New England Novice

[Hobiehobie]

Hello Cruisers. Any of you New Englanders able to help? Late august we want to explore from port Jefferson Long Island points north to at least the southern parts of Maine if possible. We will stop in Martha’s Vineyard for a wedding on the way back. Can anyone just list out the key places to stop that would enable us to see the best bits of NE via day sails mainly. We have 2-3 weeks but have to fit the Vineyard wedding in there too. Provincetown stop for sure. Maybe we don’t have time to go too far but any itinerary thoughts welcome before we dive into the overwhelming cruising guides!

[Hobiehobie]

No takers?

[Time2Go]

Originally Posted by Hobiehobie

No takers?

Build in some time just in case a hurricane travels north
Been stuck twice in late August and September
I’ve been on a bunch of boats and yours the
Hylas 54 is my all time favorite.
Delivered one from RI to the Bahamas a few years ago
Cheers
Neil

[pjShap]

You can readily go from Port Jeff to Maine with just day sails. Plenty of good places to anchor or take a mooring/slip if that's your preference. From Port Jeff, I would go to Fisher's Island and anchor in the east harbor. A long day gets you to the Cape Cod Canal, where you can anchor near the entrance (I like Wings Cove) or go a little further into Onset. If that's too far for a day there are plenty of shorter options: Dutch Harbor, near Newport is nice. Skip Cuttyhunk because 54' is too big for the inner harbor, and the outer harbor can be rough. Make sure to time the currents at Cape Cod Canal. If you want to go up the MA coast, Scituate is a decent stop, or Warren Cove, Plymouth for anchoring. Then Marblehead, Salem or Gloucester MA are fine, but I prefer the Manchester Yacht Club in Manchester by the Sea. Then New Castle/Portsmouth NH. York Harbor, ME is beautiful, but check if it's a little tight for your draft. Then you're up to Portland. Not sure you'll have time to get further up the coast with your constraints.

Get a copy of 'A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast' by Curtis Rindlaub and Hank & Jan Taft. One of the best guides I've ever seen, and covers everything.

[Hobiehobie]

PjShap. Thanks so much. That is very helpful start to our planning!

Time2Go. Our favorite too. We are glad we chose a Hylas 54 low coach roof. She makes our hearts sing!

[JollyR]

Lots of day sailing in Nantucket sound with easy anchorages and yacht clubs that can help with guest moorings from Woods Hole to Chatham.

[WanderIVth]

Originally Posted by JollyR

Lots of day sailing in Nantucket sound with easy anchorages and yacht clubs that can help with guest moorings from Woods Hole to Chatham.

When I look on Google Earth, there seems to be a sort of beach South of the city dinghy dock in Nantucket by Sayle's. Do you know if this is accessible? The $6 pp per trip at the city dock is going to kill me on the first day, I have a bunch of stuff to unload.