Northport to Newport
Shelduck
Neil Hegarty
Tue 9 Jun 2015 17:27
41:28.700 N. 71:19.403 W
Heavy rain, cold and strong winds for three days in Northport as forecast.
Northport Yacht Club had a ferry service but the rain was so heavy that we
decided to stay aboard and miss a visit to a Vanderbilt house nearby. On
Wednesday 3rd as we were about to leave the mooring when the Dock-master
delivered an aerial for the WiFi that Ian Kenny had given us. It has been
working perfectly on my phone since but we have not been able to connect
Anne's phone to it. It is a great luxury to have our own WiFi aboard.
We cast off the excellent mooring at 10.30 for a passage to Mattituck Inlet,
Long Island , sailing almost due East in a light South Easterly. I decided
not to enter the inlet which is narrow and shallow with a dredged channel
and anchored for the night in sand off the entrance.
Weighed anchor next day at 09.15 and motored in light wind in the lee of
Long Island towards Plumb Island before heading across L.I. Sound to Fishers
Island. A cold cloudy day with a North East wind. Set sail at noon off Rocky
Point with 20 miles remaining to Fisher Island. It was a lovely close fetch.
Shelduck crossed many ferries plying between New London on the Thames,
Connecticut and Orient by the Sea, Long Island. Seems it might be a short
cut from New York to New England. Arrived at West Harbour, Fishers Island at
16.00 and were given permission to pick up an excellent Town mooring at no
charge.
Friday 5th Shelduck left West Harbour at noon motoring out into Block Island
Sound in a very light headwind and light rain, so like Ireland or Scotland.
Shelduck was passed by another ferry Jessica W New London/Block Island doing
35.1 knots. Anchored in Great Salt Pond, Block Island at 17.30 among many
other yachts. Anne took another one of her sunset photographs.
Next day the wind was light Northerly at first giving a gentle reach to
Newport, but off Point Judith it freshened to 18 knots and for a time was on
the nose as Shelduck pressed on to Newport where I picked up a mooring near
the Ida Lewis Yacht Club. There must be thousands of yachts in Newport
Harbour and nearly all on moorings. The Harbour Master regularly patrols and
he told us the mooring owner is Newport Mooring Service and we settled our
account with Neill Gray for 35 dollars a night. Anne and I dined aboard and
enjoyed all the action around us.
Next day, Sunday was a beautiful day. There are excellent ferry services to
take you to and from your boat. We called one called Oldport and then went
to Visitors Centre and took a tour of Newport and it's wonderful houses from
the 17th to the early 20th century. The tour was organised by the
Preservation Society of Newport County. For 70 years the society has been
protecting, preserving and presenting the story of some of America's most
important legacy landscapes, buildings and furnishings as well as the
stories of the people who created them here in Newport. The tour included a
visit to one of The Mansions. We chose The Breakers completed in 1895 and
the 70 room summer estate of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. We also saw St. Mary's
Church where Jack and Jackie Kennedy were married in 1953 and also saw her
family home. Most of the large 19th and 20th century summer homes are now
converted to condominiums. Anne and I dined in a restaurant near the ferry
service base and returned to Shelduck amazed by the scale, scope and rich
heritage of Newport. An outstanding place to visit and with a marvellous all
weather harbour.
