6 days puddle jumping from Jamestown, RI to Atlantic City, NJ (and 1 1/4 hour to get back)

To cap off our summer adventures, Andrew and I hopped and skipped our way down the northeast coast from Jamestown, RI to Atlantic City, NJ and one of our favorite crew mates (Jon Sauer) joined Andrew from there to Annapolis, Md. It took 6 days going south and 1 hour and 15 minutes to get back! Here’s the story…

After surviving the hurricane in RI, Andrew and I left Jamestown on 8/24 for Mystic, Ct. We had a 2013 Cruising Guide to help us identify reasonable day voyages but few of the marinas listed had moorings available or could take our 7 foot draft. Our first over-night was in a slip at the Mystic Harbor Marina. Following a narrow and winding harbor channel, we found the marina deep in the harbor. Our slip was just inside the gas dock and a pretty swift current was pushing us away from it. Andrew gave the boat a little acceleration to turn the corner and slide in. Just as he switched into reverse to stop the boat, the engine cut out! Fortunately, a quick and well trained dock hand, instantly took Andrew’s instruction to wrap the line I had thrown him around a piling and stop the boat. He did exactly that and Billy Ruff’n came to a stop inches away from taking out the dock!! I’ve never been so happy to provide a generous tip!!!

The next day we picked Clinton, Ct. as our destination. This spot was designated a “ must see” in the 2013 Cruising Guide so even though we’d never heard of it, we thought it would be worthwhile. We had an easy motor sail with no issues except another winding channel to the Town Dock where we were put on the T just down from Aqua restaurant. After a nice lunch there we walked around town and other than a quaint residential area, didn’t find much that had to be scene. Back on the dock, we visited with a local sailor who had a bunch of kids on board to hang out on his boat. We invited them over to see The Billy since one of the young girls had ambitions to sail around the world when she graduated high school. It was fun to show her the ins and outs of a boat that has been 3/4 of the way around. Good luck to you, Julia!

The locals in Clinton informed us that there was a 5 foot spot in the channel at low tide and we would have to wait till 11am the next morning to leave so we woke up late and had a nice banana pancake breakfast (to use up the always instantly rotting bananas). Once we got going, we had an easy sail to Northpoint Bay in Long Island, where we arrived just in time for this ‘butterfly’ sunset.

Our next stop was Larchmont Yacht Club in NY to visit with our lovely niece, Lauren and her beautiful family. Our youngest son, Drake joined us as we hung out on the boat and at the brand new Club pool, topping the day off with a fantastic Italian dinner in town and some spoon balancing challenges with the kids.

The next day was too rough for us to leave (or land at Liberty Landing in New York City) so we hunkered down and had Jon, our crew for the next leg, drive up to meet us. A 36’ sailboat crashed on the rocks that day and the Larchmont launch was not operating most of the time but eventually we got Jon on board for a good nights rest. 

On 8/29, we arrived at Liberty Landing after the always exhilarating ride thru Hell’s Gate and the East River to the Hudson. It fantastic to watch the skyscrapers fly by and capture the night views on the city.

After a good (but expensive) meal and respite in a slip at Liberty Landing, we headed offshore for Maryland but it wasn’t long before we realized we were going to be diverted by a hurricane for the third time this summer. We slipped into Atlantic City in the middle of the night, following a fishing boat into the harbor since there weren’t any lit bouys.

The next day, I jumped ship since I had to return to Jamestown to pick up my car and had someplace to be the following weekend. I called our buddy Dick, who lives in NJ and has a place in Newport, to figure out the logistics and it turned out he was flying back (in his own plane) the next day. We flew back in 1 1/4 hours, right over the very path that we had just taken 6 days to sail! Pretty surreal and makes you realize life isn’t necessarily about where you go or how you get there as much as it’s about enjoying the ride!!