Tuesday, 5 August
The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. Psalm 33:10
Not your run-of-the-mill Chesapeake Bay fog, only Clark Kent can see through this stuff.
The wind was willing, the current fair and an early fog cleared from the harbor in plenty of time to follow the day’s plan: west down Vineyard Sound, through Quick’s Hole and into harbor at Cuttyhunk Island. An easy day of just 15 miles or so.
Holmes Hole Cemetery holds a number of surprises for those who visit.
So Steadfast eased off her mooring, a little later than planned but still with plenty of that three-knot current to make it work. But when she got the two miles to West Chop, there it was. The fog had lifted off the harbor but still laid the full width of Vineyard Sound. The only evidence that Cape Cod even existed was the Woods Hole ferry emerging eerily from a thick smoke gray curtain.
Steadfast returned to harbor and when the Cape came slowly into view tried again, got just past West Chop but the Sound again disappeared in fog.
Since the current had begun to turn east, fog or not, a run to Cutty would wait for another day. Steadfast would spend another night in Vineyard Haven.
Not a bad thing at all, as it turns out.
“Tough but fair,” reads the epitaph.
The image is that of the Underwood used for so many columns.
How many have been inspired by Styron’s dreams?
The lay-over meant time to walk out to West Chop to enjoy the views at the old lighthouse. Holmes Hole Cemetery offered a shady respite along the way and a few surprises, too. Along with those of early residents are stones in memory of four of the island’s more famous summer colonists. Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes”; humorist Art Buchwald; author William Styron (“Sophie’s Choice” among others); and journalist-author John Hersey (“Hiroshima” and “A Bell for Adonno”).
The Vineyard Haven Band has been entertaining Islanders for 150 years.
With the sun going down, the Vineyard Haven Band continued the tradition begun in 1868. Taking the hillside bandstand at Owen Park, it filled the harbor with the music of Mancini, Puccini, John Phillip Sousa and more, closing the concert with a stirring rendition of the national anthem.
This well-cared for beauty got the worst of a collision with a 45-footer.
Oh, and then there was the excitement of seeing Harbormaster, Fire & Rescue and Coast Guard boats all respond to an emergency call off East Chop. The sun was shining out there but apparently not for the crews of two boats that collided. None among the crew of five on a 45’ nor the woman single-handing a 32’ saw the other boat in time. No injuries but the classic wood sloop lost her rig and had to be towed back to her mooring. As the Old Salt was heard to say, “A collision at sea can ruin the whole day.”
This day in Vineyard Haven, two people you may know again planned to sail a small boat the fifteen miles or so westward to the island of Cuttyhunk. God laughed and blessed them in ways unexpected.
Steadfast out.
At Sea with Steadfast 
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