Date: August 12, 2005
Mission: Kayak from America to Martha's Vineyard
Kayakers: John Piekos, Scott Spence

The stars aligned - after talking about it for over 4 years, we finally put together a plan.  Scott and his wife Susan and daughter Courtney were vacationing at my house on Martha's Vineyard for two weeks.  That middle weekend gave Scott and I the opportunity to kayak from the mainland to Martha's Vineyard.  On Friday, August 12, 2005, at approximately 10:15AM, we began our journey.  Here are the photos:

Car being unloaded at Falmouth Harbor.  Note that we were fully prepared (gear-wise) for this trip, with a marine radio, GPS, compass, extra paddle, paddle float, strobe beacon, whistles, life jackets, water, spray skirt, sunscreen, knife, rope, camera, etc. 

Moments before we pushed off.  I asked a kind woman to take our photo "Just in case."  After fiddling with the camera for a few minutes as if it were the first digital camera she ever used (it probably was!) we got this photo.  The waves were relatively small, but the wind was blowing much more than we expected.  Approximately 15 knots, according to channel 16.

We took off from the crook of a jetty.  I almost flipped over 10' from shore and at that moment wished that I had kayaked  more this summer before this adventure.  I didn't have my "kayak legs", so to speak. 

I was the first to shove off, Scott was still fiddling with his boat for several more minutes.  I was going to take some photos of us leaving Falmouth, but the waves were too high.  For the next hour, all  thoughts centered around trying to not flip over, navigate the chop, head in the right direction, and keep our eyes on boat traffic.  Often, when I looked back to see how far I was from Falmouth, I'd almost tip - due to a wave catching me off guard.  So I stopped looking back.

Scott kayaking off West Chop, approaching Martha's Vineyard.  We had just passed through the main boating channel heading into Vineyard Haven Harbor.  We watched two ferries pass by, then made our move.  Still, several boats came close to us, with one yahoo being a real loser and not giving us a wide birth.  This was the roughest part of the journey, the chop was high, the wind was blowing and there was a lot of boat traffic.

Me approaching Martha's Vineyard.

The West Chop Lighthouse.  Approximately 6 miles from Falmouth, we arrived at this point after about 1 hour, 30 minutes.  We paddled steady but not aggressively.  If we tried to paddle aggressively we likely would have ran into trouble with the heavy chop (2-4 feet, estimate).  Though we kayaked together, at times you couldn't see the other's kayak when they were in the wave trough.  Cool boating, once we got or sea legs!

After reaching West Chop so quickly, we decided to continue on into Lagoon Pond at the Oak Bluffs-Vineyard Haven town line.  Here is Scott kayaking moments after navigating under the Lagoon Draw Bridge.  As you can see, once in Lagoon Pond, the water was extremely calm.

John (me), moments after land fall:

John and Scott on Martha's Vineyard.  Mission Accomplished!