# Circumnavigating Cape Cod



## zazen (Jul 10, 2008)

I am sailing my modified Thunderbird 26 footer around Cape Cod at the end of next week (July 17 08) Id like any advice I can get about anchoring at the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal (south side) Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket. I'd particularly like to talk to anyone who has 1st hand experience. My boat draws about 6 ft. Id like to be not too far from facilities. ZaZen is the Boats name. Im looking for no cost anchorages with some protection from at least the S\SW.

Thanks a lot


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## pedrodelrio (Nov 18, 2007)

Canal runs east west. You can get into Onset Harbor on the west end of the Canal with 6 feet and anchor there. Nice town with one of everything--grocery story, hardware, four or five eateries. You can fuel at Onset Bay Marina.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Onset harbor is probably your best bet right off the canal. Be aware a six-foot draft will be a bit dicey in much of Buzzards Bay's smaller harbors and anchorages. A better choice would be to go out a bit further and head over to Bassetts Island on the eastern side of Buzzards Bay, in Pocasset/RedBrook harbor.

Another good stop would be Tarpaulin Cove on the southeast side of Nashuon, one of the Elizabeth Islands. Tarpaulin Cove is a good choice if the wind is out of the north or west, horrible if it is out of the south or east. 

A bit further out, Cuttyhunk Harbor is fairly well protected from the southwestly to easterly winds. A bit less well protected from others, especially a northwest wind. Cuttyhunk Pond is very well protected, but fills up very quickly in the summertime. 

If the wind is from the southwest through eastern directions, Menemsha Bight, outside of Menemsha harbor proper is a pretty good anchorage. It is totally unprotected to the northerly winds though. 

If you're going through Woods Hole, Hadley Harbor is fairly well sheltered. South of Bull Island should be okay for a boat with your draft. Personally, I wouldn't go through Wood's Hole. The amount of traffic and the relatively strong currents can make it a PITA. I would go further out along the Elizabeth Islands and cut through Quicks Hole instead. 

Lake Tashmoo might be a bit tight for you, but once you're in, the southern end of the lake should be okay. Vineyard Haven is easier to get in and out of, but you do have to contend with the ferry traffic there. 

Edgartown Harbor is good if the wind is out of the south or west. If the wind is out of the north, you'd probably want to go into Cape Poge Bay, on the eastern side of Edgartown harbor. Again, your draft will be an issue in some spots. 

Nantucket harbor can be a problem with your draft, especially if you're anchoring further in on the eastern side... where shoaling is an issue. 

Southern side of Cape Cod can be a nasty lee shore in a SW wind. Also, many of the harbors are going to have issues with your draft. 

Don't know what fees are like this year...but I've heard Nantucket is charging an arm and a leg...


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## sailingfool (Apr 17, 2000)

Nowadays not too many of us sailors get to traverse the outside of Cape Cod, historically referred as the "graveyard of the Atlantic". I guess that trip can serve as a bit of an adventure, just remember that thousands of extremely experienced sailors have found that passge to be their last.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Swing south and well clear of Monomoy Island and its associated shoals.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

sailingfool said:


> Nowadays not too many of us sailors get to traverse the outside of Cape Cod, historically referred as the "graveyard of the Atlantic". I guess that trip can serve as a bit of an adventure, just remember that thousands of extremely experienced sailors have found that passge to be their last.


With all due respect, I beg to differ.

graveyard of the atlantic - Google Search

As you will see in the results, the museum, the park service, etc, etc, etc, all say it is the area off Cape Hatteras, NC.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Actually, several places, including Cape Hatteras, *Cape Cod *and *Sable Island* all claim that title. Cape Hatteras probably has the most press and such since it is the most recent of them. Cape Cod and Sable Island were claiming ships before Cape Hatteras was discovered.

*Sable Island*:



> For many sailors, this sandy island hidden by waves, storms and fog meant death and destruction. Since 1583 there have been over 350 recorded shipwrecks on Sable Island. The map shows locations of known wrecks.


*Cape Cod*:










*Cape Hatteras*:



> The treacherous waters that lie off the coast of the Outer Banks bear the name *Graveyard of the Atlantic*. It is a grim, but fitting, epithet, for here more than 600 ships have wrecked, victims of shallow shoals, storms, and war. Diamond Shoals, a bank of shifting sand ridges hidden beneath a turbulent sea off Cape Hatteras, has never promised safe passage for any ship. But seafarers often risked the shoals to take advantage of north or south flowing currents that passed nearby. Many never reached their destination. Fierce winter nor'easters and tropical-born hurricanes drove many ships aground, including the schooner _G.A. Kohler_ (shown at left) in 1933. Other ships were lost in wars. During World War II German submarines sank so many Allied tankers and cargo ships here that these waters earned a second sobering name - *Torpedo Junction*. In the past 400 years the graveyard has claimed many lives. But many were saved by island villagers. As early as the 1870s villagers served as members of the U.S. Life Saving Service. Others manned lighthouses built to guide mariners. Later, when the U.S. Coast Guard became the guardians of the nation's shores, many residents joined its ranks. When rescue attempts failed, villagers buried the dead and salvaged shipwreck remains. Today few ships wreck, but storms still uncover the ruins of old wrecks that lie along the beaches of the Outer Banks.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

3000!!! OK, you win - your sailing grounds are even nastier than ours. 

But this weekend I am hoping to sail in the largest lagoon on the East coast of the US...


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## CBinRI (May 17, 2004)

I seem to recall that one of the sailing mags had an article in the last month or two about a guy who tried to circumnavigate the Cape on a tri. Had all kinds of trouble with unfavorable winds and tried to reverse direction, only to have the winds shift and he gave up.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Mind you, all of this is not to say that circumnavigating Cape Cod isn't possible. It is, but it should be done with the fact that even though you're relatively near land, these waters can be very, very treacherous.  One sailing school I know, where my friend is an instructor, does their equivalent of the ASA 105 course by circumnavigating Cape Cod.


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## christyleigh (Dec 17, 2001)

CBinRI said:


> I seem to recall that one of the sailing mags had an article in the last month or two about a guy who tried to circumnavigate the Cape on a tri. Had all kinds of trouble with unfavorable winds and tried to reverse direction, only to have the winds shift and he gave up.


Yup... the winds on the shores of New England follow the old saw about the weather - If you don't like the weather in New England just wait a minute  Sailing in New England is challenging to say the least with the many capes and islands squirting the tides around and funneling the winds every day .... and sometimes every hour .... is a new adventure.


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## SailKing1 (Feb 20, 2002)

Actually the earliest recorded shipwreck of cape Hatteras was this one.

The _Tiger_, a British ship of Sir Richard Grenville's expedition, was the first known unfortunate vessel, wrecking here in June 1585.

There are over a thousand "documented" vessels shipwrecked of the cape. Not sure what the "approximate" number is. Many more undocumented do to piracy. Blackbeard was known to walk a nag with a lantern around it's neck up and down the coast causing ships to believe it was the light and they would run aground. Hence the name Nags Head.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

SailKing1 said:


> Actually the earliest recorded shipwreck of cape Hatteras was this one.
> 
> The _Tiger_, a British ship of Sir Richard Grenville's expedition, was the first known unfortunate vessel, wrecking here in June 1585.
> 
> There are over a thousand "documented" vessels shipwrecked of the cape. Not sure what the "approximate" number is. Many more undocumented do to piracy. Blackbeard was known to walk a nag with a lantern around it's neck up and down the coast causing ships to believe it was the light and they would run aground. Hence the name Nags Head.


and Jockey's Ridge...

I have heard that one also.


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## christyleigh (Dec 17, 2001)

Oh.. ya... one more bit of strangeness Cape Cod throws at the sailor. The area directly below the cape and above Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket is kind of like an East - West channel. Well..... the basic lump of water carried by the moon from East to West doesn't go East to West below the cape - it goes around Nantucket and MV and flows WEST to EAST below Cape Cod after flooding around MV  Tide Charts - Don't Leave Home Without It


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Stan-

That would be Nantucket Sound.  Tide charts are a necessity, especially if you're going to go through Woods Hole.


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## jimmalkin (Jun 1, 2004)

SD has pretty much covered the harbors and other bases here. Bring an Eldridge for tidal information and current diagrams - very important to keep aware. And despite the furor over the "graveyard of the Atlantic" - we go outside of the Cape several times a year and have lovely calm waters from the lee of the Cape - be aware of your weather and forecasts and stay away from anything with E in it. Leave enough time and know the currents will impact your SOG. Also know that heading from the E into Pollack Rip with the current while against a strong SW'erly blowing into your face is a very long pounding journey and to my experience is not sailable with 6 feet or more draft as you'd have to continually short tack in the narrow channel and its surrounding shoals. If you don't have clean fuel and a reliable engine and filters, better to anchor off the beach to the north of Chatham until the SW settles down during the night. This assumes you are circumnavigating clockwise...


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