OK, I'm assuming a
Hunter 430 is a sailing yacht - sorry, British, so not too familiar with N American
boat types - so irrespective of whether you bail out up the Delaware or go on to Norfolk, you'll have to go 'outside', the NY to Delaware Canal's too shallow.
We went both ways last year, heading north the weather was kind (the lull ahead of
Hurricane Arthur) so we went from near Norfolk to NY none stop with no problems; a pleasant 5-6
knot sail the whole way. From what we learnt then and confirmed returning, we ran 3-4M
offshore during the fair-tide (ebbed N as I
recall?) then when it began easing, we moved close inshore before the foul-tide kicked-in; during the final few miles up to Sandy Hook we were not much over 4-500m
offshore. Saw very few other vessels,
commercial or pleasure, a few day-fishing
boats whenever we were close to an inland access and some big/fast casino(?) boats as we approached Sandy Hook. If you want to shorten the
passage a bit or wait/work the tides - they were strong around Norfolk entrance, passing the Delaware and entering/crossing NY Harbour - then we used
anchorages just SE of the Elizabeth River Bridge (by the helicopter base - Willoughby?) and Gravesend Bay behind Coney Island - both proved good, I've logged details/info on them on Active
Captain. It was about 270M and we took only a little over 50 hours; coming south would probably be a bit slower as I reckon we got the 'best' of the tides on that northerly run.
Returning was a different story and we took a kicking from some un-forecast and to us at least, unexpected, thunderstorms ahead of a fast-arriving Norther; we were about 15M south of NY Harbour entrance when the
VHF came alive with Coastguard warnings and Mayday/Pan-Pan calls in the NY Harbour and surrounding areas, so no point heading back that way. We stayed out 4-5M looking for relatively deep
water (not that the US
east coast has much!) irrespective of tides and eventually bailed-out at Atlantic City - we covered that on Active
Captain too and can advise from personal experience, that the entrance is still accessible, albeit slowly, in 30+
knot winds, pitch-dark (other than
lightning flashes!) and against a foul tide.
Anchor between the main channel and casino's side, the tide rips through and it's uncomfortable, but 'any port in a storm' and all that, we were very grateful for it.
Having sat out the Norther (3 days) in Atlantic City's brilliantly sheltered, but isolated inner anchorage (north of the channel) we headed on and stopped at Cape May too; we didn't test it, but I suspect you could safely get in there in pretty much anything too, though in more strong northerly winds, we found the anchorage much less reassuring than Atlantic City's. From there direct to the Delaware you need to get under a lower than usual bridge (55ft? - check Active C) but leaving around low tide we had a fantastic sail, getting a strong tidal push the whole way. There was a LOT of commercial traffic going up and down there, but we travelled overnight and other than whilst passing a couple of really shoal spots when we had to come into it, we sailed the whole
passage just to the N & E of the big-ship channel, so we didn't cause any problems/concerns for each other.
No idea about Ocean City, but a 6'
draft yacht we know bailed out into Barnegat Inlet without problems when that Norther came through, but in daylight; we looked longingly at it as we passed by, but didn't fancy risking an entry in the dark. Another yacht we know escaped the same storms in that Henopen Refuge anchorage at the main Delaware River entrance and gave it a 'better than nothing, it certainly helped' rating.
Hope this helps, good luck!
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