Warwick to New Bedford
June 30, 2013
We could have elected to stay in Narragansett Bay and go to Bristol where the oldest 4th celebration is held but we decided to do more easting. We left Warwick at 0900 this morning after waiting for fog to clear. Well, it did not clear much and we left anyway. We never had more than a half mile visibility all day even at sea until we got close to New Bedford. The ocean state offshore was 7 to 10 feet swells and about 15 knots of wind. Take the horizon away as with the fog and we navigated most of the day with an eye on the radar. About three hours into it, I noticed a target on the radar that seemed to be on our same heading same direction. It was a quarter mile ahead and stayed there for over three hours. I did not see it until we made a course change into Buzzards Bay. It was another sailing vessel on the same course to the same place, New Bedford. Big rolling swells from the starboard beam made for a weird ride. The headsail checked the roll and the ride as the swells slid under us were sort of fun. We all had a heck of a time staying awake.
New Bedford has an amazing maritime history. It was the preferred port for the whalers and at one time this harbor was home port to over 350 ships and over 10,000 seamen. That is more than the sum of all other whaling ports combined. Those guys were at sea sometimes for two years or longer and that must have made for lively shore liberty. There is still a very large fishing fleet here. The harbor has a hurricane barrier guarding it. It is a breakwater about twenty feet of so high with one opening through which the fleet goes to sea. They seal off the harbor when storms come.
If we can hit the tides right, tomorrow will be the day we sail through the Cape Cod Canal into Cape Cod Bay. That boys and girls is another bucket list item. Now we could just stop by the potato chip factory.