I need help from anyone who has sailed east around Cape Cod. I've looked at the charts and consulted with Capt. Mr. Lou Lagace and understand the dangers in sailing outside over Nantucket Sound. On one chart, the area is clearly labeled unsuitable for passages.
There is an alternative. I could once again travel north through the Cape Cod Canal. That is the most direct route from New Jersey to Maine. No question about it.
There are two reasons not to go that way. One is traffic. Shipping out of Boston that is not headed for the Canal cuts directly across the route -- often, as I have discovered, at high speed.
The second reason is the timing of such a trip. You have to pass through the canal when the current is going in your direction -- at last in a sailboat that avarages about 6.5 knots. Otherwise, the current can push you backward.
I can deal with each of these issues. But I'd rather make a trip where no schedule is dictated, and I'd like to make a long offshore passage. By my estimate, a trip from Cape May, NJ, to Penboscot Bay would be about 500 miles.
So my question is what types of experiences sailors have had going outside. I know that there are channels through the Nantucket Shoals. The alternative seems to be to avoid the shoals altogether, sailing east and then north once the shoals have been passed.
If you've gone that way, what w0uld you recommend?