Friends, we are extraordinarily fortunate to have a first-hand account from Dana Gaines of his paddle around Marthas Vineyard to help finance the effort to move back the Gay Head Lighthouse from the eroding cliffs on which the tower stands. With Danas story come splendid photographs taken by Tad Thomspon aboard the powerboat JUNO out of Menemsha, which accompanied Dana on the first half of his kayak trip around the Island: Heres what Dana tells us of his trip two days ago (August 9, 2014), which he accomplished in less than nine hours, breaking his previous record of a year or so ago. (Dana begins his trip under the Gay Head Cliffs. He heads east along the Atlantic-South Beach shoreline of the Vineyard, rounds Wasque Point at the southeastern elbow of Chappaquiddick, paddles along Chappy (East Beach), rounds Cape Pogue, paddles west to East and West Chops, then catches a fair tide up Vineyard Sound to the Gay Head Lighthouse at Aquinnah. Its a total of about fifty-two miles.): In a nutshell, the wind was so light all day that it provided neither assistance nor impediment; progress was a little slower in the Atlantic than predicted, for reasons I still dont understand. . . . [T]he tide shift at Wasque occurred a little earlier than expected, and was just beginning to run against me when I rounded the [Wasque] Point, delaying my arrival at Cape Poge until 10:30. However, from there on to the finish I knew the tide would work in my favor; while it was still slow progress, dodging the 12-Meter racers and onwards to Oak Bluffs, once off East Chop the ebb current kicked in and I had a virtual conveyor belt all the way to Aquinnah. Once past the rip at West Chop and slop southeast of Middle Ground, the Sound turned into a virtual mill pond and I made 7.5 m.p.h. (vs. my usual 5.5) the whole way to Aquinnah. Total distance was 52.48 miles, start-to-finish time 9 hours and 14 minutes (including the break at Cape Poge), and total paddling time 8 hours 51 minutes. Here is an initial set of pictures from Tad Thomson. The first one shows Dana departing Aquinnah at 5:30 a.m, August 9, 2014; the second, rounding Wasque Point at Chappaquiddick four hours later; the third, approaching the finish line back at the Gay Head light at 2:30 p.m. Around the Island by kayak in less than nine hours, paddling all the way!
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 21:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015