Tag:

New Hampshire

    Portsmouth New Hampshire
    sailing Portland Maine to Portsmouth New Hampshire
    USA

    Leaving Portland and arriving in Portsmouth

    by Glen (via IridiumGo)
    written by Glen (via IridiumGo)
    Thursday 16 August: Leaving Portland Maine and arriving in Portsmouth New Hampshire

    Bright sunny morning, and we have the first breakfast in the cockpit after what feels like ages. This place certainly looks different when the sun is up. The sun is shining but there is zero wind. But what the hell, we are moving.    By 9am we are ready to leave. As we up-anchor, the chain is covered in thick mud, and it takes a while to wash it all off.
    Hardly any wind, and we are bracing ourselves for a long day of motoring.

    We motor out of the harbour into the open sea heading south, 42 miles to Portsmouth on the boarder between Maine and New Hampshire. For the first 1/2 hour the log is not working. Annoying, because it was only put back in, clean, 3 days ago. In Georgia small shrimps had packed themselves in the paddle wheel, but surely not here in these cool waters. After 30 minutes, it springs to life, but reading low. It will need to be pulled out and cleaned again this evening.

    Also, the Raymarine MFD in the cockpit has zero touch screen response now. We still have the manual controls but much more painful than the touchscreen. Glen spends time reading forums on the issue. Seems like lots of similar problems were reported, and all had to be sent back to Raymarine for fixing. The unit is under warrantee, but even so, it is painful to have to send something for repair, and even more painful to work out how to get it back again!  Luckily we have a second, backup, MFD at the nav station which we will put into the cockpit while that one is repaired. Glad we bought a second unit exactly the same.

    At midday, a wonderful breeze comes in and we are so sailing at 7-8 knots on a beam reach in the offshore wind and flat sea. Fells so wonderful to sail again. It seems ages since we last had a satisfying sail …. lately it’s been days and days of motoring, and often in thick fog.

    When we reach Portsmouth mid afternoon, we really feel like continuing while the wind is so perfect. But the next safe harbour is 30 miles away. Reluctantly, the sails get furled away and we motor up river to the town.
    Portsmouth, interestingly, is the oldest naval dockyard in USA and it still is very much a naval dockyard. We’ve called everybody possible to find a mooring buoy but there is none available for a boat our size. So we are seeking an anchorage. Tough in a commercial river. We spot a large buoy and grab it. The neighboring boat’s owner, Scott, tells us it ok to use it, and we feel better about it. It takes us 3 attempts to get it in the strong tide against wind. First time we can’t hold it, second time we end up with the buoy under the boat wrapped behind the keel. 3rd time lucky.
    It’s a beautiful day and the river, excepting the naval dockyard, is very pretty. We head into town.
    The town is a very pleasant surprise. Or maybe it’s just the sunshine. It’s really pretty, very clean and lots of great boutique shops, bars and very pleasant atmosphere. We spend until sunset walking all the streets lined with historical buildings, including the oldest bank in USA – still with its old vault door into a strong room. Now an Irish pub!
    After dark we do some beer tasting then head back to Cloudy Bay in a tidal current which almost swings the dinghy in a full circle!
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