New York City, New York to New Hampshire

On the afternoon of June 1st, Justin and I found ourselves exiting from the East River in New York City and traveling through Long Island Sound.  It was 36 degrees Celsius and sunny, but we had little wind.  We put the sails up at 12:30 pm, but we were motoring again by 1:00 pm.  We tried to sail again at 3:00 pm, but had to turn the motor on at 3:40 pm.  We were cruising at an average of 5 to 7 knots over the day with Connecticut to our port and Long Island to our starboard.  I watched the movie, "My Left Foot," and sorted photos for our blog.  We needed to time our entry to Cape Cod Canal for the early morning slack tide.  Since we'd be waiting in any case to catch the tide, we decided to anchor for the night.  Also, we were concerned about hitting a lobster pot and fouling the propeller if we drove through the night.  So we anchored off of Long Island at 8:00 pm, about midway along the length of the island near Mount Sinai Harbour.  We were in bed at 9:00, and we watched the movie, "Philadelphia."

Long Island Sound

Justin as we motor through Long Island Sound

We woke up the next morning at 5:00 am.  When the anchor was 3/4 of the way up, the windless stopped working.  Justin had to haul the anchor up the rest of the way by hand.  We were under way before 6:00 am.  Justin laid back down for a nap from 6:30 am until 10:30 am.  We had a beautiful, calm morning.  We motored at 5.5 knots with up to 3.5 knots of current going with us, dodging crab and lobster pots along the way.  We started sailing at 12:00 pm, pushing along at 4 to 5 knots, first on a square reach and then on a run.  We watched the movies, "Evelyn" and "Oblivion."  I took a 2.5 hour nap while we crossed the Rhode Island Sound.  Justin fixed the broken connection on the anchor windless.  Justin cooked Italian sausages for dinner.  I made strawberry shortcake for dessert.  We were both up in the cockpit once it became dark, looking for channel markers and navigational hazards.  At 9:30 pm, we anchored off of Nashawena Island, Massachusetts for the night.

Calm morning on Long Island Sound

Justin catching up on some rest

The sun breaking through the clouds after some showers

A rainbow over Long Island Sound

Sunset on Long Island Sound

Justin enjoying the sunset

A tug pulling a crane barge

On Saturday, June 3rd, Justin got up at 5:30 am.  We were off before 6:00 am.  I slept in.  There were many recreational fishing boats about.  We sailed, reaching the channel to the Cape Code Canal at 9:30 am.  At which point, we motored at 6 knots.  We entered the canal itself at 10:30 am.  The canal crossing took us about 2.5 hours, during which we saw up to 1.5 knots of current against us (we would have seen up to 6 knots if we hadn't timed the crossing with slack tide).  We stopped at Sandwich Marina for diesel.  As soon as we left the canal, we put up the sails.  We sailed at 6 knots on a reach through Cape Cod Bay until 3:00 pm, at which time we had to motor because we lost the wind.  We passed through the shipping channel to Boston around 7:00 pm; although we were 30 nautical miles away from the city,  we could make out the skyscrapers of Boston on the horizon.  Justin went to bed early, and I took the first shift of the night.  We motored until 11:00 pm; the rest of the night, we were tacking into the wind.

Justin just before we entered the Cape Code Canal

Fishermen enjoying the canal as well

Justin and I as we go under the raising train bridge

Justin after passing the raising train bridge

Myself at the helm on the Cape Cod Canal

Cape Cod Canal

Myself navigating the raising train bridge

Myself as we leave the canal and enter Cape Cod Bay

Boston on the horizon

We started motoring when we entered Portsmouth Harbour at 9:00 am the following morning.  The area has an 8 ft tide.  So the only good anchorage for a boat with 8 ft of draft was accross the harbour, which is actually in Maine.  We had difficulty finding a spot to anchor due to the high amount of lobster traps and mooring buoys.  We were anchored in Pepperell Cove by Kittery Point, Maine by 9:30 am.

Justin as we came into Pepperell Cove