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sck5 · 27-01-2009, 20:29

most of the moorings boats we saw were cats (all motoring as it happens, even with great wind for sailing) but we were on a mono with 5 ft draft. Most of the non-charter boats we saw were monos. There were places we had to watch it but I honestly think we would have been watching out if we were in a cat also - the channels are mostly pretty clear of stuff and the cays are very steep to for the most part - we were in 40-50 ft. a stones throw away from many of them. Being in a mono didnt constrain us at all and the reefs are pretty clear from the water color - and as I said above we wouldnt have wanted to sail into them in ANY kind of a boat. It is a good idea to have someone on the bow looking as you approach any of the cays particularly since the charts and chartplotters arent very reliable. (although my Garmin handheld seemed a bit better than the raymarine plotter on the boat) However, the Rauscher cruising guide IS pretty good. All of the reefs and shoals they had in their drawings were where they said they were and all of the approaches worked for us.

27-01-2009, 20:29	#57
sck5 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: me Ithaca NY, boat Rock Hall Boat: Caliber 33 Posts: 135	most of the moorings boats we saw were cats (all motoring as it happens, even with great wind for sailing) but we were on a mono with 5 ft draft. Most of the non-charter boats we saw were monos. There were places we had to watch it but I honestly think we would have been watching out if we were in a cat also - the channels are mostly pretty clear of stuff and the cays are very steep to for the most part - we were in 40-50 ft. a stones throw away from many of them. Being in a mono didnt constrain us at all and the reefs are pretty clear from the water color - and as I said above we wouldnt have wanted to sail into them in ANY kind of a boat. It is a good idea to have someone on the bow looking as you approach any of the cays particularly since the charts and chartplotters arent very reliable. (although my Garmin handheld seemed a bit better than the raymarine plotter on the boat) However, the Rauscher cruising guide IS pretty good. All of the reefs and shoals they had in their drawings were where they said they were and all of the approaches worked for us.