamship pier or out on the Sound when Steadfast slips through. Rips through is more like it, her speed over the bottom topping out at more than nine knots.  Once through Woods Hole, the current keeps going. So does the traffic. Multi-million-dollar mega-yachts, T-tops, tall ships and, of course, the ferries.

How does the island not sink under the weight of tourists, trucks and cars that come all day long?

It’s a real kick to see Steadfast among them, close-hauled up Vineyard Sound at seven-plus knots. That tack carries all the way to East Chop where she turns to sail into Vineyard Haven for the night.

The cast iron East Chop Light marks the Oak Bluff side of Vineyard Haven.

By the time she’s passed the breakwater that marks the inner harbor, she’s put another 19 miles under her keel, all but a couple under full sail.

That was a great suggestion the wind made this morning, to raise sail. Two days in a row now.

A crew could get used to this.

Steadfast out.