One of those New England names that are almost surely from one or another of the pre-Columbian tribal languages, but whose exact origin is murky at best. It is a small island, but one that lives large in the history of recreational saltwater fishing for the exceptional striped bass fishery in the local area. It is a small village with a summer population of a few hundred, and a winter population of less than a dozen, which I guess makes it a contender for the ultimate summer town.

Arriving at Cuttyhunk

We had an easy overnight sail up from Long Island arriving at Cuttyhunk Harbor just after daybreak in light fog where we were greeted by an unusual sight. At anchor in the outer harbor was the 108 foot topsail schooner Shenandoah. Built in 1964 she serves as a cruise and training ship traveling the local islands. She has the distinction of being the only vessel of her type in the world navigating without any form of mechanical propulsion. She goes by the wind, or doesn’t go. Now she does cheat a bit… Look closely at the photo and you will see a small boat hanging on the stern with a greatly oversized propeller. Something I am sure is used as a tug when she needs to get into or out of tight spots.

The moorings in the outer harbor here at Cuttyhunk are an unusual design that are the easiest to use we have come across in our travels. The anchor line passes through the center of the float and ends in a loop that is supported on a tube about 4 feet out of the water. Easy to reach from the deck, no contortions or boat hook needed.

Mooring Field Follies

After an overnight sail, we settled in for a bit of a morning nap, arising around lunchtime, we were treated to the entertainment of other boat’s arrivals.

First up was a shiny new Beneteau Oceanis 54, a boat that is supposed to be the newest and best cruising boat that Beneteau can build. They left out something… There seems to be no good way to tie to the mooring without the mooring line chafing on the anchoring gear. The captain even lowered the anchor into the water in an attempt to limit the swinging of the boat back and forth, but even in the light winds here it was not enough. As the boat sailed back and forth, the ground tackle sawed on the mooring lines.

Cruising boats typically spend a lot of time anchored or on moorings. this is not an area where compromises should be made.

Next up was a crowd of four adults and four children all jam-packed into a dinghy for the trip from shore to the moored boat. It really would not have taken very long to make two trips. This is ridiculously (and dangerously) overloaded. The only good thing I can say, is it looks like the kids and women have lifejackets on. Something that seems to be too wimpy for the manly-men onboard.

To understand the next act of the afternoon follies you have to see a chart of Cuttyhunk Outer Harbor.

The mooring fields are roughly outlined in green. The red circle marks “Pease Ledge,” a hard rocky ledge that is submerged at high tide but is well exposed at low. Here is a picture of the ledge just poking through the surface at about half tide behind our own Harmonie:

At high tide, the catamaran to the right of the photo tried to approach apparently without looking at the chart (or maybe not understanding what it was showing?) and fetched up hard on the rocks–that were then underwater–to the sound of grinding fiberglass. They did manage to get off without much trouble, but still not a good look…

More to Follow…

I’ll be posting up a video tour of Cuttyhunk Harbor within the next week. Tomorrow morning we are up early to weigh anchor at about 6AM so we can catch the north flowing tidal current in the Cape Cod Canal. Our target for tomorrow is to be anchored by early afternoon in Barnstable Harbor on the north side of Cape Cod.