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Newport/Martha's Vineyard/Nantucket--your feedbacked needed!

19K views 33 replies 12 participants last post by  Minnewaska 
#1 ·
Hi all,

I've searched the forums about some of the great destinations for our upcoming cruise out of E. Greenwich, RI and wanted to get any quick feedback or suggestions on what you see below. In particular, trying to get a better sense of distances and expected travel time ranges. We want a vacation-like pace, with just 1 or 2 longer days of sailing. My charts are on the way. The sail plan thus far looks like: (with questions/comments)

1) E. Greenwich, RI through Narragansett Bay to Cuttyhunk
(our captain says it's about 6 hrs.)
2) Cuttyhunk to Vineyard Haven
(we know it's dry, so we'll dine onboard)
3) Vineyard Haven to Nantucket Harbor
(too ambitious? How long? Distance?)
4) Nantucket to Edgartown
5) Edgartown to Newport via Vineyard Sound
6) Day ashore in Newport
7) Newport to E. Greenwich, RI

We had considered saving Nantucket for another time, so also welcome suggested changes that might drop that from this trip. We normally enjoy easier sailing...just came back from 10 days in Vieques and Culebra in March and had a great time.

We've repeatedly sailed to Block Island from this origin point in RI, including in heavy daytime fog conditions, so won't go there this trip. And the wife wants to see the mansions, so Newport is a must do. (I've been many times).

Thanks in advance...happy to reciprocate for any traveling to the Spanish Virgins.
 
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#2 ·
Its easy...

M.V. to Nantucket is easy, though you will want to consider the Pollick Rip current. It can haul. The Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book will give you the specs. We do the trip from Hingham, Ma. across CC bay to Nantucket and leave around 9 AM and sail to MV. We arrive in the afternoon. The last 2 trips had us in BIG fog so this year we put radar on. :) Its a great trip though!
 
#3 ·
Hi all,

1) E. Greenwich, RI through Narragansett Bay to Cuttyhunk
(our captain says it's about 6 hrs.)
2) Cuttyhunk to Vineyard Haven
(we know it's dry, so we'll dine onboard)
3) Vineyard Haven to Nantucket Harbor
(too ambitious? How long? Distance?)
4) Nantucket to Edgartown
5) Edgartown to Newport via Vineyard Sound
6) Day ashore in Newport
7) Newport to E. Greenwich, RI

.
Done it many times from BYY in East G.
1. it's approx 40 nm - 6 hrs at 7 knots avg. My record is just over 5 hrs.
2. 4 hrs +/- for current
3. 6 hrs
4. see #3 - maybe 5 hrs as Edgartown is a but closer
5. 8 hrs again depending on your avg speed

This makes a nice 2 week cruise with ample time in all three places not that there is anything to do in Cuttyhunk
 
#4 ·
We are planning sailing to Newport, RI from the Chesapeake Bay straight shot then work our way back slowly down LI Sound/Manhattan/NJ. In the interest of saving some time I was thinking about grabbing the MV Fast Ferry out of Quonst Pt. to visit MV on a overnight stay. Any comments about using the ferry? Is it best to take a cab from Newport to Quonst Pt or move the boat over to that area and anchor or get a slip nearby?
 
#5 ·
A taxi from Newport to Q.P. is a long $$ ride and I think just the bridge tolls are up to $4 now. From Newport to Vinyard Haven M.V. is a day each way and moorings (same area as the ferrys stop) are readily available unless the swarm of race locusts have totally booked up the area for that couple days in their summer migration around the islands...... and yes that does happen every year so check ahead.
 
#6 ·
Newport bridge is going to $5 each way, it is a long haul from there and cabs are generally very expensive in Newport anyway.

Make your way over to Wickford, get a mooring and then its a very short cab ride. With any luck, you can give someone at one the several marinas some gas money to take you over.

The Fast Ferry ride is about 90 mins to Vineyard Haven.

Another plan, which I would suggest, is to sail to Menemsha, the western most part of the Vineyard. It should only be 5ish hours, which is probably the amount of time you will goof around with cabs, arriving early for the ferry, returning, etc. There isn't much action in Menemsha, but you can now take a cab wherever you like on the Vineyard. If you can't get inside the cove, you'll just want to be sure you only go when winds are S-SW (which is prevailing). Excellent holding, if you don't find a mooring.

If you get tempted to sail on to Vineyard Haven, you really want to time the current Vineyard sound, which can be as high as 3-4 knots on the nose, if you do it wrong.

From there, you can head to Block Island and begin your LIS voyage.

Have fun.
 
#7 ·
Good advice.

We like Oak Bluffs, but its a lttle further along. Nantucket is unreasonably expensive for moorings that start at $60 plus tax.


Jorge with a 6 foot draft Menemsha inside will be tricky. We saw 7.5 most of the way back through the channel to the anchorage area, which has good depth. The Menemsha Basin was very shallow carries

The Vineyard Sound current can either be a ***** or a great boost and depending upon wind direction (fog) this part of the trip can be challenging and variable. Usually the current is why we have uised Cuttyhink as a great stop over, Very pictureaque place....with nothing:):)
 
#8 ·
....We like Oak Bluffs, but its a lttle further along. Nantucket is unreasonably expensive for moorings that start at $60 plus tax.
Nantucket is a real haul from Newport and you must negotiate the current through Vineyard Sound, so it seems it would be outside the possible for brokesailor. However, we love it there and its worth the trip, if you have time. The moorings are $75 per night. While I ***** about cost as much as the next guy, that mooring field is incredibly well maintained, including chafe gear, they escort you to your mooring and come by with a full briefing of things to do and how to get around. Then leave behind literature. If any mooring is worth the price, its there.

.....we have uised Cuttyhink as a great stop over, Very pictureaque place....with nothing:):)
We LOVE Cuttyhunk. It isn't much closer than Menemsha, but much better protected compared to being outside at Menemsha and is the stop over to getting to the Vineyard or Nantucket. Inside harbor is highly protected on the mooring. We stay outside, as I think there is a 40 or 50 ft max swing inside. Plus, outside is more private.

Nothing beats ordering a steamer lobster at the top of the dock and bringing them back to the boat for din din. The guy that collect the mooring fee on the outside moorings will get them for you, if you ask. Then the raw bar comes around to each boat and a sunset dinghy back to the dock for ice cream is manadatory!! Other than that, there is indeed nothing there.
 
#12 ·
Easiest thing to do is to look at the Tidal chart (ie map) for Buzzards Bay, Vineyard and Nantucket Sound. I don't have the 2013 version yet, but it starts on pg 66 in the 2012. Suspect its close.

Each chart shows the direction of the current and its speed and references a tide table for Pollack Rip Channel at the bottom of the page. For example, the first map is what will be going on when Flood starts at Pollack Rip. Just turn back a few pages and find the columns that say Flood starts for the day in question. There you go. The following chart pages are 1 hr later, then 2 hrs, etc.

Hope that made sense.
 
#13 ·
Yes I've got all that but where do you make the cut south? Woods hole or between Nashaweena and Pasque? I imagine you want to leave Cuttyhunk Harbour at slack tide? How does that work with the tidal current charts? I would think slack low tide would correspond to the flood starting in Buzzard Bay but at that time the current is ebbing out of Vineyard Sound.
 
#14 ·
Actually it looks like leaving Cuttyhunk at slack high tide puts you into Buzzard Bay at the very end of the ebb. If you cross into Vineyard Sound Soon you can catch the flood there for a good 3 hours. Hopefully I'm reading this right. I used June 20 as a test case. So what's the best safest cut into vineyard sound?
 
#15 · (Edited)
Broke, it looks l if you leave Cuttyhunk about 2 -3 hours after the flood starts at Pollock Rip Channel and make your cut over via Quicks hole you'll pick up a nice ride up and you'll have, like you said, a good 3 hours of favorable current. So on june 20th, that would be around 3 in the afternoon.

I'm looking at this pretty quickly,so double check my figuring..
 
#16 ·
Yes, Quick's hole is the best way to get from Cuttyhunk to Vineyard Haven. It's deep and plenty wide enough for opposing traffic and the current does not get crazy. If you want a trip someday, you haven't lived until you've run Woods Hole. A story for another time.

To properly time the current in Vineyard Sound you need to define what you're looking for. Maximum fair current, slack current, or not so bad????

You're only going to be about 20 to 30 minutes from Quick's Hole and the current turns favorable around 2 to 3 hours after flood at Pollocks. If you left 2 hours after flood at Pollocks, you would get an inconsequential favorable current through Buzzards and slack to favorable in the Sound. You may have noticed that tidal current can be opposite in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sounds. Ignore Buzzards. You won't be in it for long and you'll hug the island and not notice it much anyway. Plan for Vineyard Sound. If you want to maximize favorable current in Vineyard Sound, leave Cutty around 3 to 4 hours after flood starts at Pollock. You'll get there in a blink.

If we are stopping at Cutty on our way to the Vineyard or Nantucket, we are going to leave sometime in the morning, no matter what. We just try to plan for the most favorable, whether that be the best fair current or the least on the nose.
 
#17 ·
So using your test date of June 20th... the turn at pollock rip is @ 12:30 in the morning.
3 hours after the turn would put you at a 3:30 am departure or so..
4 hours = 4:30 am. Sunrise on the 20th is 5 am- ish..

The 20th is a Thursday... and timing improves for a daylight departure each day after thursday..
 
#21 ·
You can use the Eldridge if you want, but the Navionics programs as do the others will give you spot on current information in the area you want to rtravel including current spped and direction at varying times throughout the tide cycles that you input. They will even give you the vector

I found for planing purposes the IPAD with these programs are great and easier than using charts etc as you can measure distances, tides, currents etc easier in many ways.

JOrge when you get your IPAD why dont we get together and meet somewhere halfway for,lunch or drinks. I have some other cool apps you might like also.

Dave
 
#23 ·
Woods Hole is really not bad if you time it right. It's plenty deep and wide. Just stay in the channel. Quick's Hole is not dangerous as long as you watch where you're going. Make sure you don't wind up trying to negotiate Robinson's Hole without local knowledge. If not going over to Menemsha, going inside the Islands on the Buzzards side is quite a nice trip. You can wait out an adverse current in Hadley Harbor before going through Wood's Hole.
 
#24 ·
I'd time the passage avoid peak current through Quick's Hole, otherwise you should have an easy time of it. It isn't a big concern, but I've taken some green water over the deck coming out of Quick's Hole on the Buzzards Bay side. The bottom comes up in the vicinity of Lone Rock and can make things sloppy in this area when the tide is running. You could also simply swing wide around Lone Rock to avoid the slop in these conditions.
 
#25 · (Edited)
You're getting the right info here. If you are limited on time, but really want to get to MV, I agree that you sail direct to Menemsha from Newport, come right up Vineyard Sound. You can anchor or get a mooring in the bight, but as mentioned it can be exposed and uncomfortable depending on weather - but if it is only a night and you don't mind some rocking, get a mooring there. Anchor, if you are not leaving the boat for long, but it sounds like you want to look around. You can get one of a handful of moorings inside, but they may be taken. There is transient slip space, but limited. Anyway, get on a mooring, dinghy in and since you are "broke", skip the cab and jump on the best bus system ever and go where you wish to go, VH, OB, South Beach, Edgartown, then bus back to Menemsha, get a seafood quesadilla (really) at Menemsha Seafood and go out and sleep (maybe), then check your Eldridge and head back to Newport out of Vineyard sound.
But, if you don't mind possibly missing MV and you want to see Cuttyhunk as a stop over or possible final destination, come toward Buzzard's Bay. As noted above, although there is current in BB, it is no where near as important as the flow in Vineyard Sound, so don't go nuts worrying about BB current. If leaving Cuttyhunk for VH, focus on getting slack or current with you through Quick's, but most importantly focus on getting northerly current toward VH after exiting the hole. Make sure you are getting enough time to ride that freight train to get up to VH, or you'll have a long, long day if it turns on you. Eldridge, Eldridge, look at the graphical flow charts and then work them back to the time tables. If you end your trip at Cuttyhunk, just head on back to Newport, ideally with the flow. I agree any of these alternatives better than mooring in RI and taking ferry, but don't know what you're looking for. Have fun.
 
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