Hey Tom,

Beautiful photo, that's a rare gift to have the sea that flat for an overnight at Monhegan...

When you've got the weather, seems silly not to take advantage of it, and make tracks... When I picked up that Trintella in Camden last November, I didn't get underway until about 1000, and was still in Montauk by 1630 the following day... Great ride, hardly saw a soul out in the Gulf that night... I did come across a boat hove-to about 15 miles out of the canal, and it turned out to be John Harries and Phyllis Nickel aboard MORGAN'S CLOUD... Had a nice chat with John, they were doing the more prudent/sensible thing of waiting for daylight before entering the canal, so I was in good company out there that night...

For the trip back up, I've really come to like the route outside of the Cape... I've always left from Nantucket, timing the tide at Pollock Rip Channel, and it's usually turned out to be great sailing... Though you're dealing with the shipping lanes early in the trip, I've seen very little traffic going that way, and if you time it right, you can ride a fair current for a considerable distance on that route...

Only makes sense if you've been cruising Nantucket Sound to begin with, however - for the quickest transit from LIS or Newport to Maine, the Canal is obviously the shorter and quicker route...

best regards,

Jon