Turmoil Departs/Toscana's New Tug Arrives

The Turmoil departed Straight Wharf early this morning. I asked one of the crew members what her next ports of call are. He told me today they are going over to Martha's Vineyard and from there, Newport, RI. Figawi is this weekend. I'm not a fan of rag boats so I really have no interest in the race. I will go down to the docks and see what kind of motorboats come here along with the sailboats.

Click HERE for info on the Turmoil


And HERE



During the overnight, Toscana's new tug and barge arrived at Steamboat Wharf with a load of gravel. The tug is named Bucky.


Here's a 26' General Marine boat owned by a local guy. He bass fishes most every early morning at Brant Point and First Point. I was once thinking of getting a General Marine. Seems like the perfect boat for the waters around Nantucket. I went up to their factory where they make them in Biddeford, Maine a long time ago.


Look for a new homepage picture featured every week or so. For the first picture, I chose the Ruthie B. I took that picture last winter during one of the rare times that it snowed.

Dawn At The Waterfront

Nice morning to be down at the waterfront. Not a soul around except for a few gulls and egrets.






A HUGE private yacht came here last evening. I don't think I have ever seen a private ship that tall in here before. Her name is Turmoil and she's homeported in the Cayman Islands.

Early Morning At The Waterfront

It was a beautiful morning down at the waterfront today. I took some pictures while I was there.
Click on any picture to enlarge.

Westward

At some point during the overnight, the sailboat, Westward out of Rockland, ME arrived and dropped anchor just off Straight Wharf. I have never heard of her or seen her here before. Anyone know anything about her? Here's another shot-


Click here for info on the Westward

Brant Point/New Boat

Brant Point as seen this afternoon under threatening clouds.


M/V Brant Point about to round Brant Point lighthouse. Not sure if she is running over to Hyannis or the Vineyard.


I finally took delivery of my brand new scallop boat. I'm really pleased with her so far. I figured it'll take 75 sheets of plywood to build the culling board. Think she'll be able to get into the south end of the Horseshed at dead low tide??

'Nother Wreck On The Beach

Captain Blair Perkins alerted me to a wreck he saw on the beach at Moneymoy today. She was moored off the second pier all winter. We'll see how long she stays there at Monemoy littering the beach. My guess is that the owner is long gone and will not clean up his mess.

Blair also noticed that the Sargent sustained more damage over this past storm. Her house and topsides are all gone now.

Here's what the Sargent looked like at the end of this past January-

This boat has been an extreme hazard to navigation for over three years now. Perhaps it will take someone getting killed to get this wreck removed.

The Cricks down by Sayle's Seafood is always a good place to bird watch if you are into that kind of thing. Today I spotted a Great White Egret hunting for it's meal along the edge of the marsh.


I went out to Sankaty this afternoon to survey the damage to the new man-made bluff project from yesterdays storm. It wasn't too bad. Minimal damage but we never got the strong ENE winds that were predicted. There were several laborers there today filling long coir bags with sand and then sewing them up. These bags are huge and very long. Can you imagine the hazard to navigation these bags will pose when they get washed out to sea during the next storm? I am getting reports from people that several coir bags from the first man-made bluff project at Sankaty are still being washed up and littering our beaches. What a mess. And a damn shame, too.

Any Erosion At Sankaty Today?/New Boat Ramp Concern

Anyone been out to the bluff at Sankaty today? Was there any damage to the newest man-made bluff project they are working on out there? I'll go out tomorrow and survey any damage from this storm.


New problem at the Children's Beach boat ramp. I was down there this morning and noticed a load of gravel that had washed up from the lower portion of the ramp up to the blacktop portion of the ramp. This happened overnight during a very minor northeast wind.

New Boat Ramp Woes

While I was down at the new Children's Beach boat ramp this morning, two officials from the DPW arrived and took measurements. I guess the Town is receiving a lot of complaints from boaters that the ramp is not working. One of the officials told me that the pitch of the ramp is 10% from his calculations. I am not sure what is going to be done if anything in the future to correct this problem at the ramp. here's another shot of them taking measurements-


Captain Blair brought his boat, Shearwater back from the yard at Providence, RI yesterday. He told me he had a wild ride. He said there were 12' seas off Block Island.


Anyone know what these two brand new machines are? I spotted them at the parking lot at Hoicks Hollow late today. I'm thinking they have something to do with the 'Sconset beach preservation project.

Here's the logo on the side of the machines-

Click on the picture of Brant Point Light Below-

Nantucket Waterfront News

F/V Donna Marie

If you're into fishing boats, there is a little sea scalloper that can be seen down around the docks. Her name is Donna Marie. She's an old wooden Novi. Her homeport is Gloucester, MA but she spends a lot of time here at Nantucket. She usually ties up at the end of the Town Pier but recently she's been seen laying at the fuel dock at the Boat Basin.

Here's a shot of her cutting house complete with a fancy fluorescent light-



A raft of Eider Ducks seen off Sankaty today. I have never seen these ducks here so late before. I thought they would be on their way up north to breed by now. it looks as though the males in the picture are molting. Or could there be another specie of duck mixed in?
By the way, when I shot the above picture today, I noticed several coir bags littering the beach between Sankaty and Codfish Park. God help the poor boater who gets one of these coir bags wrapped up in his propellor.

What Is Going On Here?

I was down at the Children's Beach boat ramp late today and noticed a serious problem. About half way down the ramp, there was a pile of gravel and a 15'' deep hole between two of the slabs of concrete. Here's a picture of the hole. It's kind of hard to see. Click on the pictures to enlarge.


Does anyone know what is causing this? Discuss.

West Wind

There's a new boat to join the commercial striped bass fishing fleet this summer. Captain Bob Rank splashed his boat, "West Wind" this morning. She's a 25' Downeaster boat powered by a 225 horsepower four stroke Yamaha outboard engine. Bob used to fish out of a smaller Aquasport boat also named the West Wind. Here's a picture of that boat while I was down off Sankaty back in 2001 commercial bass fishing. I came upon Bob in the thick fog fighting a big bass-


Bob has been fishing for bass commercially every summer for I'd say over thirty years now. He started out in Madaket fishing out of a B boat. He's got his new boat set up nicely with a wheelhouse he adapted to the boat himself. Here are a few more pictures of the West Wind-

Will This Stop Mother Nature?

I was out at Sankaty late this afternoon and took a look over the bluff. I noticed a huge, long coir bag on the beach. It looked to be about 100' long and about 3 or 4 feet high. This is going to be an extreme hazard to navigation when the next storm takes it out to sea.

Click on the picture below to enlarge.
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Click here for George Riethof's pictures from Sankaty

Done! (But is it useable)?

Looks as though the new Children's Beach boat ramp is finally done. I am down there every day, sometimes twice daily talking to boaters. Everyone I have talked to says that the new boat ramp is simply not working. I was there a few days ago an hour after high tide and witnessed the launch of a 19' Mako boat. A 19' Mako draws less a foot of water. The owner of the boat backed the trailer down until the back tires of the truck were about an inch or two under water. Standard procedure for a successful launch. The boat could not be launched. He got back in the truck and backed down the ramp again. This time his rear truck brakes were half underwater. Still no go. It took three men to pull the Mako off the trailer. One on the dock pulling on a stern line, one on the dock pulling on a bow line and the third guy standing on the tongue of the trailer pushing the bow. Mechanics are going to be very busy this year replacing brakes. I am not going to risk destroying my truck brakes to launch my boat. I'll be using the ramps in Madaket.

Straight Wharf At Sunrise

The best time of the day to visit the waterfront is at sunrise. Nobody is around except me and one or two other waterfront prowlers. There are some great picture taking opportunities to be had at that time of the day. I was down at Straight Wharf this morning and noticed a few charter boats have been splashed.

Problems At The New Boat Ramp

Looks pretty grim. I was at the ramp yesterday an hour after high tide watching two locals having a VERY VERY VERY difficult time hauling a 20' Grady White boat. They were not able to get their trailer down the ramp far enough to get the rollers underwater.(See picture) The only way they were able to get the boat on the trailer was to have one person in the boat giving the outboard motor almost full throttle ahead while the other person struggled to crank the winch on the trailer. I am hearing more and more reports from people that the new ramp is not working out well. I'm afraid we will have to live with this.