Sailing NY to Norfolk in March...

[mrohr]

Hi: lotsa good advice here;Alantic is cooold in march and other than Alantic City no places to duck in if conditions go bad which can happen quickly in the non summer months. Dicey inlets, a lee shore , and shoal water way out can make this a realcrapshoot for the inexperienced. Marinas? If you need to tie up at night you had better call ahead and ascertain if any are open . Wait till May and You should have a lovely trip ,but even so I'll wager you will have cold nites offshore.

[jimbim]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions. Sale is a done deal and we are flying in on Wednesday. Might have many more questions, but if not, will surely report in later on how things went.

[smurphny]

If not familiar with these waters, take all the advice above. Forget the NJ bays at this time of year because the channel is difficult to follow in the best of times and there are many shallow spots. Deep draft vessels don't go there. You well may spend weeks at Atlantic Highlands waiting for a weather window in March as nor'easters are quickly followed up by nor' westers, both blowing gale force winds. Stable high pressure system do not normally stay around for long until May. The hike down to Cape May is an overnighter and has to be timed just right to hit slack/incoming current. Make sure your cabin heater is working well! This is a nasty, hard to predict stretch of weather and water and you need to have a knowledge of and a feel for the weather patterns to know when to set sail.

[jimbim]

Arrived in Fort Lauderdale today. Interesting trip. Lots of fun. Set off from Long Island Sound three weeks ago and sailed through New York. Felt like I was in a movie.

Forecasts were for strong west winds, perfect to sailing down the coast. No waves, just cold wind. Got to Cape May next morning, sailing past. Weather window closing quickly, but thought we could do it... until we were voted down 2-2 by our wives, so sailed up Delaware Bay, anchoring off what must be a nuclear power station near the canal. Not a disappointment, though, wanted to see the Chesapeake, which was a disappointment because we didn't have time to explore. In our three days on the Chesapeake, two of them quite warm, did not see a single sail other than our own, which surprised me some given its reputation.

Hatteras was iffy, so after some debate took the ICW as far as Georgetown, then went out, sailing three days to West Palm Beach, forced in by adverse Gulf Stream, and motored a last day past incredible wealth to here.

Would do it again in a heartbeat.

Flying back to cold Korea in a couple days to finish readying our little boat for the sail back to Japan, and then home this summer after a couple months in the inland sea.

Thanks for the help.

[smurphny]

Nice! Sounds like you hit it just right. 0 degrees here in the Adirondacks this morning. Boat still frozen hard by Lake Champlain. I'm wicked jealous. Heeeeeeeeeeeeers Johnny.

[doug86]

glad you made it!

[Kettlewell]

Good job judging the weather! Glad you had a good trip--you should come back when the weather is nicer and spend some time exploring.

[Pblais]

Good judgment. 2 admirals always beats a captain so no tie votes on a boat like yours. You did the trip pretty conservative and had a great time. Chesapeake in March is just ify. Lower bay has few boats in the summer so not surprised you didn't see much. The straight shot down the Chesapeake just isn't exciting any time. You need to be 2 miles off shore most of the time or run aground. Getting back in there takes some time and maybe another trip you'll do it. Lots to see if you do. The ICW to Georgetown I like quite a bit. Not having an ice storm helps.

You really did nail it in all the places that mattered. As noted you passed a lot of fun places that you just didn't have time for. Moving along in your situation was the right thing to do. The weather isn't breaking much and maybe in a week it will be better for longer periods. Even April is not a given through NC. We had snow two days ago here on the lower Chesapeake. It didn't stick but at those temps it's no fun sailing all day.

[jimbim]

Just a correction to my last post. Wife straightened me out today on the flight back to Seoul. It was 14 days from NY to Fort Lauderdale. Seemed longer to me though maybe it was all the delays getting the boat ready. No wonder we didn't have more time to explore.