Narragansett Bay, Martha's Vineyard and Northwards
We spent the month of June exploring Narragansett Bay and Martha’s Vineyard, making several trips back and forth to get some scheduled boat work done. We also took a week out to fly back to Phoenix to visit family. Within Narragansett Bay, we enjoyed our time in Newport as well as our exploration of Bristol (especially the Herreshoff Museum) and East Greenwich. We also had the opportunity to host my brother onboard for a night and visit with our friends Rod and Karen in Providence. We were especially grateful for the hospitality extended to us in Newport by the NYYC Harbor Court, which provided us with a mooring and access to their beautiful facilities while we were in Newport.
We greatly enjoyed our time on the Vineyard visiting friends and exploring the island by foot and boat. We also took delivery of our new wing foiling gear and got some practice time in. Seth quickly grasped the basics of the sport and is already able to fly under most conditions. I am a bit further behind, but hope to be flying soon. One of the highlights of the visit was Edgartown's 4th of July parade and fireworks display which reminded me of many 4ths from my childhood in New Jersey.
On July 5th we set off again on our trip north, with Maine being our ultimate destination. We spent the night in Onset, the last anchorage before the Cape Cod Canal, planning for an early morning departure through the Canal on the 6th. We timed the currents well and took advantage of a five knot favorable current, boosting our speed over the ground to 11 knots for the 7.4 nm passage through the Canal.
Once through the canal we headed due north with several possible destinations in mind for the night. Mid-afternoon we decided that we could make it to Portsmouth, NH before dark and arrived there just before 6pm after a 93 nm day. Conditions were nice for sailing north and with breeze of 15 - 25 knots we were able to make good time flying our Blue Water Runner tradewind sail for much of the passage.
We anchored in Pepperrell Cove under Kittery Point just on the entrance to Portsmouth harbor. We were disappointed to find that the beautiful anchorage as described in the cruising guides was now filled to the brim with mooring balls, leaving us to anchor on a marginally short rode partially out in the channel. With a few knots of tidal current flowing in the river we knew that we’d be swinging circles with the tide changes but got ourselves comfortable enough for what was forecasted to be a relatively calm night.
We were up the next morning and underway for our first destination in Maine, Great Chebeague Island.
On our first trip to the Vineyard, we stopped for the night at Cuttyhunk, one of our favorite stops from our prior visits to the area. Here's the view down the channel into Cuttyhunk harbor.
Quality time with Uncle Mark!
And quality time with Granny Arlene.
This mooring is occupied...
Father / son golf tournament in Vineyard Haven.
We were delighted to host our old friends Steve and Pam for dinner on board.
And we hosted a kid's game night for their grandkids!
One of many ice cream breaks...
We visited Fort Adams in Newport on Memorial Day and gave thanks to those who served our country.
Harbor Court. Wonderful place!
Seth quickly got flying, both on the tow behind Pepper Spray and then later on the wing!
We very much enjoyed our visit to the Martha's Vineyard Museum in Vineyard Haven. The museum was filled with fun artifacts and informative presentations of the island's history.
Small town 4th of July parade in Edgartown.
Followed by a wonderful fireworks show in the anchorage. We had front row seats! (but for that annoying yacht in the foreground that didn't turn down its lights for the show!)
Commander Seth at the helm as we traverse the Cape Cod Canal.
Railroad bridge on the canal, in its normally open position. If a train was passing the entire span would have been lowered to just above the water.
Speed display as we passed through the Cape Cod Canal. "SOG" is "Speed over the ground", and the difference between SOG and "Speed" is the effect of the tidal currents.
Saltair rocking our double-sided Blue Water Runner tradewind sail on the passage north!
Thanks for sharing! Great pics of Seth flying, wow!
Hi Adam, thank you for your post. I am enjoying sharing your trip through the posts. Nice pictures. Yes, great to see Seth flying, hope to see a picture of you flying too soon 🙂 The picture of you after the picture from the golf is a great picture from my point of view. Have a nice day