Woods Hole Stories #1

I hear some good stories around town. It is worth recording some of them. I can't gurantee the accuracy of my retelling.

Here is one from Damian McLaughlin:
#1
I man was sailing from Europe to America across the Atlantic in a solo, trans-Atlantic, race. He had equipment problems and put in to the Azores to get repairs. When his boat was fixed he headed on back out into the Atlantic, thinking it would be difficult catching up, from a week behind the other boats in the race. As he is sailing along he sees what looks like a life boat and thinks: "Oh man, now I have to go rescue those people, that's the end of my race." But when got over to the other boat it was, in fact, someone rowing solo across the Atlantic. So they had a nice chat for 10 minutes and continued their separate ways. [And both of them knew Damian]

Hear are a couple from Tom Renshaw:
#2
Dave Wald and a friend were paddling Dave's dad George's Klepper folding kayak on a nice March day. They went out into the hole (Woods Hole passage) from the gut (between Penzance and Devil's Foot island) and the cross current hit them and capsized them. So they struggled for a moment or two and then started dying, when the friend said "hey I can touch the bottom" and dragged them out of the water. Dave had stopped trying. They went to the nearest occupied house and dripped on the floor.

#3
During a cold winter in Woods Hole, a schooner full of lumber got caught in the ice and pushed through the hole, upon which, the boat broke up and the pieces floated off on the tide. Now, Sumner Hilton knew what was going on and where the tide was headed - towards Nobska - and he went down there and harvested the lumber - from which he built boats for many years.

Here is one where the names of the guilty are omitted.

#4

A group went out rowing in the hole. As you enter the main current you need to beware of it hitting you broadside and kicking up the bow of your boat. One fellow had a bucket full of water on the back seat, for ballast, and was warned about having too high a center of gravity. He ignored that and ignored advice about entering directly into the main current from the side. So up went his bow, the bucket turned over, and he summersaulted into the drink. This was early in the summer when the water is cold. The group was not able to get him back into a boat until they had floated over to Juniper Point. I think now he is a bit traumatized.