How long is the ICW?

[harpoon5.2]

How much of the ICW can you sail, or are you motoring the whole time?

[JusDreaming]

it is hard to sail as it bends and snakes around a lot.

[rleslie]

Originally Posted by harpoon5.2

How much of the ICW can you sail, or are you motoring the whole time?

First trip down: you put the sails up whenever possible. Afterall we are on a Sailboat!!!

Trip back up: You have sailed around all winter and just want to get back to home port. 100% motoring

Second trip down: If the wind is perfect, you hoist them, but otherwise you motor

Second trip back up: 100% motoring

Third trip down: You do a lot of sailing because you have decided that you can't take that damn ditch any more and go outside whenever possible.

Third trip back up: You motor to Georgia and leave the boat in the marina you searched out on the way down.

Fourth trip down: You can't sail, you now have a Grand Banks!!!! Sure it burns 20 gal. per hour, but the trip time is cut in half. Besides, it has an over/under washer dryer, 50 gal holding tank and 20 gal hot water heater.

Fifth trip: There is no fifth trip, you now own a motor home and spend most of your nights in Wal-Mart parking lots and rely on Pilot Tom's latest issue of "The RVers Guide To Clean Rest Rooms Along Our Nations Interstates". (Pilot Tom used to be a cruiser too)

Roger

[rleslie]

Oh, I forgot to mention that the Grand Banks is an '83 model. You had to sell the 2004 Tartan to pay for the divorce.

Roger

[harpoon5.2]

LOL rleslie, nice summary

I was asking, cause i figured it would take alot of motoring since you are in a canal the whole time. When I think back of when I was a kid and we had a 38' sailboat and the little hours we put on that motor, and the near zero hours I put on the outboard on my boston whaler, I couldn;t imagine motoring that far.

[bottleinamessage]

We're currently in Charleston (brr). Will like depart tomorrow for an outside run to St. Augustine, then further south and cross to the Bahamas.
Jay
s/v Far Niente

[Vasco]

There are quite a few sections where you can sail if you wish such as Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound and various sounds and rivers and even in the narrow sections. The AICW is not a dug channel the whole way. It's a system of cuts that connects rivers and bays and sounds. Most sections are fairly wide although few are deep the whole width. The problem is most folks are trying to make a certain distance every day so they end up motor sailing or motoring most of the time. I came north one year and met two boats, one an Edel cat and the other one I forget but think was about 30 feet mono. They sailed most of the way, sometimes tacking up narrow channels. They just loved sailing and didn't really care where they ended up when it got dark. A few years ago I read about an Aussie woman that sailed her engineless steel boat up the ICW. The main problem is that in many sections there are strong currents so if you're going to sail you have to factor this in. I have done the trip many times but still marvel at how you can approach an inlet with the current against you and then when you pass the inlet and think it'll be with you, it's still against you. Go figure. So if you want to sail all the time you can give it a shot but going south in winter you're trying to get to warmer weather so motoring or motor sailing is the preferred method.

[rleslie]

Originally Posted by bottleinamessage

We're currently in Charleston (brr). Will like depart tomorrow for an outside run to St. Augustine, then further south and cross to the Bahamas.
Jay
s/v Far Niente

Jay

We're anchored on Whiteside Creek, appox. 13 hours North of the Inlet. We will leave around 07:00 and jump outside for the same run. Hope to be around the break-wall around 9:30.

What time do you plan to leave?

Roger

[rleslie]

Originally Posted by rleslie

Jay

We're anchored on Whiteside Creek, appox. 13 hours North of the Inlet. We will leave around 07:00 and jump outside for the same run. Hope to be around the break-wall around 9:30.

What time do you plan to leave?

Roger

OOPS.....that should read 13 miles not hours

[bottleinamessage]

Roger: Was just notified of your post. We left Charleston on Friday morn. Had a pretty rough ride that night and Sat AM. Came in at Jacksonville (St. Johns) inlet. Now in St. Augustine with plans to leave tomorrow heading south.
Jay

[rleslie]

Originally Posted by bottleinamessage

Roger: Was just notified of your post. We left Charleston on Friday morn. Had a pretty rough ride that night and Sat AM. Came in at Jacksonville (St. Johns) inlet. Now in St. Augustine with plans to leave tomorrow heading south.
Jay

Jay

Glad to hear that you made it. We also left Friday and got caught in the same weather. Over a five hour period we made 13km headway and decide that we were not in that big of a hurry. So, we headed back some 23 miles and spent a few days in Hilton Head. Finally made it to Fernandina Beach today (Tuesday).

Have a safe trip!!!

Roger & Evans