Food Feature: Faster than a speeding bullet

After stowing my luggage in an overhead compartment, I settled into a window seat and fastened my safety belt. Then, after a few air-conditioned minutes, a standard safety announcement was played over the intercom. It was the kind of speech I'm accustomed to hearing and, for the most part, phasing out, but this one had me actually paying attention for a change. My seat, I was told, was equipped with a floatation device. There was also a safety card to help prepare for emergency situations, just as there is on any commercial airline. Here, though, my mode of transportation was equipped with life rafts, not rubber slides, and I was floating from New London, Conn., to Martha's Vineyard, Mass., not flying. Based on cabin appearances alone, I could have almost pretended that I was on a jumbo jet rather than on the Tatobam, a double-decker, high-speed catamaran ferry that seats up to 300 passengers.

The Tatobom and its sister ship, the Sassacaus, were built and are operated by companies owned by the Mashentucket Pequot tribe, which also owns and operates the colossal Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Conn.

Traveling at speeds in excess of 50 mph, they are the fastest passenger ferries in America. By car the trip takes about five hours, including the 45-minute ferry ride from Cape Cod to the Vineyard. On the Tatobam, with its twin-turbine engines and computerized steering, travel time is projected at about two hours and 15 minutes — even in thick fog that morning.

When we left the harbor, the water was in a morning state of glassy smoothness, and the powerful engines that were to propel our way to the island were perceptible only by a soft hum.

No sooner did I begin to wonder whether the lack of visibility in the open, bobbing Long Island Sound would slow us down than we began to speed up — and up. Though I knew we were moving fast, aside from a quick side to side jolt now and then, it was hard to really feel how fast.

The incorporation of a third bow in the vessel's design is, in part, the reason for the ferry's remarkable stability. The manufacturer's promotional material also states: "Computerized steering via twin water jets ensures excellent maneuverability and eases control of the craft at high speeds."

That's all great, but I still couldn't help but feel a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of how fast we were traveling on the bobbing seas. I kept picturing the little racing hydroplanes that you always see flipping 50 times in a row on ESPN. I kept my fingers crossed for unsuspecting ducks, too.

Entering Vineyard Haven's harbor, the fog finally lifted and we were able to pass through a wooden sailboat race. (I'm sure the sailors were as thrilled with our twin turbines as we were.)

When all was said and done, the one-way trip took two hours and 20 minutes to shoot us on a stoplight-free path through Long Island Sound. With everything from our computer systems to our oceans turning into super-highways these days, it's hard to imagine what's next.