One of the reasons Onne and Tenley van der Wal replaced their 1972 Pearson 36 sailboat with Snow Goose, a 1986 Grand Banks 32 trawler, is because they got tired of beating their way to and from Cuttyhunk at 4 knots.
The van der Wals like to go to the small outposts in the Elizabeth Islands off the coast of Massachusetts. They appreciate the laid-back style. But getting there on the sailboat would sometimes be a slog that consumed much of a day. “It’s 20 miles,” Onne says. “But on the Goose, it only takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes.”
That’s how long it took them to get to Cuttyhunk from Jamestown, Rhode Island, last September, when they left on a Friday around 2 p.m. to meet fellow members of the Conanicut Yacht Club for a weekend getaway. It would be their last trip
