From Fort Lauderdale to Lake Ontario

[stormesailor]

Hi All,

While there is alot of information regarding the trip "down" from NY to Florida and beyond, I am finding it hard to get some solid information about coming up from Florida to New York - and on to Lake Ontario.

I plan on bringing a steel Bruce Robert's Custom 53' cutter rig up and am looking at my options. The trip will be mid July.

Recognizing the weather window will be key, it appears that the "best" option is the off shore, take a left at the Gulf Stream and follow it up, and tuck in somewhere south of (or at New York).

If anyone has done this trip and can provide some information regarding the route, etc I would be very appreciative. I am thinking that it is 7-10 days from Fort Lauderdale to New York. And I understand the mast has to come off somewhere near New York to transit the canal up to Lake Ontario. (Can anyone speak to how long this part of the trip will be?)

Any input and advise would be greatly appreciated! 1/2 the fun is in planning the trip, but its only fun with the right information and resources to work from!

Chris

[Tingum]

We recurrently sitting in Oswego having left Lake
worth inlet on the 7th. You are better off if you can run directly up the stream from FLL to NYC. If not, go in at cape fear and up the sound through curry tuck to Norfolk and then either out again or up the bay. Much faster off shore! This time of year you should be OK off Hatteras but watch the weather. Mast off at the Caselton YC just south of Troy then up again at the Oswego Marina. Both can be do it yourself.

[stormesailor]

Thanks...

Can you give me an indication of expected time for each of the two legs (Fl to NY and NY to Lake Ontario)? I expect it to be a delivery and thus no sight seeing stops (direct 24hrs/day).

Chris

[Tingum]

The Fla to NY leg is totally weather dependent so any guesstimate would be a crapshoot. NY to Oswego is easier. Guessing on @6 knots for your boat it should take you 3 long days to get up to Carlton to pull your mast. This is very dependent on the tide! If you can run with the tide it will be faster than bucking it. The Hudson has quite a tidal current all the way up to the Federal Lock at Troy. Figure on a day to pull the stick. You can speed this up by having already built the support horses and taken care of the wiring connections for the mast. You will do just fine using a handheld on the canal so don't fret an antenna hookup. Figure on 3 days to get to Lake Onieda then another day to get to Oswego. Oswego marine can put the stick back in but you do not want to do this if it is blowing out of the North as the harbour can be quite surgey.