Oriental NC to Coinjock

[jv20]

Bringing my 42 ocean up the ICW starting friday does anyone have any experience in this area? can I make it from oriental NC to coinjock marina in a day?

[karenmccraw]

I'm sure you can, but it's gonna be a long day! That's well over 100 miles.

[Tia Bu]

It's 130 statute miles (look at the Waterway charts). It all depends on how fast you can run. You'll quickly get an idea how many miles you average in an hour on the ICW.

Consider slowing down. Enjoy it. Logging 12-14 hour days trying to make maximum distance on the ICW quickly makes the trip no fun.

I have slowed down to 30-40 mile days (5-7 hours running in my sailboat), and everyone has a lot more fun.

[rolandcavanagh]

Just ran it, Oriental to the beginning if the Alligator-Pungo canal first day; thru the Alligator River bridge to East Lake second; fuel and lunch in Coinjock, to the Marine Corps bulkhead between the Great Bridge bridge and lock Friday night. Weather was a huge factor, following, wallowing seas on the Neuse R, Pamlico Sound, and Alligator R, and, in spite of holding back, got 22kts on the nose for over half the Albemarle crossing (second half, of course!). BTW, on a 7.5kt trawler...

[Pblais]

The weather is going to be key to making distance especially for the last half. Lots of wide open spaces with shallow water. Blowing hard it can suck the water out of the Albemarle like it did last fall. All that shallow water in weather can be trecherous. The good part is the tide current isn't a huge a factor as it is south of Morehead City.

In one day? I don't think you'll do it in 2 days without perfect conditions and very long days starting before dawn at first light. 2 1/2 days sounds more realistic. You then get a long day to Norfolk and again the Currituck can be trouble too. The water there is even more shallow than the Albemalre. The weather will be key to what you do any given day. Next week is looking good.

[jv20]

Just an update on our voyage north, we made it in 3 1/2 days from oriental nc, all the way up to elkton md which is right at the CD canal entrance.

We picked up a trawler who wanted to tag along so we ave about 10 to 11 knots but was a nice trip. Its much more scenic in the ditch below Norfolk, north of that chessy get big and is a bit boring. Can get very rough out there till the Kent Narrows area from what we experienced.

The great thing is we only used 200 gal of fuel coming up my 471 detriots performed wonderfully and used zero oil as well. Just under 400 miles can't wait to go south again and experience the areas south of the outer banks.