Middle Ground - Bad Idea!

This past summer Christine's dad, Paul, told me he wanted me to take him out to catch some fish on the Whaler. I will never pass up an opportunity to go fishing. We went out and the seas were in the 2 to 3 feet area which is just doable in the 13' Whaler. As soon as we exited West Falmouth Harbor we saw the schools of bluefish rise up and we started catching. We slowly made our way south in Buzzards Bay and even went up the side of Naushon for awhile. Paul then said he wanted to go through Woods Hole. I had never done that, but I thought we should try. And why not, as Paul said,"A Whaler won't sink." It was a little hairy in those few spots where the opposing currents meet, but we made it through and eventually went all the way around to Falmouth Harbor. It was the longest and most adventurous trip I had taken in the little boat. This made me a little cocky so the next day I decided to go out to Middle Ground. I had only been to this location one other time when Steve Page took me out. The forecast called for seas 1 to 2 feet until mid-afternoon and then turning to 2 to 4 feet. I left Falmouth Harbor at 5 am and was at Middle Ground in no time at all, before the sun came up. I managed to put a few bluefish in the boat and then the sun came up. When the sun came up, so did the seas. Every now and then I would take some water over the stern that was bogging down the boat a little and I started to bounce around like a cork. After slapping out a lot of the water with my hands and some clever maneuvering and a bunch of luck I was able to make progress back towards Falmouth Harbor. It only took me 15 minutes to get out to Middle Ground, but it took over an hour to get back to Falmouth Harbor. This was the most scared that I have ever been on a boat and at one point I actually considered just driving to the Vineyard and waiting out the waves. I have chalked this up as a big learning experience.