Seeking Recommendations To Circumnavigate Long Island

[D.C.Y.]

Seeking advice on anchorages or inexpensive places to stop when circumnavigating Long Island, there seem to be hundreds of $3.50 per foot stopovers but if I don't want to spend all my kitty on slips, docks and mooring fees I'm going to need somewhere to anchor or stop over on the cheep. Draft is 5'2"
Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Sandero]

South shore there are no anchorage for sailboats as far as I know. Lots on the north side or across the sound in CT. You can anchor on LI's north shore:

City Island (actually on CT side by 1/2mile from LI)
Port Washington
Cold Springs Harbor
Oyster Bay
Northport
Eatons Neck
Port Jefferson
Mattituck
Gardiner's Island

[D.C.Y.]

Thanks these all look great. So when people go around the Atlantic side of Long Island do they just take shifts and sail straight around from sheepshead bay to Montauk? Even Shinnecock looks risky for 5'2" draft. The idea is starting look like high risk low reward.
As for Mattituck, they claim 6feet in the channel, is that risky for 5'2" draft? I have only had a boat for a year and have been very careful about staying in 8ft or better.
Regardless, thanks for the anchorages we will definitely check these out for little weekend trips out of Oyster Bay👍


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Sandero]

That's about it! You can't do the Shinnecock inlet in a sailboat.

I've been into Mattituck... of course better to go around high tide... it gives you an extra 3' or so. No rocks... sand and mud.

There is a round the island race.... but most of the cruising in LI area is in the sound and that offers both the LI and the CT side.

[CaptNemoO2]

On the south Shore there are a few places in the west.

1) Just inside East Rockaway Inlet is Bannister Creek. Come through the Atlantic Beach Bridge and there is a small channel going north just east of the bridge. It's usually quite, well protected, but no shore access.

2) Guy Lombardo Marina, Freeport - This is where I keep my boat. It's about 10-15 minute motor from the Loop Parkway Bridge in Jones Inlet. I believe transient rates are $1/ft including electric. I draw 5'9" and have to give an hour on either side of low tide to get over the speed bump in the entrance. My father and friends boats draw right around 5 feet, they have gotten in a dead low. It's a mud bottom so I sometimes dredge my own channel.

3) Between Jones and Fire Island, there are anchorages in the State Boat Channel, but I have no experience with them.

4) Sore Thumb, just inside Fire Island Inlet, by Oak Beach. Gets busy during the day with power boaters, but usually empties as dusk approaches. You can get on the beach but there's really nothing there if you need anything. I have not been there in years, but they dredged last winter and I hear the inlet is better now. I plan on visiting this summer.

I have no experience with other places east of that as we usually sailed through the night if we were going further east. I have not done it in several years, but if I remember correctly it was about 18 hours from ER to Block Island on my dad's boat, a Catalina 42. We would leave in the afternoon and try and arrive before the morning fog. So an overnight from FI to Montauk is not a hardship, but in my experience has always been motoring at night, never much wind.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[lesterbutch]

What ever happened to getting out your charts, finding a nice bay with adequate soundings and going in to look at it, if its good you drop the hook if not you shove off. Just start looking early, if not you sail in the dark until you find something. This circumnavigation is exactly what my wife and I did with our first sailboat. Forget stopping anywhere on the south shore. We sailed right into New York harbour andthrough Hells Gate. There used to be a nice marina at 23rd st. Unfortunately, its going to cost you, big!

[D.C.Y.]

I guess people still get out their charts and hunt around for good holding. As it is winter and we are not sailing I thought I would take this opportunity to ask those who have come before me for any recommendations so as not to have to completely reinvent the wheel. In this age of information it would seem smarter to research before heading out so as to have many verified options in case of heavy weather, illness or systems failure. Not to discount the excitement of exploration as I look forward to poking around the sound with chart in hand, but in the off season with no boat to sail and ice across Oyster Bay my enthusiasm and ambition seek an outlet. I cast the nets of my off season questions and thoughts to you, the seasoned sailors, hopeful to better myself for the safety and enjoyment of my passengers and crew when next we sail.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Roniszoro]

I can think of no good reason to sail around Long Island unless on is participating in the Around Long Island Race.

[D.C.Y.]

Ha! Good call! It's off my list😄👍


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[ctsunsailor]

Plenty of great spots to hit in the sound. Greenport, Sag Harbor , Three mile harbor etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Jim Krause]

Check out Active Captain - they have an excellent wiki-based interactive guidebook with info on anchorages, bays, marinas, etc.

[ztsf]

With a 6' draft on our 40' sailboat, we have always sought to avoid the inlets on the Atlantic side, and just made for Montauk (our staring point is the Raritan Bay). The sailing is off the major shipping lanes and there are no crab/lobster traps to content with, just a few well lit fishing vessels.

We normally lay Montauk point in about 22 hours +/-, and we like to duck around the point and stay in Lake Montauk, a great place to hang out and easy anchoring in protected waters 10' deep.

From there you have a lot of cruising opportunities:

Sag Harbor, Greenport, Cocheles Harbor, Shelter Island - Dering Harbor

Then make the rounding through Plum Gut into the sound. The first real port of call on the NY side is Mattituck, and a 5'2" draft is no problem.

Our rule of thumb is: wind from north, stay on the CT side, wind from the south stay on the NY side.

Great spots at Port Jeff, Huntington Bay, Oyster Bay, Manhasset Bay on the NY side.

Essex, Black Rock, Mystic, Stonington, Stamford, The Thimbles, Mamorneck, Greenwich, Cos Cobb on the CT side.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Jim Krause

Check out Active Captain - ..........

That's it in a nutshell. Just about all you need to know. Anchorages, marinas (with rates) and shallow water. And ratings from people who have already been there.