The Gist:
After transiting the Canal, we moved on to Red Brook again. From there, on to Quissett to connect with some sailing friends (and make new ones). From Quissett back to Cuttyhunk where we worked and played while waiting for decent conditions to return to Narragansett bay and on to our home port in Wickford.
TL;DR
For our return to Red Brook, we broke with tradition and got a mooring instead of anchoring. The reason we did that was because Blue Water Sailing Club (to which we belong) happened to be making a stop there on one of their organized “itinerary cruises”. We ended up connecting with a few of those folks so that was nice. The giant “Trump 2024” flag on the shore sort of ruins the view I managed to mostly avert my eyes.
Next it was on to Quissett harbor to finally connect with our old friends Greg and Emily from back in the Constitution Marina days. They are now sailing around on their new (to them) Beneteau 50. While in Quissett, we ubered to the big city of Woods Hole for some shopping and dinner. While in Quissett, we noticed another boat with Wickford RI on the transom and met some new friends aboard Harmony. We would reconnect with them in Cuttyhunk in the following days.
The next day offered a nice window to make westward progress toward home via Cuttyhunk. We planned on just a couple nights there but the conditions in Buzzards bay kept us there for a few more. There’s worst places to be trapped.
And Home Again…
We had a lovely up-wind sail from Cuttyhunk back to Newport. Winds were between 7 and 12 kts for most of it and we sailed along quite nicely for most of it. We were catching up to a 56′ boat with full sails out. As we passed them, we noticed it was an Oyster 56. Eventually, they gave up sailing and started motoring. Our destination in Newport was at the Newport Yacht club. As we sailed into the bay, we noticed hundreds of cars parked in the fields on the hills and then heard music – it was Newport Jazz Festival weekend – we had no idea. Newport was a zoo as a result but we hunkered down in at the yacht club dock and invited some land friends over for pizza.
To close out the cruise, we had a nice relaxing mostly downwind sail up to Wickford. We got tucked in to our slip and it was so hot, we immediately went out on the water toys and did some swimming.
Back to reality… :/