Going inside in NJ

[Chotu]

I need to get some progress made. Because I am leaving it I will tell you where I am for a moment. Cape May.

today and tomorrow there are severe thunderstorm predictions. But they are going to be 50-50. They may happen they may not. Well they will happen, but they are going to be spread out a little bit.

outside we have 10 to 15 from the south south east or so..
2 to 3 foot seas with a period of I think six seconds.

pretty good weather actually to sail up the coast.

however, I have a mast and boom on deck along with some other materials.

so, I’m thinking it might be a little risky if a thunderstorm comes up and starts bouncing things around too much and putting a stress and strain on everything that I have on deck causing me to potentially lose the rig overboard. That doesn’t sound good.

everything I have ever heard about going inside in New Jersey says that you should never do it. It’s too shallow. All the bridges.

but I have a 36 inch draft and a 13 foot air draft right now.

It’s going to be really really annoying going around in circles instead of going in a straight line, and I think there is at least one bridge that I have to call even with a 13 foot air draft.

However, I can make progress if I go inside today and not have to worry about potentially losing the rig to one of the storms.

I definitely don’t want to sit in Cape May because the wakes are ungodly even with my boat. The wakes are putting a stress on the rig.

What do you guys think?

should I risk it and go outside or should I play it safe and have a very annoying and long day and go inside? And potentially get grounded in there. I don’t think I will, because I have a 36 inch draft, but there’s all kinds of shoaling and weird stuff in there.

any case once I finish the inside I could pop out at Manasquan and keep going up the east river.

or if weather conditions are improving earlier than expected, hopefully, I can pop out one of the other inlets and keep going.

I was potentially thinking about heading outside right now and then coming in Atlantic City and doing the New Jersey intracoastal. But I am still worried that there might be one of these thunderstorms churning things up and bouncing me around and stressing out everything that’s holding my rig on the boat right now.
The thunderstorms aren’t predicted to hit until 1 PM. It’s 6:26 AM now. I should be able to make Atlantic City before they hit. But it is a risk.

any opinions? I’m hoping some people are awake. Because I’m leaving any moment.

probably doing the New Jersey ICW to play it safe with the mast on deck. But I am concerned that maybe there is something that I don’t know about in the New Jersey ICW. Some reason I should not do it.

[Chotu]

Darn. Nobody is awake. Nobody that’s from this part of the world.

Oh well. I’ll just figure it out without external input.

Thinking less risky is the best choice in this case. I like risk. But I like managed risk.

this is wildly risky to go outside with predictions of severe thunderstorms/damaging wind and a rig that’s just sitting on the deck. Inside it is. As much as it's going to be annoying and exhausting

[skipperpete]

Good choice Chotu.... be safe!

[CSYChip]

With only a 3' draft and 13' air draft you should be fine going inside. The inlets are for the most part ugly in bad weather so not the place to run through if a storm pops up while off shore with loose stuff on deck. Good luck.

[Bill O]

With your current air and hull draft, you should have not problem.

A couple of bridges between CM and Great Egg Harbor of 35' are a no go for us, but no problem for you. After that you will have a decent run to Manasquan and the end of the line for the inside run.

Should have good protection from storms and decent anchorages to sleep.

Hope you have a fly swatter and are good with it, otherwise the greenheads will eat you alive!

[Bill O]

This may be something for you as you head N. Saw this notice the other day about Navy training by Sandy Hook and sections may be closed off.


NJ- -Sandy Hook Bay Antiterrorism Drills:
The United States Navy will be conducted antiterrorism drills in Sandy Hook Bay, in position 40-27-21.6N and 074-2-60W, from July 10-12, 2023, between 8:00am to 4:00pm. M240 machine guns, with blank firing ammunition will be heard throughout the area. Civilian craft will not be allowed within the zone. Training vessels will be monitoring VHF-CH 10, for any concerned traffic. Chart 12401 (First District LNM Week 27/2023)

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Bill O

With your current air and hull draft, you should have not problem.

A couple of bridges between CM and Great Egg Harbor of 35' are a no go for us, but no problem for you. After that you will have a decent run to Manasquan and the end of the line for the inside run.

Should have good protection from storms and decent anchorages to sleep.

Hope you have a fly swatter and are good with it, otherwise the greenheads will eat you alive!

Good Lord, you weren’t kidding about those. Ever since the top of the Chesapeake I have had to flyswatters ready. One at the helm and one where I sit. Lol I have been killing a lot of these.

Thank you for the LNM post as well.

Given that I am going inside, I can probably time it to sleep near Manasquan Inlet and then just go straight through the east river in one shot. I will probably do that and just stay away from Sandy Hook

And I’ve never even thought about going inside New Jersey before. It was always no because of a rig.

[Bill O]

Your kill #s will go up doing the inside route.

Would stop/anchor before Pt. Pleasant Canal going into Manasquan. There is one spot between the 2 lift bridges in Manasquan, but a lot less traffic in the Metedeconk River.

[rslifkin]

I agree, with your draft you should be fine to go inside. And you'll get to see (and possibly stop at) some places you won't get to boat past again easily once you've got a rig up.

[Chotu]

Well, it did not go well already.

Following the charts is not recommended here I guess.

I’m sure the “it’s your fault” guy will be by shortly to tell me it’s my fault the ICW charts are wrong.

The center dot on the boat icon is the center of the boat. The picture out the window is the starboard side.

I’m directly on the line (and rotated a bit now) and completely aground.

Wtf.

Charts all say to leave this marker to starboard. All the charts are wrong. Should be left to port. Other boats going by were trying to leave me AND the marker to starboard as indicated on the chart, I advised them to ignore the chart and leave the marker to port


What a waste of my entire day and complete pain in the ass. Should have went outside

[sailingharry]

You left off the pic!

I haven't done much on the ICW, but I think you did a lot so this is probably not news to you. My father did the ICW a lot and I used to hear him grumble about two things.

The first is the marks switch sides. He had a pilothouse motor sailor and had those little red and green buoy-shaped keychains that you get at the boat show, and he would hang them on each side of the light over the steering station as a visual reminder of which side was which. Super easy to forget that the reds are suddenly on the other side! One of his last trips up he missed or forgot about the switch and planted his boat firmly aground on the wrong side of a green mark. Oops!

The second is he said the marks are where they need to be. In shifting areas, the marks get moved and the charts don't get updated. Not for depth, not even for buoy locations sometimes. I did an entry last summer on the north coast of New Brunswick in breaking seas. The buoy said go here, the chart said "ankle deep water." I followed the buoy (with my heart in my throat). Similar issue this spring helping a friend take her boat through Kent Narrows. She was freaking out about the 3-foot soundings on the chart but I insisted that we follow the day markers.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure you know the above. I don't think I really have anything useful to add, I just wanted to tell stories.[emoji16]

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Well, it did not go well already.

Following the charts is not recommended here I guess.

I’m sure the “it’s your fault” guy will be by shortly to tell me it’s my fault the ICW charts are wrong.

The center dot on the boat icon is the center of the boat. The picture out the window is the starboard side.

I’m directly on the line (and rotated a bit now) and completely aground.

Wtf.

Charts all say to leave this marker to starboard. All the charts are wrong. Should be left to port. Other boats going by were trying to leave me AND the marker to starboard as indicated on the chart, I advised them to ignore the chart and leave the marker to port


What a waste of my entire day and complete pain in the ass. Should have went outside

Well cross your fingers it happened at low water..

[Bill O]

Tide is coming in now.

[requiem]

Chotu, do you have Navionics on your phone? I've found the sonar charts work well as a second opinion in inland waters where the official charts lack good coverage.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Charts all say to leave this marker to starboard. All the charts are wrong. Should be left to port. Other boats going by were trying to leave me AND the marker to starboard as indicated on the chart, I advised them to ignore the chart and leave the marker to port

I think the AICW is "red right returning... to Texas."

Is the NJ ICW different then? (I haven't ever looked at a chart or Coast Pilot for there...)

-Chris