Docking and or mooring in Portsmouth NH area

[Sethrkallman]

We are new owners. Bought or CD 27 last summer and have been refitting etc since. for 25 years I have wanted , ok lusted after a cape dory 27. Health issues drove me away from white water kayaking. Funny, my brother found the boat on Block Island. "On the hard" as it were. We took the ferry over, got directions to the boat, from it's then owner Cliff. We rode up on our bicycles, Found the boat, in a cradle in his yard.. This Fellow drove up on his lawn tractor, all ready to talk. I had to hold him off a minute as I fussed with my oxygen tanks, got breathing properly . He had one good leg that he started life with and a plastic one some surgon had given him a couple of years back. So we spent the next 1/2 hour comparing disesases and stories and what and what not we could each do. He had sailed and love that boat for many years, but several years ago diabetes and complications drove him ashore. I still have a few years breathing left so I promised to love her dearly and take good care of the boat. As well as take him out when we had her all done. We made a good deal that we could both live with happily. So when I give her up she goes to some one else who, the last thing they want to do is own a CD27.

We went back late august with a truck and trailer, ( am in the construction and rigging business ) loaded boat on to trailer, then truck and trailer on to ferry and came home. She now is dry and under cover in our barn and close enough to put in time when ever we want.
We have since replace the cockpit combing, torn out all the motor, and replacing it with a reman 2 cyl kubota. all the wiring plumbing electronics, etc is being replaced. ( what gps do we want, )

We can see actually getting her in the water this June. We live an hour and a half from Portsmouth NH and need a place to keep her..there. White water is different, show up at the river, throw the boat in and go, try to keep it right side up etc. Well the try to keep it right side up is the same. but the logistics of docks and moorings are new to me. Any assistance direction thoughts or what have you will be appreciated.
Much thanks
and our family mantra,
work hard, play hard
Seth

[Carl Thunberg]

Since you have experience with white water you're going to love the Piscataqua River! Take a look at a map; even a road map will do. All that water in Great Bay and Little Bay flushes in and out with every tide cycle and gets squeezed into a river channel. The current in the Piscataqua River is to be respected. To the extent possible, plan your transit up and down the river to coincide with slack tide.

Moorings are regulated by the State of New Hampshire, and there are long waiting lists for them. If you eventually want your own mooring, then get on a waiting list now. My mooring is in the Peirce Island mooring field across the river from the Navy Yard. It took 13 years for me to get my current mooring. Moorings are available for rent from several marinas, but they fill up fast. Try Great Bay Marine first because they have the biggest mooring field and you'll have your best chance of success there. Great Bay Marine is pretty far from open water, so you'd likely spend most of your time in Great Bay. Wentworth by the Sea Marina is closer to open water, but hard to get into.

There's a lot more that I could tell you about being in Portsmouth, including phone numbers and who to talk to. Send me an e-mail using the e-mail button below.

[Sea Hunt]

It took 13 years for me to get my current mooring.

I just renewed my parking decal for Dade County parks/marinas. I am on the waiting list for a dock at Matheson Hammock, as well as on waiting lists with several other county docks (dwindling in number yearly). When I initially signed up in 2003 I was told there was a 7-8 years waiting list. When I renewed by parking decal yesterday I was told I am now only on 5-6 years away from being assigned a dock. Yippee

I thought 7-8 years for a dock was bad. 13 years for a mooring is insane.

[mahalocd36]

We live(d) in brookline, NH near Nashua. When we first got a boat we started looking around Portsmouth/Kittery as well. What we found was that it has limited cruising grounds (nowhere to go but Isle of Shoals on a weekend) , long long waiting lists for moorings (I would believe 13 we were told 25 years some places), and a nasty current/tide on that river. So we started looking at other options and found we were almost just as close to Buzzards Bay, and sailed out of Mattapoisett for a while as we found a mooring right away. Also, Clay Stalker, on this board, lives in Keene, near you and sails out of Bristol, RI, which is also a great crusiing area. Last year we started sailing out of Falmouth, ME, also 2 hours drive from southern NH. Love it.

Just to give you some other ideas.

Melissa

[Carl Thunberg]

Melissa makes some excellent points. The reality is, on most day sails we do go to the Isles of Shoals or Cape Neddick. Fortunately for us, we have a camp in the mid-coast area of Maine, so we're only in Portsmouth in May, June and half of July. Keep your options open, like Melissa said. The roads are better going north/south than east/west and you could well make it to Buzzards Bay in a reasonable amount of time.

Robert, keep in mind that the waiting list is only if you want to own your mooring. You can rent mooring or dock space from a marina much sooner than that.

Despite its shortcomings, we have come to love Portsmouth Harbor. It definitely grows on you. Tall ships visit the harbor often, you get to watch the subs over at the shipyard, and it's a gas making 10-12 knots over ground when you're going with the current! (assuming of course you're downstream of the bridges )

[SeaBelle]

and my mooring is in Rockland, ME over 3 hours away. People always ask why and my answer is always the same 'How many times can you sail to the Isles of Shoals?' Sailing grounds here start getting interesting east of Portland and I love Penobscot Bay (and East). I almost always did multi-day sails so I traded off driving (at 70mph) for being in great cruising grounds.

Sadly, I'll be selling my mooring this year. If anyone is interested contact me.

[Sethrkallman]

Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am; a reluctant enthusiast, a half-assed crusader, a part-time fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards.
I think this was edward abby.

[mahalocd36]

Robert, keep in mind that the waiting list is only if you want to own your mooring. You can rent mooring or dock space from a marina much sooner than that.

Really? At the time we were looking for just a rental - though we may not have made that clear when we were asking around. I guess that's a good point in making that distinction then! ! Because we couldn't find anything available, so we had to look elsewhere if we actually wanted to sail our boat. Couldn't really stand leaving her on the hard just because of mooring availability. Rather driver further than no sailing ! The good news is that once you get in someplace you can upgrade (we did from 23' to 36') and stick around

[Dick Kobayashi]

I join with Melissa and others in suggesting that you cast a wider net for a moring. I have kept a boat in Mattapoisett for quite a while - no too far from Mahalo. The quality of on-the-water time is an important consideration in making the choice. Another thought is that Maine is beautiful, but cold. South of Cape Cod the water is much warmer (do you plan to ever have your body enter the water?) and the season for sailing without mittens is longer. All this to be traded against "drive time" of course.

[Clay Stalker]

Seth-

As Melissa said, I live in Keene and sail from a mooring in Bristol, R.I. Bristol is a beautiful, historic sailing town and I love it there. I can make it in a day to anywhere on Narragansett Bay, Newport, Block Island, Stonington/Mystic CT area, Cuttyhunk, and some harbors on Buzzards Bay. Hard to beat that range of classic sailing areas. Bristol is a 2.5 hour drive from Keene.

That said, Maine is the most beautiful place to sail in my humble opinion, especially Penobscot Bay, though Casco Bay is nice also. I have several friends from the Keene area who sail out of Rockland.....it's that good. Having grown up in Portland, I know the area well, and used to keep my boat in Kittery on a mooring in Pepperell Cove. But Maine does have some disadvantages....and these are very cold water, frequent fog, prop-grabbing lobster pots everywhere, and a relatively short season. Many say that these problems are well worth having for sailing in the raw beauty of Maine, and they are right. But I like the R.I. area for the warmer water, less fog, very few pots, and the history. I like to anchor in small coves and swim from my boat.....it takes a hearty soul to do that in Penobscot Bay.

Living in Harrisville, you are roughly 2.5 hours from nearly every sailing venue in N.E.....the CT shore, Mass. shore, R.I. shore, southern Maine, and even Lake Champlain, another great place to sail. Moorings are available to rent in most of these areas....the prices vary widely. Do some research......you really cannot go wrong.