Challenge: Snowbird Express !

[Butler]

Departure Point is Cleveland.
You have Nov 10 as your start time.
The boat is a 24' sloop with 4' draft and an 8hp outboard.
Easy to drop tabernacled mast.
Destination is The Bahamas

What's the float plan?

Challenges?

Thanks you all for helpin' me out with this!

[oldjags]

Put it on a trailer and tow it to Miami. Nov 10 is pretty late to be sailing it from Cleveland unless you enjoy freezing your butt off. :-)

[Butler]

Makes the most sense jags... not an option however. Thx anyway

[boatman61]

Just bite the bullet and wrap up warm...
ICW to Moorehead/Beaufort then jump out to Bermuda and head South...
I Have done UK to Spain non-stop in a 22ft across the Biscay in December so it is managable...
just don't fight the sea's... be prepared to reef/heave to and ride things out till it dies down then push on...
it gets frustrating after the 4th/7th day hove to but...
**** happens

[Cormorant]

This might figure into it (from Waterway Guide):
Erie Canal to open for two weeks in late November


Albany, NY (September 26, 2011)

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that the Erie Canal will reopen to commercial and recreational traffic for a two-week navigation period that begins Thanksgiving Day. The canal has been closed in the Mohawk Valley since major flooding damaged several canal structures late last month.

The canal is projected to re-open on Nov. 24 and close on Dec. 8 to allow transient marine traffic to reach their destinations this season. Two large tour boats are among the many vessels that have been stranded on the Great Lakes since Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee devastated parts of the state. Those boats will now be able to complete their journeys.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Welcome Aboard Cruisers Forum

[Butler]

Perfecto Boatman and Cormorant! thank you... thought I heard that the Erie Canal had to be closed for a bit. The timing ought to work out well if I can put things together right. Still a bit up in the air.

[River Cruiser]

How about the Ohio river to the Tennessee river to the TennTom to Mobile bay & the Gulf?

[Butler]

Thx River Cruiser... I thought I was going to have to downsize with a sweet little D&M 22 from Ohio 1972 Douglass & McLeod 22' sailboat for sale in Ohio and was going to have to get her south. These are S&S designed, not too many built and look like mini-transats (absent the twin rudders and moveable keels)well ahead of their time.

This will be a good resource however. When I finally get around to the Caribbean and experience all that would love to get back into the states via the ICW etc. and do something like the Great Circle Route. Seems like it would be a great way to experience the States.

[captain58sailin]

Sounds like a fun trip!

[Amapola]

I agree with OldJags.

[hellosailor]

Challenges:
Three weeks of ten hours day (basically, dawn to dusk) motoring down the ICW. You'll need lots of fuel storage so you don't waste too much time refueling en route.
And then what, another week getting from Cleveland down to NY harbor and over to NJ or wherever you pick up the ICW? Going offshore out of NY harbor may not be feasible, given the time of year and potential weather.
That engine had better be rock-solid, too. Gonna be a long drive.

[gettinthere]

they MIGHT get the Erie opened starting Thanksgiving day.

It will be VERY cold in upstate NY that time of year. It cannot cost much to hire a truck to move it south for you, perhaps to Norfolk, Va. Cost for your fuel & docking will be similar.

Don't forget that most of the marinas will close Nov 1st. Fuel will be hard to come by. None will have water available as they will shut off & winterize their water system.

[zeehag]

upstate ny is frozea** this time of year--we sailed hudson river in thanksgiving time and were so bundled up we could barely move. bbbrrrrr...i know there is a better way to sail.....

[kenny chaos]

Originally Posted by gettinthere

hire a truck to move it south for you,

.

Here's a guy in Annapolis that just gave me a price of 2k to haul a boat from there to Oak Orchard river on Lake Ontario. He has a hydraulic trailer and can launch and retrieve a boat right off a ramp so there's no haul out fees etc.. Matt 443 506-0905

just in case....
(29 degrees in Rochester, NY right now.)

Good-luck
Kenny