We are in Newport a few days early. You can see us tied up beside two of my favorite day sailors, the 12 meter boats, AMERICAN EAGLE and WEATHERLY. It's hard to pick which boat to spend the day on when we come down the pier.

On September 6th in Port Washington we looked at the weather and thought if we were going to have any chance of moving east it was time to go. With hurricane Frances to the south and a high pressure system over New England there has been a strong easterly flow between the two that has put the wind and waves right on the nose. The weather forecast predicted 2 to3 foot seas and winds 10 to 15 knots. With Frances predicted to reach New England late in the week we knew it wasn't going to get much better. We headed out east north east across the Sound forty miles to Milford. It was a lousy trip with square waves building to five feet. The boat did great but there was some discussion about divorce from the crew.

We arrived in Milford just before lunch and tied up at the head of the harbor at the town landing. A well done marina with good dock hands in a pretty landscaped park. The town with many restaurants is only a couple of blocks away. We were here three years ago with the J46 and it was nice then but the town and facilities are even better now.

On September 7th the plan had been to go to Mystic Seaport for a few days. When we looked at the weather it was clear that chances of having weather window on Friday or even Saturday to continue on to Newport looked slim. We were still confronted with the easterly winds and seas but the north shore could provide some protection in the morning before the wind was to shift south easterly. At 8:30 AM we left for Fishers Sound and would decide there whether to head up the Mystic River or continue on to Newport.

We arrived in the lee of Fishers Island at 11:00 AM and in moderate seas and slowed to have an early lunch in the relative calm. There is a picture in the photo gallery of North Dumpling Light which marks the west end of Fishers Island Sound. The wind was about 10 knots and the seas were predicted to be 2-4 feet along the unprotected Rhode Island coast so we decided to go for Newport because it was only going to get worse later in the week.

We backed off to 16 knots and the boat did great heading east in the combination of sea swells out of the south east with wind chop out of the east. When we turned north east at Point Judith it put the now 5 foot seas on the quarter which is not the best angle for any hull. MYSTIC ROSE tracked well with the autopilot and we were in Newport by 2:30 PM after 84 miles. This concluded two days of the only trying passages we have made in the two months of cruising.

With Hurricane Frances, our the Long Island cruise with stops at Shelter Island and Mystic Seaport turned in to a two day delivery in poopy weather between New York City and Newport. We have already been out in town and the nautical eye candy here is phenomenal. We won't have any trouble entertaining ourselves. The boat show starts September 16th and we will be heading towards home on the 20th. We will continue the log the next twelve days with shore side experiences.