Sandy Hook to Cape May

[Tempest245]

yes, it looks like Wed/ Thurs will be more moderate conditions.. It blew all day yesterday, I was out near Sandy Hook watching the kite sailors. Gale warnings till this afternoon

[francie]

Saw that too this AM, looks like Wednesday is a better outlook. Thinking about Great Kills Harbor to lay over rather than Liberty Island.

[Tempest245]

Sure, there or the Atlantic Highlands....check your chart there's a shoal spot in the middle of great kills harbor...stay away from that.

[jmo64]

Great thread guys....everyone helping each other out. Francie wave when you sail by lower Manhattan

[lorenzo b]

When we came in we anchored right inside Sandy Hook in front of the CG Station, could save an hour getting out. No place to come in for dinner.
See y'all wed morning.

[donradcliffe]

We just jumped from City Island to the Sassafras River. Saturday was great weather, light easterly and long low swell. Sunday sucked, as we had 25-30 from the NE to go up Deleware Bay with--pretty sloppy until we got into the upper bay. We would have stopped at Cape May, but the forecast was for strong north and northwest winds until Thursday--at least we had NE, so we could sail, and we got into the C&D by 4 in the afternoon ahead of their gale forecast.

I wish NOAA would put a confidence level on their forecasts, as the last low which caused us the problems hadn't even formed yet when we left. NOAA NJ was forecdasting gales, and NOAA NY just mentioned that a low might form. There are some times when they are pretty sure they know what will happen, and sometimes when they are really guessing, and it would be nice to know when that is.

[duncan_ellison]

Hi Don, Not wanting to hi-jack (my own ) thread, but wonder where you are right now if you are in the Sassafras.

We pulled into Georgetown Yacht Basin yesterday and decided to sit today's aweful weather out.

In case it helps anyone else headed South, we stayed a couple of nights in the Bohemia River on the way through, but found it very shoal in the river mouth. Was reading -2 to -3 feet on the charted depths. Could have been a superlow tide after the recent weather, but locals report that it is quite silted.

I had 4ft at one time (I draw 5.5ft !) and was ploughing the soft mud for a while.


Duncan

[sailingmonica]

Hi, Duncan

Glad to see you are progressing well. Just a quick note, when you get to Great Bridge, VA you can stay overnight on the West side (your starboard) between the lock and the bridge. Try to get there early as it fills up quickly. It's free, plus there is (at least was in 2008) a lovely Mexican restaurant called El Toro Loco a couple hundred yards West of the bridge. Two dined well for $9.95 and the beer was $1.50. They are very friendly towards boaters and make great margaritas.

[marineruscg]

Hi All,
Just checking the thread. With the rain of the last couple of days there is a lot of 'junk' in the water coming down the Delaware. You'll see it mostly by the bend at the Salem nuke power plant. Also there is a lot coming down the Susquehanna but it's spreading out when it gets to the top of C'peake Bay so it's not a big problem (things that go 'bump' in the night). There's minimal drainage into C'peake Bay from the other tributaries (Elk River, Bohemia, Sassafrass etc) so the 'junk factor' goes away as you go south.
Anyone going to the boat show">Annapolis Boat Show?... stop by, I'll be bored-to-tears for all 5 days on the Catalina 309.

regards,

cap'n steve

[francie]

We are anchored in Great Kills Harbor, very cozy. Good place to sit till Wed. morning. Maybe then we will get out of the grip of New York! Waved as we passed Manhatten, I have a nephew who works there as well, and friends who were visiting the Statue of Liberty. Tuesday is a good day to explore Staten Island.
Francie

[donradcliffe]

Duncan,
We are on the north side of the Sassafras, about a mile in from the mouth. Comfortable in the northerlies, but if it goes west we may move up inside the first turn to the south. We draw 8 ft, so our anchorages in the Chesapeake are more limited. Probably head to Annapolis tomorrow, as the Admiral has us booked into parties every night of the boat show.

[francie]

We made the trip last night. It looked like the weather overnight would calm down and come from the west. We were flying with 2 reefs in the main and a partial headsail for quite a while yesterday and made good progress south, but then got headed and had to motor sail the last portion of the trip. By that time the wind and water had settled down so it was not so bad. We left NY at about Noon yesterday and got here about 10AM.

Thanks to all who helped with info and resources, we are headed to the boat show tomorrow (by car) and then need to decide if we will keep heading south or go through the C &D canal and Chesapeake Bay.
Mike & Francie