Friday, July 25– With the current beginning to flood up Vineyard Sound at 6 this morning, I opted to time-trial the clockwise route as far as Cape Poge in case that direction is chosen on August 9th. While NOAA was spot on with the wind forecast to blow from the north-northwest, they were way low on the speed estimate; I’d say it was blowing 12+ knots rather than the forecast 3-5. That meant sloppy onshore seas for the launch at Dogfish bar; with those conditions I saw little point in paddling 3 miles down to the Cliffs, turning around, and paddling 3 miles back…. so opted to just head straight out past the shoals, turn right and aim for Cedar Tree Neck. The current turned out to be nonexistent for the first half hour, and speed with seas on the port bow were in the low 5s….. off Menemsha the GPS started to tick up, and by Menemsha Hills it was consistently over 6, then up to 7, and soon averaging 7.3 as the flood current kicked in. I stayed well offshore yet seas remained sloppy, and approaching Cedar Tree Neck I saw a froth of whitewater ahead so veered even further out into the Sound…. without question that was one of the most confused and chaotic rips I’ve ever paddled through, and it took at least 5 minutes to get by. Thereafter, conditions moderated and off Lake Tashmoo the wind finally diminished to it’s forecast speed, and the sea went almost flat.
While I saw 8+ mph rounding West Chop, I discovered that there’s little favorable current from there to East Chop on the flood, as it’s heading in towards Vineyard Haven instead; speed was 5.5 until I reached the can off East Chop, after which it quickly went up to 6, then 6.5 for the entire leg to Cape Poge. The wind came back up out of the N, as I mercifully beat the start of the TransPac 52 class regatta off Edgartown, and found myself once again in position to shoot a selfie off Cape Poge at 10:10AM. 23.4 miles in 3:42, 6.3 mph average, 9.4 max. After a break onshore for glucose check (110) and PB&J sandwich, I paddled back to Edgartown for a trip total of 27.8 miles in 4:35.
This was a valuable outing in that it confirmed I can make 7+ mph with the current in Vineyard Sound, even punching into moderate headwinds and seas; hopefully this will hold true for the counter-clockwise route as well. Should the wind be southwest on August 9th I’ll opt for that direction, and no doubt encounter headwinds going down Vineyard Sound towards Aquinnah in the afternoon– but with a similarly strong ebb current underneath me heading in the same direction!