Cuttyhunk in a Fog

[markstephens]

Buzzards Bay was blanketed in fog all day today, as were areas of the Cape and south, I guess. I met six paddlers from RICKA this morning at Gooseberry Island in Westport for their annual club trip to Cuttyhunk. A beach conference regarding the conditions led to consensus that we go, fog or no fog. Hey, great opportunity to work on some nav skills - an eight mile crossing in fog with a 1 knot cross-current to account for. I had a good chart that I had marked some bearings on, and factoring in the current, we decided on a heading. Halfway across we heard, then saw, the #4 Bell about a quarter mile south of us, just where we wanted it to be. A bit later, a ghostly Atlantis appeared shimmering in the mists, then sank back into the Atlantic again, seemingly. Eventually it resurfaced and became recognizable as Cuttyhunk Island. As we approached the harbor, the fog seemed to lift at last and the island basked in a warm late-Spring sunshine.

As our pod of seven boats landed in the harbor, we instantly doubled the population of the island. The noon rush on the hot-dog lady at the "Nashaweiner" stand must have made her numbers for the weekend in one fell swoop. Jonathan and I, both avid fishermen, went over to check out the catch of fat stripers that a group of five guys had just brought in from the Sow and Pigs reef at the southern tip of the island. They had two keepers each, up to 23 pounds and a good 36" long. Most of the group decided to take a walk up the hill after lunch, but I opted to sit with the boats and catch some sun. By the time the group returned, I was very warm and ready for some rolling practice. (Got the one-armed roll on my offside a few times.)

As we headed back for Westport, the fog closed in around us again. The breeze picked up a bit, so I tried a little surfing, but the angle of the waves was off our return course, so I ended up doing a lot of zigzagging across the pod. Jonathan picked up a nice-sized Bluefish, probably around 24". First Blue I've seen this season. When we got back to our put-in after 4PM, the fog was thicker than it had been at 9AM. Undaunted, people were all over the small beach, probably getting sunburns from the UV penetrating the mist.

Trip distance approximately 18 miles.