On 3/23/2015 8:02 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 18:01:50 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

I am familiar enough with Cape Cod Bay, the Cape Cod Canal and most of
Buzzard's Bay that I could navigate without charts or chartplotters in
the daytime. Going through Wood's Hole to get out to the Vineyard or
Nantucket can be dicey for the inexperienced though. The first time I
did it with the Navigator I noticed the ferry that runs from New Bedford
out to Martha's Vineyard was approaching at the same time I was. I just
slowed down and let it enter first ... and then just followed it
through. There are two narrow channels you can take halfway through.
Between them is a big pile of rocks. Every year you hear of at least
one boat that ran up on them, punching holes in the hull. I'd see them
every summer at Kingman Yacht Center where they would be towed, hauled
and repaired.

===

There is also a big operation in New Bedford Harbor called Fairhaven
Shipyard. They almost always have one or two boats that have been
severely holed (no pun intended).

Woods Hole can be a scary place even with good visibility and an
excellent chartplotter. The hazzards come up at you quickly and look
nothing like the chart unless you are familiar with the area. A 10 ft
tall buoy throwing a 3 ft wake is an awesome sight. To make life
really interesting, one of the channels has a cross current as I
recall, and it's not unusual to encounter small boats fishing right in
the middle. I always have my course plotted out in advance on both
the Furuno and a laptop.


I only transited through Wood's Hole (and back) 3 times that I can
remember and all were with the Navigator. Each time I exhaled with
relief after making it through. It's no big deal to the locals and
fishing types that do it all the time. I never tried it with the
underpowered Grand Banks. Didn't have the gonads. It had a tough time
transiting the Cape Cod Canal if the current was against us but it is
wide and deep. :-)