By Ted Bardasz
After learning about the Cape Cod Canal currents and navigation in Geoff Rand’s ASA 105 course, and then sailing the Canal with BSC Instructor Jonathan Kannair in the ASA 106 course, I just wanted to get back through the Canal on my own. One reason was to sail the canal with my wife Patty, who I knew would love it too. We were intrigued about sailing to Buzzards Bay, since we had been reading about the Bay, the islands, and the harbor. We wanted to challenge ourselves to plan and execute the whole trip.
I traded several emails with Jonathan Kannair, from the planning stage to the actual cruise week, and then a recap at the end of the week. There were several aspects of the planning and execution that I’m sure many can relate to, or may prove useful to those planning to sail this or a similar route later. I’ll try to make this a fun, easy read, capturing what I think might be interesting parts we discussed.
We booked Morgan, a Jeanneau 349 (with a 6′ 5″ draft – relevant later, for sure), from Thursday, July 16th to Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026.
The Initial Float Plan
So the Float Plan was pretty straightforward: Thursday was BSC to Scituate (EZ Rider), Friday to Sandwich (Harbor of Refuge), Saturday through the Canal to Cataumet (Parker’s Boat Yard), Sunday to Marion, Monday back through the Canal to Sandwich, Tuesday to Scituate, Wednesday back to BSC.
The crew was my wife, Patty, and me. We’re both bareboat certified and have done seven, one-week charters locally, in the BVIs, and Grenada over the past seven years. For the first two days of this cruise week, we had my brother-in-law Mike and his wife, June. Mike has done some sailing and is pretty solid under instruction. The plan was to drop them off in Sandwich and pick up a friend, Steve, who has sailed multiple BSC cruise weeks with us.
For the Canal transit on Saturday, July 18th, we checked Eldridge’s Tide and Pilot Book. In order to have a favorable westerly current on exit and back into Buzzards Bay, we’d have to leave Sandwich at about 5 am (Eldridge says current turns to East at RR Bridge at 7:18 am).
We checked the forecast for the Saturday afternoon; there was going to be a westerly wind with an ebb tide. However, we then read that the predominantly Southwesterly winds of Buzzards Bay can interact with the opposing current and create chop. This can also lead to large standing waves, if severe enough. I emailed Jonathan, and he replied (even though he was on a Coastal Passage Making Course at the time), and he seconded our thinking. We decided leaving the next morning was a better decision to ensure a smooth transit and exit.
We also had a great call with a fellow BSC Member, Tony Thompson (referred by Jonathan), on how to approach Parker’s Boatyard in Cataumet. We heard the harbor can be a little windy and narrow, with some stories of groundings. The key element of the route was to go around the North Side of Bassets Island, and Tony took us through buoy by buoy, emphasizing where to be careful to avoid grounding. We also called Parker’s Boatyard, who confirmed the route as more preferable, and also added: “With a six and a half foot draft, you should come in when it is mid-tide, or higher.” The BSC Cruising Guide says “…a boat drawing eight feet should be able to get in and out of the north channel if the tide is halfway up and rising.”
Weather and the Revised Plan
As our cruise week departure day approached, the forecast called for thunderstorms on Saturday, lasting through Sunday morning. We checked for hotels in Cataumet, since we didn’t want to be moored for six to eight hours of rain and thunderstorms. There wasn’t much available, so we started to look at staying in Sandwich another day and delaying the Canal transit until Sunday. Not much there to be had on short notice during peak season. We ended up calling some friends in Marston Mills, and they offered to come by, pick us up, and stay over to miss the storm.
We decided to skip the short run into Buzzards Bay and back, especially with short windows for the return due to current timing, even though it was very tempting. We opted to go to Plymouth as we made our way back. We hadn’t sailed there yet, and we’ve always enjoyed Plymouth for day visits by car.
As you would have it, weather forecasts struck again – rain and thunderstorms were forecasted in Boston for our return day on Wednesday.
Okay, new plan: Thursday in Scituate, Friday and Saturday in Sandwich. On Sunday, a short ride to exit the Canal eastward from Sandwich, and then up to Plymouth, docking at Plymouth Safe Harbor. On Monday, sail from Plymouth to Scituate. Then Tuesday it’s back to BSC to return the boat a day early. We called BSC to make sure there would be a spot for us, and, as always, they came through.
The Execution of the New, New, Plan
Thursday’s sail from BSC to Scituate was fairly smooth, but the wind and gusts did pick up a bit past Harding Ledge. We threw in one reef, and it made for a balanced, pleasant sail the rest of the way. I shot the drone up and got some nice shots of the boat from overhead, as well as the newly rebuilt Scituate Lighthouse.
Friday’s sail to Sandwich was mostly motor sailing, as the winds were very light. Our timing was just right for an easy entrance into the Canal, and then the short ride to the entrance of Sandwich Harbor of Refuge, where we docked without issue. It’s a nice harbor, with good facilities and access to town. We had a nice dinner at Pilot House.
With the revised plan, we just enjoyed time on the boat that evening and went into the Canal Museum and Sandwich for the day until we were picked up by our friends for dinner and then an overnight stay at their house in Marston Mills.
While we were at their house, I was reviewing my plan to exit the Canal, which I had timed for 1 pm, to catch the max current going East. Well, some research let me know that 1 pm was not the best timing, as the max current would lead to more turbulent waters at the jetty. After reviewing some Canal current charts, we settled on 11 am.
With some nice help from the Sandwich dock hands, we were off the dock at 10:30 am.
Even leaving a bit earlier than our 11 am departure, as we approached the jetty, I noticed the current was coming at us! I brought the diesel up to 2500 rpms, which usually moves the boat between 5-6 knots. My wife, on the port wheel, said we were doing about 2.5 kts Speed Over Ground. So, we already had an opposing current of about 3 kts. We didn’t have far to go, so I brought the diesel up to 2700 rpm for a short while to exit the canal.
Post trip, I was speaking with Jonathan, and it didn’t make sense that we experienced an opposing current. See Chart Below:
We did some research and balanced it against Jonathan’s numerous transits.
There are two possible reasons for what we experienced:
- The Sandwich “Jetty Eddy” effect: A “counter eddy” can form right outside the Sandwich Marina and the jetties. The exit current from the Canal can create a suction effect along the edges.
The countermeasures: Stay in the direct middle of the channel and/or leave earlier so the exiting current is less. - Powerful winds overriding the surface: if there is a strong wind from the Northeast, it can affect the surface conditions and pile up a top layer of water, pushing backward against the tidal flow.
The countermeasures: Carefully consider the opposing wind and current numbers, and if severe enough, pick another day/time to transit the exit. If not as severe, ensure you have enough engine power to overtake that effect.
We had a really nice sail up to Plymouth. The winds were pretty consistent at about the 15-18 kts range. I’ve heard stories of the approach to Plymouth, but this was my first time. It took us about 45 minutes of following the channel to get to Plymouth Safe Harbor. It’s really beautiful, so just sit back and pay attention to the buoys and enjoy the sights (like Bug Light). The dock staff at Safe Harbor were terrific. The main hand stayed pretty close to closing to help us back into our slip. We had a great evening there.
Well, the next day’s departure to go back to Scituate started pretty interestingly, in the non-pleasant meaning of that word. We woke up, had coffee and bagels, and turned on the navigation. Remember how I mentioned Morgan’s keel depth of 6′ 5″? The depth alarm immediately came on and said we were in 5′ 6″ of water!
I knew the boat wasn’t grounded by the way we were still bobbing. I could only interpret what I was seeing as the depth transponder on the boat was lower down the keel, giving us the shallower depth. I called BSC and immediately got a hold of the dock staff, but they didn’t know “by how much.”
We did two things: 1. We grabbed a line and a pot from the galley, tied the line through the hole in the handle, and tossed it over the side of the boat. We pulled it out and measured that we were in 6′ 8″ of water! Not much room for error, and not so assuring that we wouldn’t hit a shallow spot on the way out. 2. We wanted to mark the floating dock post one foot above its current level, so we’d know for sure we had another foot of water. We didn’t have much to mark it with. But let me just say, if you are in Plymouth Safe Harbor and see a Band-Aid on a dock pole out there, well, now you know how it got there… and check your depth!
We waited an hour, and the Band-Aid was hidden. The dock hands came over and helped us get out and pointed us right toward the fuel and pump-out station, which were side by side for one-stop ease. It’s a perfectly located harbor, with great access and dock hands. The only downside was that the Men’s facilities only had one stall, and only one shower had hot water. Hopefully, they get that improved, but I wouldn’t hesitate to go there again in the meantime.
The rest of the sail back to Scituate was smooth, with some motor sailing. Winds did pick up right as we approached the Harbor, but we had already dropped the sails and were looking forward to a cold one and dinner. We ate at Salt Society, which was excellent again. A definite thumbs up for a meal if you’re there with the time and appetite.
We dropped Steve off, and now Patty and I had the night and one sail leg left, from Scituate to BSC.
And what a great sail that was! We had a 20 kt SW wind with gusts to 23-25. We dropped the mooring pendant at 9 am. Before you know it, we were doing about 8 kts on a broad reach under full sail. The boat was beautifully balanced, and all we had to do was enjoy it.
Patty was at the helm and I started to check the weather. I noticed the hourly wind forecast called for the gusts to go above 30, to the 30-35 kts range. We were a decent bit north of Minots Light, but still had plenty to go before Harding Ledge. I said to Patty, “I think we should reef now.” She was a bit hesitant because we were sailing so well. So, I pulled out the old adage about reefing, “the time to reef is the very first moment you think of it.” We took the time to do it then, and it worked out really well. Even after the reef, we were still going 6.8 kts. Not long after, the gusts came in as predicted, and we were just crushing it back to BSC.
It took us three and a half hours from dropping the mooring pendant in Scituate, to motoring past BSC on our approach to refuel, and we didn’t need to tack or jibe once! It was like sailing down the Sir Francis Drake Channel, except right in New England.
To cap off this wonderful return sail home, 20 minutes after we docked, the rain started!
We were definitely happy sailors and felt we made some good decisions and executed them well. All/A-Lot-of those “learning moments” from the last seven years came together for a good week. As you can see, we picked up some new “learning moments.” The next best thing about experiencing this cruise is being able to share the stories that came with it with fellow BSC Members and other sailors.
I can’t thank Jonathan, fellow BSC members like Tony, and the BSC staff enough.
Happy Sailing!
Ted and Patty