Cruising Guides

[George ( C&C 40 )]

Hi All,


I'm starting to put together some literature for our summer cruise up to Block Island, Cape Cod, Martha's Vinyand, etc. Also, we will most likely continue on up along the coast of Maine for a few weeks. I'll be up on the Cape later this week and in Maine after Christmas and would love some ideas on cruising guides as I wander through area bookstores.


For the Maine Coast I was looking at...

"A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast" by Hank and Jan Taft and Curtis Rindlaub

I've heard that there are several good guides for the Maine Coast but this was the only one I could find on the internet.



For the Cape and the islands I came across the following cruising guides...

"Atlantic Cruising Club - Guide To New England Marinas"

"A Cruising Guide to Narragansett Bay and the South Coast of Massachusetts: Including Buzzard's Bay, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Block Island" by Lynda Morris Childress, Patrick Childress, Tink Martin


If anyone has a favorite guide for areas north of the Chesapeake Bay please let me know.


George

[Mark.Wilme]

We have ""A Cruising Guide to Narragansett Bay and the South Coast of Massachusetts: Including Buzzard's Bay, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Block Island" by Lynda Morris Childress, Patrick Childress, Tink Martin " and as these are our local waters I think I can say it is reasonably up to date, but I think it is 10 years old in places (our copy is anyway). The places don't chnage but some of the amenities and phone number do.

If you post your plans here I'd be glad to opine, or you can PM me.

A lot depends on whether you are dashing through or truly cruising through. If it were me I would skip Block Is and try and make Newport or Jamestown. Maybe cruise up the East/West passage (maybe a night in Bristol) and then back down the Sakonett for an interesting soujorn. Cuttyhunk is a nice play to stop for a day or so - NOTHING to do of course.

You could head off to Nantucker or Marthas V - Menemsha is a favorite hangout on the vineyard : less commercial. Or you could say Mainland and try West Falmouth or Sippican or Mattapoisett.


Then on up through the canal, maybe a stop over in Provincetown or Boston harbor before the push on up to Maine.

That's all I have for now, let me know if I can help more.

[Tim]

For the Maine Coast I was looking at...

"A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast" by Hank and Jan Taft and Curtis Rindlaub

I've heard that there are several good guides for the Maine Coast but this was the only one I could find on the internet.

This is by far the best cruising guide for Maine. I wouldn't bother with any other. To most Maine cruisers, there is no other.

[dasein668]

I agree with Tim. The Taft/Rindlaub book is definitely considered the definitive word by most Maine cruisers.

[Figment]

A lot depends on whether you are dashing through or truly cruising through. If it were me I would skip Block Is and try and make Newport or Jamestown.

Though I personally have much fondness for Block, I must agree, particularly if you're going to hit nantucket or cuttyhunk anyway.

I'd trade it for more time in the waters around shelter island and fisher's island. I assume you're passing through one or the other anyway.

[George ( C&C 40 )]

Hi All,


Thanks for all the replys. It looks like I've got Maine is covered with "A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast" by Hank and Jan Taft and Curtis Rindlaub. For the Maine part of the trip I have total freedom as to what our schedule is. Denise will be with me for a couple of weeks, she then flies out of Portland back to Virginia and a friend of mine from my yacht club will join me fo a few more days on the Maine coast and the trip back down to VA.

The trip up will be a bit more structured as it's part of a York River Yacht Club cruise starting around the 18'th of June. It will include BI, Cuttyhunk, MV, Nantucket, and Cape Cod. Some will leave the mouth of the Chesapeake and cruise directly to New England and some will head up the coast through New York City and Long Island sound. There is also the issue of BI Race Week not getting over until the 23'rd of June. Maybe hitting Newport or Bristol and doing a quick stopover at BI before hitting the Islands is the way to go. I've also heard that holding is very bad currently within the Great Salt Ponds harbor of BI -- so much so that an anchor watch must be posted if there is any wind at all.

I'll keep an eye out for the guides that have been mentioned. Thanks again for all the great info.


George

[Tim]

George,

One cruising tip: don't put too much stock in all the hearsay about any cruising location. This goes for what the cruising guides say too. Each person experiences something a little different at any given place, and cruising guides and other peoples' stories represent only their opinion. Harbors change, weather or other boaters might affect what a "reviewer" thought of the place at the time, and what one person hates another might love.

Sometimes reported bad holding ground, for example, is merely an example of someone's poor anchoring technique on the day they were there, or maybe it was just a bad spot. Or it might be a real concern too--there are certainly places that don't have great bottoms. Organized cruises usually hit the most common harbors, almost like a cliche, and don't necessarily represent the best any geographic location has to offer. Then again, they might, too.

My only point is to never jump to conclusions based only on your readings. Use the guides and other information at your disposal--guides are undeniably helpfu--but keep an open mind and be prepared to be surprised--both pleasantly and unpleasantly.

Have fun with the planning! It's great fun to think about new horizons ahead.

[FloatingMoneyPit]

I've also heard that holding is very bad currently within the Great Salt Ponds harbor of BI -- so much so that an anchor watch must be posted if there is any wind at all.

Now, I've only spent one night of my life in GS pond so I confess utter ignorance, but that was indeed my experience there.
The weekend after Labor Day it was beautiful but winds piped at 18+ all day and night. Plus the pond was PACKED with folks from area yacht clubs on their last BI race/cruise of the season. Being inexperienced, we didn't ask why everyone left a big open spot in the NE corner of the anchorage and decided to drop our barely adequate-sized Delta there. I got suspicious when, just before heading below to sleep, I noticed the neighboring boat putting out fenders on the starboard side (facing us). Hmmmm...I slept lightly until midnight, due to wind howling in the rig, when I saw a mast through the portlight that looked way too close!
We dragged, as did a couple of other boats nearby. We picked up a vacant private mooring nearby and went back to sound sleep. When I looked at the larger scale BI chart the next morning, I realized we dug the hook into a steep drop-off, and that's why no one else anchored right there. Guaranteed dragging when the wind shifts. But other boats in the shoaler areas dragged as well, so it may be poor holding anyway. I did notice a few boats kept watch.
There were many boats that looked like knowledgeable local cruisers who laid out two anchors as close to the NE shore of the anchorage as possible and slept very well. That's what I'll do next time, if a lime-green public mooring is again not available. I'm sure you or someone from your club cruise will know what they're doing a heck of a lot more so than I did and you'll have no problems.
I'll second Figment's recommendation for Fishers Sound if you're passing through that way. Rife with sailing eye candy out of Mystic, Stonington, etc. West Harbor at Fishers Island is a convenient, scenic layover (barring a strong northerly).

[FloatingMoneyPit]

I just read Tim's post after submitting mine, and want to emphasize my utter inexperience (at that time) both in anchoring technique and with Block itself. As Tim points out, take all the stories with a grain of salt. Do what makes sense given the situation at hand combined with your seamanship, and you'll be fine. Great Salt Pond isn't the Columbia River Bar. In all probability it will be sunny, a pleasant SW breeze will be blowing, your anchor will be well set, and you'll be on cloud nine.

[The Good Goose]

George

I have anchored many times on block island and never dragged. In season it is nearly impossible to find space and you may want to rent a mooring. I have often used two anchors to limit swing so that might have something to do with it. It is expensive to rent a mooring 35.00 a night 4 years ago but if it is a weekend you may have to. The majority of great salt pond is off limits to anchoring so the area without moorings where you can anchor is quite small.

Brock

[George ( C&C 40 )]

Hi Guys,


Thanks for the notes -- all good information. I didn't mean to pile on Block Island it was just that seeing Mark and Figment's posts being somewhat cool on Block Island reminded me of a conservation with one of our new club members last Thursday. He has just been to Block Island a couple of months ago and ended up having a few sleepless nights until he got a mooring ball because boats were dragging everywhere. He also had suggested heading into Narragansett Bay or hitting the other islands unless the wind was way down.

I think that information like this is great to have and another reason why Forums like this are great. It won't stop us from going to BI but we will most likely jockey the schedule around so we arrive on a Tuesday or Wednesday rather than a Friday or Saturday. That way, if the wind is up, there is a much better chance to get a mooring ball or take the opportunity to hit another island and wait until the wind dies off a bit. As they say forewarned is forearmed.


Thanks again to everybody who posted a reply,

George

[catamount]

George,

If you don't already have it, a good cruising guide to give you an overview of the whole area is Duncan et al's "Cruising Guide to the New England Coast," covering from the Hudson River to New Brunswick, Canada.

Also, while "Reed's Nautical Almanac East Coast" is a great compendium of tides and all that, I find that "Eldridge's Tide and Pilot" has a fair bit of "local knowledge" embedded in it, particularly for southern New England, and would be worth perusing while you're in the planning stages.

Regards,

[George ( C&C 40 )]

Hi Tim Allen,

Thanks for the note. I will add those to the list. I also enjoyed following your link and checking out some of the cruising you have done. Great stuff!

George

[Mark.Wilme]

OK, I have to ask - how do you all get those Mark.Wilme wrote: clips ?

Whenever I do a quote I get something like this :

George,

If you don't already have it, a good cruising guide to give you an overview of the whole area is Duncan et al's "Cruising Guide to the New England Coast," covering from the Hudson River to New Brunswick, Canada.

[catamount]

OK, I have to ask - how do you all get those Mark.Wilme wrote: clips ?

Code: Select all

[quote="Mark.Wilme"]OK, I have to ask - how do you all get those [b]Mark.Wilme wrote:[/b] clips ?
[/quote]

Note in the code example how the QUOTE tag has ="Mark.Wilme" as an attribute.

You should get this by default if you use the QUOTE button that's to the upper right of the post you wish to quote from.

[catamount]

I also enjoyed following your link and checking out some of the cruising you have done. Great stuff!

Well, I ought to chime in with MY Block Island experience, too, I suppose ;-)

Back about 1990 or so I helped my Dad deliver his then new-to-him Cape Dory 36 from the Rappahannock up to Cape Cod. Sailing from the mouth of Delaware Bay up to New England we had some equipment breakage and some sail-handling difficulties (new to us boat, remember), and ended up getting a genoa sheet wrapped around the prop. We cut the sheet and rigged a replacement so we were able to sail, but we were sure we would not be able to move the boat under power.

So we arrived at Block Island under sail around midnight with the wind blowing a good 25 knots and building. Outside the jetties, we rolled up the genny and adjusted the reefs in the main. The plan was to sail into the Great Salt pond, head up, drop the anchor and drop the sail, and hope for the best. Remember, we didn't have the ability to maneuver under power. It all went great, except that the anchor never grabbed, so we were dragging a high rate through the mooring field (in the dark). A call on the radio got a quick response from one of those commercial towboat operations, who happened to be out at Block for that time. They towed us up to the harbor's Emergency Mooring, where we spent the rest of the night.

The next morning, the wind had abated, and we were taking turns diving under the boat with a knife to hack away the polyester donut that had melted around the prop shaft. While we were doing this, the harbormaster pulled up and yelled at us, "Hey, that mooring is for emergency use only!" to which we replied, "uh, yeah, well, we had an emergency!" It didn't take much longer for us to clear the propeller and get underway again.

BTW, the Great Salt Pond on Block Island is a geological feature known as a kettle hole. During the melting back of the ice sheet, there was a block of ice that didn't melt as fast as the rest of it. Sediment being distributed by the meltwaters flowing away from the melting ice piled up around this remnant block of ice. Eventually the remnant melts, leaving a big hole in the piles of sediment. Unfortunately, the geometry of these holes is not very conducive to good anchoring.

Regards,

Tim

[Tim]

If you don't already have it, a good cruising guide to give you an overview of the whole area is Duncan et al's "Cruising Guide to the New England Coast," covering from the Hudson River to New Brunswick, Canada.

This is a classic source, and is an old standby for the entire New England Coast. In covering such a large area, it is necessarily less detailed than the more specific cruising guides that cover smaller sections of the coast, but nonetheless it is a valuable guide to have. Still, there are a lot of holes in the coverage, as it doesn't have the space to discuss each and every harbor along the way. But it's good for general and piloting information.

I usually like to have a couple different viewpoints on the same area, so I also carry this guide on board. And sometimes, the guides are just fun to read for their own sake.

[George ( C&C 40 )]

Hi All,

Thanks for the notes. I think I've got a pretty good list of cruising guides to look for. I'm heading up to New England later today so I'll talk to you guys sometime after the first of the year. Happy Holidays!

George

[Mark.Wilme]

You should get this by default if you use the QUOTE button that's to the upper right of the post you wish to quote from.

Thanks