Jan. 2, iga|.t H 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
1 
Shortly after bringing Cape Cod Light abeam at 9:09 
we took in the spinnaker and set the jib once more. The 
wind had backed a point to W. by S., but was still very 
faint. The sky had cleared completely and the day was 
fair to look upon. When passing the light we blew our 
horn vigorously in the hope of being reported.^ We also 
read the log, and found that it had only registered 3.7 
knots since set, when it should have given 15.5 knots. Of 
course the fair tide would partially account for the error, 
but not for all of it, so when examination disclosed no 
seaweed on the blades, I voted the log a delusion and 
hauled it in for good. 
As we reached along to the southward we caught 
numerous hot puffs off the land. First one would head 
us off a couple of points and then the next would let us 
up as much. Albert was taking a nap, so I tried holding 
ihe sheets while I steered — flattening in when a flaw came 
ahead or easing off if favored by a puff. This, however, 
grew wearisome, so I simply kept her going with a good 
full, gaining when I could and losing when obliged to ; it 
averaged up pretty well, and the course made good was 
the proper one. 
These flaws were invariably encountered wherever there 
was a break in the height of the cliffs, as at the Pamet 
River and Cahoons Hollow life saving stations, and to a 
lesser degree at numerous other points. 
Long before we reached them we saw the four huge 
peak down) and tied in the third reef. Then I substituted 
the baby jib for the large one, again wore ship and set 
sail once more. This, however, did not produce the 
reeded relief, for while I had been reefing the wind had 
continued to increase. The sky became overcast with low, 
scurrying clouds, and the sea grew hilly. The tide was 
fair, making the waves short and steep. It was easy to 
see the current undercut the seas, causing a nasty chop 
that proved a difficult proposition for the Ayaya's long, 
flat bow. She slammed away to windward in a _series 
of shocks that not only jarred us but tested her rigging 
severely. Owing to the reefs the mainboom buckled badly. 
With this shortened sail the throat halliards refused to 
take up any strain, leaving it all to the peak halliards. 
The gaff, of course, tried to swing away from the mast, 
and when she hit one sea with unusual viciousness; the 
lanyard on the jaws of the gaff parted and off swung the 
gaff, starting rips in the luff of the sail at the two upper 
mast hoops, I jumped forward with a bit of light line 
and rove a new lanyard at once. 
Meanwhile, the boat, though going ahead, did nal get 
out to weather at all well. I tried dowsing the baby jib— 
a very diminutive sail — but this not only did not ease' her, 
but its absence made her steer so hard that I had fo' re- 
set it. 
We bucked away for some time, jumping through one 
sea to fetch up on the next with a bang that jarred her 
I had intended, as the night was so dark T did not care 
to risk standing in too far. Neither of us slept when off 
watch, owing to the motion, but We got Some rest. 
Thursday, July 16.— During the night the wind continued 
to increase, and when the tide turned against it the sea 
was nasty, indeed. The current held us quartering to the 
towers of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company at 
South Wellfleet. They dwarf the surrounding landscape 
in surprising fashion, and make fine landmarks. I should 
think the chart would show them, since it frequently 
shows much less noticeable church spires. We finally 
had the towers abeam at 11 iig A. M. 
Our course was now due south. The wind, except in 
the puffs, continued light, and was W. by N. The sky 
was absolutely cloudless and the sun hot. 
Just before noon I got out my quadrant, and after a 
little fussing secured a very good sight. Albert declared 
that I did it only to impress him, but, as a matter of fact, 
I_ was simply seizing upon one of my few opportuni- 
ties to practice up on real navigation. 
At 12 :30, when off the entrance to Nausett Harbor, 
we passed inside of a small yawl bound north. We had a 
good look at the entrance of this so-called harbor. Even 
then with a smooth sea and offshore wind the rollers were 
breaking heavily on the bar. 
As our jib sheets looked very much the worse for wear. 
I brought out some new rope and rove new ones. Before 
L had finished splicing the standing end of the first one 
to an eye bolt in the deck the wind began to gather 
weight, and by the time I had finished the job we had 
our lee rail awash and were tearing along like a good one. 
At half after one o'clock the wind backed suddenly to 
the S. S. W., and piped up at once. This was 'a decided 
shock to our dreams of a fast run. Putting the Ayayi 
on the port (inshore) tack, I lowered the mainsail, put 
the boom into the crotch and secured it with quarter 
straps. The wind blew fiercely out of a clear sky, and I 
had to fight the sail to get stops around it before I began 
tying down the reefs. I put in two as quickly as I could,, 
then wore ship and hoisted away. 
I had no sooner filled her away under this reduced 
sail than 1 saw that she had too much canvas set, but 
drove her to weather on her ear for awhile, hoping to see 
the wind go down as quickly as it had risen. But this 
was not to be, so once more I took the mainsail off of her 
Xthe vang was here of great assistance in getting tibe 
all over and made the mast do contortions despite the 
weather runner. (Give me a boat whose mast needs only ; 
shrouds — a runner is a fearful nuisance when beating to 
windward in a blow.) Meantime I had the pleasure of 
seeing the rips — two had started at reef points in addition 
to those on the luff of the sail — grow, and speculated on 
whether or not others would appear. 
We finally decided to call it off, so turned tail and ran 
back under jib alone. This was principally to slow her 
down, so that we might not get very far if the wind 
should go down with the sun. We dug out our dress 
suit cases, changed into dry clothes, and took things 
leisurely as we retreated northward. 
When we reached the Marconi towers we saw a couple 
of fishing schooners anchor, and were thinking of doing 
so ourselves as soon as the curve of the beach should 
promise a little shelter. Then, all of a sudden; the wind 
veered to N. W. at 4 :2o P. M. and moderated. We im'- 
mediately swung around again., hoisted our mainsail, set 
the big jib and began retracing our weary steps. The sea- 
fell with amazing rapidity, and on the last of the south- 
going tide we made very good speed. As the wind con- 
tinued to lighten we shook out the third reef when off 
Nausett. 
At 8:30 P. M. we passed just inside the whistler on 
Chatham bar and laid oi3r course S. W. by W., to pass in - 
side of Bearses and Shovelful shoals and close around the 
tip of Monomoy Point. The wind continued light and 
was west. I had hard work to resist the impulse to set 
all sail. 
At nine o'clock the wind backed to S. W. once more 
and blew hard— so hard that she staggered, even under 
the double reefed mainsail, and laid her lee deck under 
up to the coaming. The tide had now turned against us, 
so I soon tacked, stood inshore, and anchored at 9:45 in 
the lee of the beach about half way between the Monomoy 
and Chatham lights. 
We decided to stand hourly watches, so as to be able 
to take advantage of any shifts of the wind, as well as to 
see the anchor held. We did not get as near the bea(?h as 
- Ayaya "drying out" at Provincetown. 
wind, a position which, while it eased the strain on the 
ground tackle, made us much more uncomfortable. The 
seas were, of course, very steep, and they banged under 
the counter and slopped aboard with annoying persistency. 
This gave me a chance to try the effect of oil, so I took 
a ball of rope yarns about the size of my head and soaked 
it in lard oil. Then I took the mainsail battens for a 
float and made the whole affair fast to a long piece of 
marlin. I threw the oiled yarn overboard and let the cur- 
rent carry it about fifty yards to windward of us. "By 
making the marlin fast at the stem I was able to keep the 
ball dead to windward of the cockpit. The effect was 
magical, and just as the books describe it — the waves 
ceased to break aboard, and she seemed to ride them the 
least bit better. 
At sunrise the wind was still increasing instead of let- 
ting up. as we had hoped it would. We managed, however, 
to cook some beans and to make some cocoa. The hot 
food cheered us up, and I repaired the tears in the main- 
sail. As the morning wore on several coasting schooners 
bound to the westward anchored about a mile outside of 
us. When the tide turned once more and we swung 
around to face the sea, we were no longer able to use our 
oil. The Ayaya seemed determined to hammer the life 
out of every wave that came along, and she did it, too ! 
But it was a good deal like the man who insisted on 
butting his head against the stone wall. Spray flew over 
us in sheets, no matter where we sat. There was so much 
water flying that a cigarette would become wet through 
before you could smoke an inch of it. 
We hung on as long as we could, but the wind gradu- 
Ayaya "drying out"~ at Provincetown. 
ally backed to the S. S. W. and deprived us of any 
shelter, so that holding on became a question of would 
her flat bow stand the hammering that it was receiving? 
She would shake from stem to stern as she hit the seas, 
and the mast would whip almost like a reed. 
^We finally broke out our anchor at half after twelve 
o'clock, and under baby jib alone raced up the beach, 
holding inshore to have a good look at the entrance to 
Chatham harbor. But the sight of the breakers there de- 
terred us from trying to get in, as it was impossible to 
tell where the channel was and the chart only shows thres 
feet on the bar. So we edged out around the spar buoy 
on the end of the bar, which we passed at 2 P. M. We 
then set the big jib and fairly sprinted up the beach, 
covering the eleven knots to the Nausett Lights in two 
hours with a head tide for half the distance. 
When half way between Nausett and Cape Cod lights 
we saw a series of very black squalls passing out by the 
end. of the Cape, so shifted back to the baby jib. A ter- 
rific rain squall went straight out to sea from the High- 
lands, but all we got was a dead calm. In this we drifted 
past the 2Sft. , knockabout, Dixie, and had ijuite a talk with 
her crew. They were bound around the Cape. I wanted 
