Riding on the Connecticut River
After Greenport, we decided to take a ride from Essex to Hartford on the Connecticut River. By river, the path from Essex, CT to the end of navigable waters (navigable with a 4 1/2 foot draft anyway) is about 39 nautical miles long.
It’s a pretty ride, but do be careful of the many posted “no wake” zones. There are a number of them in the vicinity of the many marinas, but there are also a number of places where people raft up, and where people fish, swim and otherwise hang out inside the various nooks and crannies as the river winds around. So, even where it’s not an official no-wake zone, there are a lot of places you’ll be doing no-wake speed. Plan on at least 5-6 hours each way for the trip!
Also, plan on being surrounded by jet-skis any time you’re in a zone where you can legally speed up. CT law appears to add a little “wiggle room” for wake jumpers:
“No person operating a personal watercraft shall cross or jump
the wake of another vessel, when within one hundred feet of the
vessel creating such wake, in such a manner that the hull of the
personal watercraft jumping the wake completely leaves the water.” – 2015 CT Boater Guide
So, they just lie in wait and jump when you’re more that 100 feet away. Just slow down and they’ll ignore you!
Feel free to download the route I used in June 2015. This route worked well, needing only minor tweaks as I proceeded. This .zip file contains the .gpx file that I uploaded to my Garmin chartplotter: Essex_to_Hartford.zip
Below are a few images from the trip:
The Opera House at the East Haddam Bridge
A House, sitting at its mooring…
Riverside Park near Middletown – tie up for lunch!
Ferry across the river (there are only a few places to cross)
Hartford comes into view
The Hartford bridges from the pilothouse
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