Question Sailing New London CT: will it kill me?

Seaotter5

Seaotter5

Well-Known Member
My brother recently moved to New London, CT. He lives right on the waterfront with a boat ramp close by. He has invited me to bring my Sunfish up and explore the area while I stay at his place for a couple of days. Sounds great to me! But he is not a boater, and knows nothing about sailing. With the Coast Guard Academy, submarine base, ferry boats, and commercial traffic it seems like it might be a bit sketchy to sail a tiny board boat there. Does anyone have any local knowledge they can share?
 
I went to college in New London. Sailing class was my favorite! There wasn’t a lot of traffic on the Thames and we would get a kick out of seeing the ‘squids’ from the sub base doing their maneuvers.
As I do the math, though, that was damn near 40 years ago!
The state boat launch is easily accessible, though construction on the bridge has been going on forever. If you’ve got access to a boat I’d say go for it! It won’t kill ya!
 

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My son went to Connecticut College in New London (right across the street from the Coast Guard Academy) and they had a nice sailing club facility right on the Thames River. There was tide and current and but very littlle if any commercial traffic to contend with. Downstream there is commercial traffic, a rocky shoreline no obvious launch sites. Not my first choice for small boat sailing, but maybe your brother knows more about the area.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
Alan S. Glos said:
My son went to Connecticut College in New London (right across the street from the Coast Guard Academy) and they had a nice sailing club facility right on the Thames River. There was tide and current and but very littlle if any commercial traffic to contend with. Downstream there is commercial traffic, a rocky shoreline no obvious launch sites. Not my first choice for small boat sailing, but maybe your brother knows more about the area.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
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Lol, my brother is a great guy, a true gentleman. A real genius in many ways! But when it comes to boating, not so much.
 
I would assume the Thames Yacht Club would be a good place to ask, looks from Google to have a sandy beach which would be a great place to launch, and have lunch! Please post how it goes, always have been interested in a house on (near) the Thames, jealous!:)
 
I checked into some of the Yacht clubs, but Long Island sound is the playground for a lot of very large boats. The information they shared was interesting, but didn’t really pertain much to a Sunfish sized dinghy. A lot of it depicted “courageous runs through huge waves and high winds”, none of which was very encouraging! Of course the same is true of the Chesapeake Bay, my preferred sailing grounds. Yes, the wind and waves can really kick up at times, but most of the time it is a easy and relaxing place to hang out.
 
I checked into some of the Yacht clubs, but Long Island sound is the playground for a lot of very large boats. The information they shared was interesting, but didn’t really pertain much to a Sunfish sized dinghy. A lot of it depicted “courageous runs through huge waves and high winds”, none of which was very encouraging! Of course the same is true of the Chesapeake Bay, my preferred sailing grounds. Yes, the wind and waves can really kick up at times, but most of the time it is a easy and relaxing place to hang out.
 
I would like to thank everyone for their extremely useful information. some of the messages especially were particularly helpful!
 
Probably. I generally don’t sail in completely new places. Just never came up before. I was familiar with the Chesapeake and the East Coast’s tidal sounds from kayaking long before I started sailing. The idea of sailing in a busy unfamiliar seaport is something that I find a bit intimidating!
 
I doubt it will kill you. Conn College and USCGA sail there. I’ve taken the ferry to Block Island from there (years ago) and don’t remember anything too crazy. I’d just stay far away from the submarine yards.
 
We sailed through there and anchored a few nights on our way to the Caribbean. Flat water, protected. The big guys won’t be an issue. The traffic was pretty low.
Nice restaurants.
 
Cascadian505 said:
I doubt it will kill you. Conn College and USCGA sail there. I’ve taken the ferry to Block Island from there (years ago) and don’t remember anything too crazy. I’d just stay far away from the submarine yards.
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A Navy friend says the submarines there are guarded by boats with manned 30- and 50-caliber machine guns.
 
One of my navy friends warned me that apparent threat or not, if I got too close I should expect “an extremely negative reaction from people with big guns and plenty of ammunition and no sense of humor whatsoever.” Yeah, I think I’ll keep my pirate flag, cutlass, and parrot (if I had one) at home!
 
L&VW said:
A Navy friend says the submarines there are guarded by boats with manned 30- and 50-caliber machine guns.
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Yeah, I sail on Port Townsend Bay which is bordered by Naval Magazine Indian Island. It’s where a lot of ordnance is stored for various naval campaigns. If you sail too close you may find yourself on the wrong end of a 50 caliber. We just use common sense and give it a good offing.
 
Haven't laughed so hard in a while.
thanks for the entertaining speculation! (Doubt that the subs will notice as you sail by)
 
Keukasail said:
Haven't laughed so hard in a while.
thanks for the entertaining speculation! (Doubt that the subs will notice as you sail by)
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Can’t speak for New London, but if you do sail to close to military areas you aren’t supposed to here in the PNW, you will be accosted, in a not very friendly way. These guys and gals take their orders seriously, no matter what you look like.
 
Seaotter5 said:
One of my navy friends warned me that apparent threat or not, if I got too close I should expect “an extremely negative reaction from people with big guns and plenty of ammunition and no sense of humor whatsoever.” Yeah, I think I’ll keep my pirate flag, cutlass, and parrot (if I had one) at home!
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Yeah, my son was OOD qualified on the USS Cole. Since that attack, the Navy has no sense of humor about any unauthorized craft approaching their ships. I think you'd be lucky if they ONLY used a .50 cal on you. Destroyers also carry Phalanx CWIZ...
 
Having a brain which is totally filled with useless esoterica…
(Note: everything below is true, but it is supposed to be a bit mock serious as well!)
The USN submarines leaving and returning to port are usually escorted by 34 foot Dauntless MSF craft (built by Sea Ark) which usually have a crew of 3-4, and are armed with a combination of .30 and/or .50 caliber machine guns. Their main tasks are to keep civilian craft at a distance and to make certain that there is nothing in the channel that might hinder or damage a very expensive and strategically important naval vessel.
There are currently over 100 Dauntless class patrol boats in service, but they are gradually being replaced by the much larger 40 foot patrol boats developed by the Metal Shark company.
From a distance the Dauntless class can easily be confused with a civilian commercial boat (although few civilian boats mount machine guns), but the newer Metal Shark boats are quite imposing and are obviously naval vessels.
In general, though, it is wise to yield right of way to any vessel with flashing lights, loud speakers, and weapons approaching you in a very aggressive manner.
Of course in a Sunfish it is wise to yield right of way to anything that is bigger and faster. Which is pretty much everything!
 
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