Sunrises, sunsets and sailing in between- a week aboard

We are 1 week into our journey South. We have made it as far as Long Island Sound, not quite as far as we intended to be at this point, but it’s been a great trip!

We departed Portland at 6:15am on Sunday, Sept 29th, and had surprise Bon Voyage guests at 5:45am. Ben’s sister Emily and our Nephew Malcolm came to say a final farewell. We had seen them just hour before at our ‘open-house’ on Saturday, when we had over 30 people stop by to wish us well. But Malcolm really wanted to say goodbye again and woke his mom up to make the 45 minute drive in to Portland to do so.

They got an awesome parting shot of us leaving our summer home.

The sunrise was beautiful as we headed out of Portland Harbor.

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Day one was a beautiful sail down the coast of Maine. We did end up catching 2 pots on our way to the Isles of Shoals which caused some headaches. I’m a firm believer that every big journey starts with a complication, to get it out of the way early in the trip.

The next morning we continued our new trend of early rising and departure and we were off the mooring by 6:30am. We had another beautiful sunrise, but not as nice of a sail. The swells were much larger and knocked us around quite a bit. The whole crew(save the Captain) donated the contents of their stomachs to Davy Jones.

After such a rough day, and checking the forecast for the following day, we decided to hunker down in Boston harbor for 2 nights. We picked up a mooring at Hingham Yacht Club for both nights, and enjoyed Boston in the distance for the sunset.

For our day of rest in Boston we went on our first land based adventure via public transportation. We walked 1/4 mile to a bus stop, rode the bus to Quincy Center, then took the Red Line to Downtown Crossing, switched to the Orange line to State St and then jumped on the Blue line to the Aquarium stop. The kids loved riding on the bus and train. We had a blast at the aquarium, and then reversed the trip to get back to the boat.

6am departure again the next day, bound for the Cape Cod Canal. We needed to make it there between 1-4 to catch the current flowing in the right direction. We had a beautiful sail in the morning, but had to turn on the engine to make it to the canal. We made it earlier than we expected and flew threw at 10-11.4 knots over the ground. The fastest we have gone on Jelanea yet. Of course it was under motor, and with the help of a 5.8 knot current. The canal took is under our first 3 bridges. Trixie was asleep but Tristan was up to experience the worry that the mast would hit the bridge. Our mast is 57′ off the water, the bridges were all 135′ tall, but it always looks close. Perspective is a funny thing. After making great time through the canal we headed for Mattapoisett bay to anchor for the night.

Up and out by 6am again the next morning, and we sailed off the mooring! It didn’t go exactly as planned, we ended up sailing into the bay a bit before being able to tack back out towards Buzzards bay, but we made it! The winds picked up considerably not long after and things went flying down below as some large swells hit us broadside. We sailed downwind out of Buzzards bay and then over toward Narragansett Bay. Then we had a decision to make. Should we push on further and see how far we could make it? Or do we head up Narragansett Bay?

With the heavy winds predicted for the following day, 30+knots outside the Bay, we decided to run and hide. It just so happens that Narragansett Bay is where I grew up sailing. It was fun to bring my family to my old stomping grounds. We headed 2.5 miles up the bay to Potter Cove, where I spent many a weekend as a kid on our 34′ Crealock ‘Whisper’. We picked up a mooring(it’s a lot like Maine here, use any mooring unless the owner shows up) and settled in for a nice calm night.

The next morning we set out to explore the estuary and beach that make up the cove. As our outboard is still out of commission, that meant rowing against the current to shore, but once we got there the trip along the shore was easy. We picked around in the marshes, and saw a bunch of fish and shells. There was a lot of splashing along the reeds as larger fish hunted smaller fish, and then the birds joined in on the feeding frenzy. The kids were thrilled to see so much life, and I was thrilled that they were seeing why I loved this place so much as a kid. We stopped on a small pebble ridden beach to explore by land a bit. We found tons of horseshoe crab shells, and a mizzen of lady slipper shells. We also found a lot of plastic trash unfortunately.

The spot of land we stopped on had maybe a 5ft rise, and once we reached the peak we were very thankful that we had decided to stay put for the day. The wind in the bay was howling!

We headed back to the boat, mostly ridding the current and wind out, and by the time we got back the wind had picked up even in our protected cove. We had been talking to another boat with kids aboard who was in Newport, RI and we decided to go meet up with them and Buddy Boat down through NYC.

The sail down to Newport was fast! We saw 27knot winds as we were leaving Potter Cove. We sailed the whole way, downwind, on only a double reefed mainsail, and we hit over 7 knots over the ground! It was still blowing like stink when we got to Newport and we luckily got a mooring on the protected side of the harbor. The 15-25knot winds kept up all night long even IN the harbor.

We met with our new friends, Matt, Bonnie, Ty(9) and Aila(7) and discussed plans for the next few days. They were planning to do an overnight through Long Island Sound to make it to Port Washington by Sunday morning. They were also trying to get to Annapolis for the boat show. We decided to bite the bullet and do our first overnight with them. Having a Buddy Boat nearby, and being in a harbor(as opposed to the open sea) sounded like a good way to ease into an overnight. Also the winds were predicted to be negligent after 11am Saturday, so we would be motoring most of the way. Not ideal on a sailboat, but easier to manage for our first nightime expedition aboard.

As I write this we are in Long Island Sound, it is 5:00am and the City lights are directly in front of the boat. Ben is sleeping on the cockpit bench opposite me. We are about an hour outside Port Washington harbor which will have us arriving exactly a week after we cast the lines in Portland at 6:15am last Sunday.

We left Newport at 6:30am, and got in a bit of nice sailing before having to turn on the motor. We have been motoring since around 3:00pm Saturday afternoon.

The plan going forward is up to the weather. We wanted to make it to Annapolis for the boat show, but Mother Nature may have other plans for us. The wind and waves along the NJ coast look nasty for the whole next week. We may be camping out in the NY area for the whole second week of our trip.

While I will be bummed to miss the boat show, I’ve never been to NYC as an adult, and there is plenty to keep us occupied between boat projects and exploring the area.

For now, NYC here we come!