{"id":4068,"date":"2024-08-09T07:42:27","date_gmt":"2024-08-09T11:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/?p=4068"},"modified":"2024-10-09T06:34:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T10:34:16","slug":"the-inner-part-of-the-outer-banks-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/?p=4068","title":{"rendered":"Overnight Sail to Provincetown"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Originally, we’d planned to sail outside of the Cape to get to Provincetown. However, with weather forcasts changing constantly due to the effects of tropical storm Debby, we decided to take the inside route in order to have places to bug out if things were to get unpleasant. There’s nowhere to stop on the outside route.<\/p>

By cutting through the Woods Hole Gap instead of rounding the entire stretch of the Elizabeth Islands protruding soutwest from the base of Cape Cod, we were able to shave 20 NM off of the route. However, this passage is notorious for dangerous rip currents and has sharp rocks on both sides. In fact, shortly after we went through we heard distress calls from a boat that was taking on water, presumably from hitting rocks. The coast guard and a local tow boat were able to assist so we didn’t have to turn back for a rescue.<\/p>

Anyway, back to our trip. In order to make this passage at the 0730 slack tide (moment of no current between ebb and flow tides), the safest time, we had to leave Nantucket in the middle of the night. In our last blog, we mentioned how complicated the docking was in Nantucket with the wind pinning us to a leeward dock that was above our deck. We set everything up before dark and practiced our plan. We would run a spring line from the bow aft around a piling. Dan would put the engine in forward. The spring line would hopefully keep us from moving forward and crashing into Sugar, a fancy motoryacht just in front of us.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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It would allow the stern to swing away from the dock. We would then release the spring line and back out, threading the needle between other boats and pilings, with wind blowing us and no visibility.<\/span><\/p>

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Piece of cake, right? Well you know what they say about the best laid plans. The wind caused the stern to swing very slowly and when Dan told Sandy to keep the spring line on longer, the noise caused her to hear that it was time to release it. So we had to do a U-turn in a fairway that was hardly longer than the boat, with wind, boats all around to hit and no visibility. Yikes! Somehow, we managed to achieve this with a lot of help from prop walk (the sideways motion the spinning propeller causes when the boat is nearly stopped) and the bow thruster (a powerful propeller mounted sideways on the bow).<\/span><\/p>

Sandy was stationed on the bow with a searchlight, giving instructions to Dan at the helm, as we dodged a busy mooring field to get into the main channel out of Nantucket Harbor. All ended well and we were rewarded with a starry sky as we made our way westward through the Nantucket Sound.<\/span><\/p>

Much of the way, we were within a few boat lengths of a trawler that was night fishing. It eventually passed us and veered southwest as we veered northeast towards the Woods Hold Gap. The timing worked well and we made it through the gap with little current to push us toward the rocks.<\/span><\/p>

It also allowed us to transit the Cape Cod Canal, an 18 NM canal separating Cape Cod from the mainland, with 4.5 knots of favorable current.<\/span><\/p>

Crossing the Cape Cod Bay was uneventful other than a few lobster traps to dodge, and a thud we heard on exiting the canal. We were in deep water so we’re thinking we might have rubbed shoulders with a submerged whale.<\/span><\/p>

Finally around 1430 we put into Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. We were assigned to a dock that was exposed to the open bay. With waves and wind coming from offshore, we were again pinned to the dock and the wave motion kept lifting our fenders above the dock putting the hull at risk of rubbing.<\/span><\/p>

We negotiated with the marina for a more protected dock, especially with big winds expected tonight from tropical storm Debby. Thanks to our stubborn persistance, a more protected slip was assigned to us so we moved Fregata before finally settling in.<\/span><\/p>

We took a long walk in Provincetown. This region is meaningful for Dan. As a young child, his spent most summer vacations here and he is anxious to show it to Sandy. More on Provincetown and the Outer Cape in upcoming blogs!<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOur trawler companion\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWoods Hold Gap... be careful!\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPilgrims Monument in P'town\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tP'town fishing fleet\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIf you can't find what you need here, you won't find it\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>Prev<\/span><\/span>Previous<\/span>There Once Was a Man from Nantucket<\/span><\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tNext<\/span>Biking the Province Lands<\/span><\/span><\/path><\/svg>Next<\/span><\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In order to time passage of the Cape Cod Canal to avoid fighting 4-5 knots of current we left Nantucket in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2024-florida-to-maine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4068"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4583,"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4068\/revisions\/4583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sailingfregata.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}