Wednesday 5 September: Great upwind sailing from Bristol Harbor back to Newport, Rhode Island
Beautiful light this morning over the harbor. On the opposite shore to the town we see properties with great lawns down to the water’s edge, the Bristol Yacht Club and Bristol Marine Boatyard. We feel inspired to fly the drone and, as we imagined it, was a great view from up there this lovely sunny morning.
We tootle in the dinghy to Bristol Marine, to see if they might have the hoses we need tor the bilge pump. Very nicely set up yard. And the people we meet here are very helpful and friendly, same as their counterparts we met in Bristol Marine in Boothbay Harbor. They do not have the hoses though. Kind of wish we could have work done on the boat here in this pristine yard, but we need to keep moving. The autumn time clock is ticking.
Back at Cloudy Bay we up-anchor and start back to Newport to the south, via the scenic route, meaning we turn north to go around the top of Prudence island then south down its western shore and across Narragansett bay.
Initially we have 12kts of wind on our nose as we leave Bristol, but as we turn north we are on a broad reach so we put the genoa out and have a peaceful sail in the morning warmth.
As we turn west around the top of Prudence island we come hard on the wind which is now gusting to 18 knots. We keep a full genoa and also put two-thirds of the main out and start a wonderful up-wind, up-tide sail to Newport.
Due to our cutter rig, we need to completely furl away the genoa then furl it back out again for each tack, so there is quite a lot to do as we pass through the wind. We haven’t done intense tacking in such a long time, but soon we are back in the groove, working seamlessly together in the tacks, without need for any discussion. We also need to weave our way passed several islands, shoals, rocks and all the time against the tide, so tactical tacking is called for.
In the strong wind and flat water Cloudy Bay is soon thundering along at 8 knots with spray coming on deck. With the water so flat we find we can really point much higher than normal and we are quite proud of our track. We also pass several other smaller yachts also going upwind. Such a thrill to surge passed them, sails trimmed, our rail under the water and bit-between-the-teeth! Wish we could be on their boat momentarily with a camera to see Cloudy’s spectacle. It’s times like this it would be fantastic to have the drone up … but it would be extremely tricky in this wind. We would likely have to go find it in Canada or wherever it got blown to!
As we approach the Newport suspension Bridge, we aim to sail between the middle two supports, but the tide pushes us over to the next gap. It’s awesome to be sailing under the bridge, hard on the wind and at full speed.
When we get to Jamestown, opposite Newport, we find the entire shoreline is all mooring buoys, and where we can anchor outside of them, the depth is 20m. We enquire for a mooring but at $65 for the night we opt to continue on to Newport, across the bay. Amazingly, we manage to anchor in the exact same spot that we were yesterday.
After our late lunch, as we were sipping our tea in the cockpit, we notice a 12m boat sailing in, fast. So the drone quickly comes out and we fly it over this beautiful boat, which sails towards the wharfs. It’s a lovely light over the town right before sunset and the drone footage captured it very well.
In the evening we remain onboard, and we try to complete the next video for up loading tomorrow.
Bristol Rhode Island photo album