Summer winds can be fickle at times in Buzzards Day and Long Island Sound but fortunately for us the forecast didn’t match the actual conditions. We set full sails out of New Bedford in a nice 12 knot offshore breeze, destination Newport, 26 miles to the west. It was another beautiful day as we managed to sail to within 8 miles of Newport before the wind died off and the iron spinnaker was put to work. However, this gave us a chance to motor closer to shore for a good view of the mansions that make up the famous Newport Ocean Drive. Although Newport harbour is packed with moorings and high end marinas they have preserved a spot for transients to anchor at no charge. As it turns out our spot was right in front of the iconic New York Yacht Club.

The plan was to stay 2 nights so we would have one full day to tour the historic waterfront and take in the harbour sights. The Main Street is lined with shops and restaurants housed in beautifully restored 18th. century buildings, but as you expect, packed with visitors on a beautiful day. We elected to hike through the back streets to check out the homes off the beaten track, our walk took us to the area of town with the U.S. Tennis Hall of Fame. Boy, that was a whole different snack bracket. We ended our busy shore side day with a dinghy tour of the harbour and I think I know where the mega yachts go in the summer. The waterfront marinas and shipyards are jammed with yachts of the rich and famous, actually most of them are way over the top. However, it was the classic sailboats that we wanted to see and they didn’t disappoint, from historic 12 metre America’s Cup winners to stately Hinckleys in bristol condition. Oh to have a varnish store in town!

As much as we were enjoying our stop overs we had to keep moving west as we remained on the look out for a weather window to get down the Jersey coast. Our next stop was Fishers Island, 35 miles to the west. Once again we lucked out with the winds and managed to sail about half the distance before it went flat. We found a great spot to anchor in a relatively protected bay where we spent a quiet evening under a starlit sky.

Today’s picture is of the New York Yacht Club, home of the rich and famous of the yachting world. Not even the fact that my brother had been commodore of HYC would get me passed the gate.