Sailing Long Island Sound

[windyexplorer]

Any good sights or places to go on Long Island Sound, Ny. Sailing out of Port Jeff area. New to Long Island..Any info would be great.. Thanks

[jmo64]

Pt Washington, Oyster Bay, Connecticut shore, Block Island, Montauk, Fisher Island inside to Greenport, Shelter Island....just to name a few. Great places all.

[speedoo]

As the weather gets warmer, the wind in Western LIS really gets light and sailing there becomes a real chore. This is due to the SW sea breeze getting blocked by the heated air from all the blacktop and buildings in Queens and Nassau County. So the sea breeze literally gets lifted up, above LIS and eventually returns to the surface ashore in Connecticut. So you end up with a nice sea breeze on the southern shore of long island, but little if any breeze in western LIS until evening.

The solution for you is to head east from Port Jeff, not west, in the summer. But the only harbor east of you on the Long Island side is Mattituck, which is worth a visit. Lots of nice harbors on the CT shore, around New Haven and further east. Gardiner's Bay and Peconic Bay in between the LI forks are wonderful, as is Block Island Sound.

Block Island is a must visit. Newport, Buzzards Bay, Elizabeth Islands, the Vineyard and Nantucket, all great. But these are not day trips obviously once you go very far east. If you have two or three days you should be able to visit some good spots to the east on the CT shore and Mattituck. And if you can take a couple of weeks or more, visit Block Island and places further east, by all means.

Sometimes in the summer, you will get a NW flow that brings great sailing to western LIS, maybe two or three times a summer, for a few days each time. That's the best time to sail in western LIS.

Have you considered keeping your boat in Peconic or Gardiner's Bay? You would probably have a longer drive to get to your boat, but the sailing there is so much better, and you have excellent access to Block island and points east. I would think about that if I were you.

[captainKJ]

surprised nobody said Sag harbor. great place to visit,,,across the bay is thames river, New Port RI 1 day away, New London great for a visit,, grab a chart of LI and spend some time looking at it,,, very fun place

[mrohr]

Yea,go East;better winds many pretty towns and you can find secluded anchorages on week days at least. Deep maritime history and sailing traditions not to mention fishing and keen racing. might also mention Buzzards Bay,Cape Cod,Mystic,Stonington,Orient, Connecticut River ,Coast Guard, Academy;but by now you must be getting the picture; A lifetime of good cruising at your door step.

[hlev00]

Fisher Island is very nice. We were there Columbus Day so it was easy to find a spot to anchor or borrow a mooring. We hope to make it to Shelter Island this summer. Watch out for the Race if strong winds and current oppose each other. We went through when both were from the west. It was very strange how flat the water was in 18 knots.

[sonAdmiralson]

I boated the sound my whole life. You need to watch the tide and your charts, there are many hazards on the Ct shore, most with confusing markers. The norwalk islands are notoriously dangerous to navigate without local knowledge, as is futher east up the coast. That being said, if you can find your way into Southport, you will see one of the prettiest and most historic harbors in New England. Always approach these silted coasts at high tide. Dont go to captains cove in Bridgeport, its a dump. You can sail into the main harbor at bridgeport without danger, it gets lots of commercial shipping. But New Haven is deceptivly dangerously shallow in most places. The LI shore is much deeper all along. I recommend going as high up the CT river you can, its well marked. And of course Stonington. You can walk the town in five miniutes cute

[sonAdmiralson]

you must have an accurate depth finder. visibility will be around 2 ft if yer lucky

[mbianka]

Lot's of good ideas from previous messages. So I will not repeat them. One thing I would recommend you have on board is a copy of Eldridge Tide & Pilot book:
THE BIANKA LOG BLOG: FROM BIANKA'S BOOK SHELF: ELDRIDGE TIDE AND PILOT BOOK
It will save you a lot of time and/or fuel if you become familiar with the data in this book. I always have it in the cockpit when I sail.

[Cotemar]

Mystic Seaport CT
Threemile Harbor NY
GreenPort NY
Coecles Harbor NY
Sag Harbor NY
West Neck Harbor NY
Dering Harbor NY
Fort Pond Bay NY
Montauk Harbor
Fishers Island NY, west and east harbor
Watch Hill RI
Block Island RI
Point Judith RI
Dutch Harbor RI
Newport RI
And hundreds of others

[GreggL]

I'm new to long island sailing as well. My boats based in new Rochelle and were looking to do a trip out east to sag harbor in August. Any routes that you all know of that would be relatively easy for a beginner; i also hear the gut is tricky. Stopovers along the way would be great too. Thanks!

[Bermuda Forte]

I agree entirely about keeping your boat out east. I too kept my old 40' yawl in New Rochelle during summer for some years only to find wind (and water for swimming) much better at the eastern end of Long Island. It's a drive, but well worth it. Stonington was homenport for summer but now up by Gardiners Bay. I still winter back in NR as it's closer to home for outfitting in the spring..

Don't forget the excellent cruising books by MapTech / Embassy Guides. The "Long Island Sound" edition has what your looking for. It's a must when we simply pick a port we can reach by nightfall while underway making the passage east or west. With changing conditions, plans can change quickly.

[chuckr]

li sound is a great place to explore --
soundyachting.com -- click on the box in the top left corner called sail new england - then click on destinations and finally click on long island - it will probably give you a great itenerary of where to go --
it was built by ted novakowski who owns soundyachting - is a friend and sold us soulmates and still gives us advise and knows li sound like the back of his hand
and NO i do not get anything out of this - but this beats buying a cruising guide

Sound Yachting - Sail New England

just our thoughts
chuck patty and svsoulmates
on the hook prickly bay grenada

[hlev00]

I've been trying to get a blog going with our experiences and confess I haven't been very good at it. However, I did just finally put in an entry for our 10 day trip to Shelter Island.

Juno