New Haven and Little Neck Bay - Post 9

We got a mooring at the Pequonnock Yacht Club (PYC) in New Haven. Unlike Old Lyme Marina, the Club did not offer a launch service so we had to inflate and assemble the dinghy to get to shore. The staff and members of the Club were extremely friendly and we were made to feel welcome. Many Club members were interested in our trip and more than once we were invited to join the PYC. Even though we were only there for a couple of days, we were treated like old friends.

The Pequonnock Yacht Club facilities were first-rate and the views from the clubhouse balcony were expansive. Below the clubhouse was the Shell and Bones Restaurant, a fancy restaurant with seating outside, right on the water. We were told that the food was first-rate, but we did not get a chance to sample it. 

Rosalind at her PYC Mooring 
View from the Pequonnock Yacht Club Balcony

We did laundry at the Club; it was the best laundry facility of the entire cruise! We decided to stay an extra day and to see a bit of New Haven. So the next morning we took the dinghy to shore and walked the 2 1/2 miles (4 km) to downtown. The area right next to the water and the Club was fine but a couple of blocks from the water we saw a different side of New Haven:  boarded-up homes and abandoned cars in yards. The apparent poverty was not what took us by surprise but rather the stark contrast between it and the unbelievable wealth of Yale University.  

We got to the city center and Yale University and had a look around the Yale campus. The Yale library was normally off-limits to non-Yale personnel but the security guard at the door invited us in. The staff inside were all very welcoming and polite. We also enjoyed the library's air-conditioning as it was early August and it was still quite hot and humid outside.

 Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

Nathan Hale Statue, Yale University

 Yale University Library

 Gold Leaf Ceiling, Yale University Library

After visiting the Yale library, we had lunch at Claire's Cornercopia, a landmark organic and vegetarian restaurant from the 1970s with many gluten-free options. The place was packed and the lunch was a wonderful experience.

Within two blocks of the Yale library, with its gold leaf ceilings, was a different world. The city advertised a video monitoring system downtown. We took a bus back and we only had to walk a couple of blocks through the boarded-up part of town. The close proximity of this extreme contrast truly made an impression on us.  

In order to catch the tide, we planned to leave early the next morning. So, after an early sundowner at the Club, we returned to Rosalind, secured the dinghy motor on the sternrail and hoisted the dinghy on the davits. The next morning we followed our inbound track out of New Haven harbor and headed for Stamford, Connecticut.

Sunrise, New Haven, Connecticut

We had fair current for the better part of the day and the miles passed under our keel. We approached Stamford in early afternoon and decided to press on to take advantage of the daylight. Traffic on Long Island Sound was light with a couple of ferries going back and forth between Long Island and the Connecticut shore, and a few sailboats and fishing boats. We mainly motored in light winds from dead ahead.  

After an eleven-hour day we anchored in Little Neck Bay, New York. We had averaged 5 knots (9 km/h) and had covered 55 miles (100 km), our longest single-day (non-overnight) run. We were treated to a beautiful sunset with the sun setting behind Throgs Neck Bridge.

Sunset from Little Neck Bay, New York

Throgs Neck Bridge