Offshore Beaufort,NC to Miami

[GRNordstrom]

Hi,
Weather permitting, I want to do an offshore from Beaufort,NC to Miami on or about November 10. (USMC Birthday) What charts would you experienced folks recommend? Also, some inlet info would be great if the weather becomes "unpleasant" and I need to run and hide. I have Dodge's Inlet Charts but their 3rd edition is now 10 years old and I'm positive a lot has changed.
My 44' Krogen is a 7 knot charger; sea worthy, comfortable, not fast, but I'm a former sailor so I'm used to these "speeds". Staying 20 or so miles off shore would put me 3 or so hours from an inlet if I'm right on it but likely a lot more.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks, Ray

[s/v Moondancer]

We have done that trip 3 times and never got more than 5-10 miles off-shore. South of Canaveral you need to be on the 60-100 ft line to stay out of the edge of the Gulf Stream. Once south of Canveral we were never more than 1/2nm from the beach.


20 mile off-shore would put you in the Stream and punching 2-4 knots of current.

Almost all the inlets are dangerous in bad weather including Jacksonville and Miami.

[GRNordstrom]

Hi Phil,
By the "60-100 foot line" I think you are talking about depth.
Let me know if i'm wrong.
Ray

[capt-couillon]

Inlet charts for Georgetown Charleston Savannah St Mary's Jax Fort Pierce Lake Worth Port Everglades Miami...

Second on gulf stream comment.... Center of the stream off Ft Lauderdale right now is about 12 miles. You will find yourself closer to the beach than seems prudent in the last 150 miles.

Winds here (Manatee Pocket, Port Salerno) have been running 20-25 out of E and NE for past few weeks. Wave heights from NE winds against the stream 7-9 with up to 12 some days. Easters are pushing hard on to a lee shore. Sitting here waiting for something to break for a few days so we can jump outside but not in so big a rush as to beat up us and the Solitaire.

One last point (suggestion?) If you are heading outside at Beaufort (NC) you might consider breaking early at Wrightsville Beach (Masonboro Inlet) and pop back out at Southport. 65 mile run is a good shakedown after spending days on the ditch, and you avoid having to swing wide around frying pan shoals. From Southport it is a pretty much straight run south.

Nor' Easters seem to have come a little early this year... Be safe

[colemj]

We just finished this trip 2 days ago (well, to Ft. Pierce, not Miami). There is no need to hug the coast that much, and if you do, you will add another day to your trip. Right now, the West wall of the Stream is 50nm off Cape Fear, 100nm off Charleston (it is taking a big dog-leg to the East there right now, but don't count on that remaining), 70nm off Savanna and 10nm off Canaveral. At Canaveral down, just stay in the <60' depth line and you will be fine.

I have never heard of Miami entrance being dangerous in bad weather, and we have entered it in some pretty rough stuff. This time, we entered Ft. Pierce in the dark in 30kt E wind and 8' breaking top seas with no issue. However, we only did that because of slack tide. If the tide was running out, there is no way we would have done that inlet in those conditions. Canaveral and Miami will be fine in all conditions other than hurricanes. So will Fernandina, Lake Worth, Charleston and probably Savanna (we have never been in that one).

Personally, I would find it a pain to go offshore for one day, come back in and do the ditch for another day, then head back offshore again for 3-4 more days. Once offshore and in rhythm, why break it if nothing has failed? Particularly since the weather windows are so short right now.

Mark

[Lodesman]

We used the Maptech chartbook, and Navionics on the chartplotter - no real complaints about either. You can download all the NOAA charts for free if you have the time: NOAA BookletCharts(TM)

If you do have to jump in at any point you can call Seatow or Towboat US for local knowledge; when you call the 1-800 number just ask for the local operator's number.

[Snore]

All you need is a laptop and OpenCpn, then you can download all the charts.

Seems crazy not to have that as a back up. And in the case of a Krogen 44 that should be in the wheelhouse.


Sent from my iPhone- please forgive autocorrect errors.

[GeoPowers]

Originally Posted by colemj

We just finished this trip 2 days ago (well, to Ft. Pierce, not Miami). There is no need to hug the coast that much, and if you do, you will add another day to your trip. Right now, the West wall of the Stream is 50nm off Cape Fear, 100nm off Charleston (it is taking a big dog-leg to the East there right now, but don't count on that remaining), 70nm off Savanna and 10nm off Canaveral. At Canaveral down, just stay in the <60' depth line and you will be fine.

I have never heard of Miami entrance being dangerous in bad weather, and we have entered it in some pretty rough stuff. This time, we entered Ft. Pierce in the dark in 30kt E wind and 8' breaking top seas with no issue. However, we only did that because of slack tide. If the tide was running out, there is no way we would have done that inlet in those conditions. Canaveral and Miami will be fine in all conditions other than hurricanes. So will Fernandina, Lake Worth, Charleston and probably Savanna (we have never been in that one).

Personally, I would find it a pain to go offshore for one day, come back in and do the ditch for another day, then head back offshore again for 3-4 more days. Once offshore and in rhythm, why break it if nothing has failed? Particularly since the weather windows are so short right now.

Mark

+1 on no issues with the stream going further outside for at least the northern part of your trip. I just did the leg from Southport, NC to St. Johns River inlet & Jacksonville, FL, leaving Tuesday morning and arriving Thursday. We did a rhumb line from Cape Fear to off of Fernandina as much as the wind allowed, with no issues with current (we diverted south to St. Johns River for slip availability/cost) We actually caught a little eddy out there on Wednesday pushing us along a bit.

Like capt-couillon suggested, our original plan was to pop out at Beaufort, NC, do the 65-ish nm day sail outside to Masonboro inlet, drop the hook for the night, and then pop out at Cape Fear on the other side of Frying Pan Shoals. Our reasoning was we were a crew of two, so the longer the sail outside the greater the lack of decent sleep. However, it was fairly snotty outside Sunday, so we decided to go down the ICW to Wrightsville Beach. That little stretch on the ICW was probably the most painful of the whole trip from MD to FL- with crappy weather, shoaling, difficult nav markers, and difficult bridge timing for a motoring sailboat. I felt lucky we didn't touch bottom with our 6'3" draft. Next time I'll just wait and do the Beaufort to Masonboro inlet thing!


Frank

[DDabs]

Just did this from Brunswick, GA to St. Pete, FL... stayed about 5-10 miles offshore and was not affected by the stream at all. I use Navionics charts and they have been absolutely great.

[Cadence]

Sounds like you should put in at Port Royal or Beaufort, SC. And visit PI or a least a bar close by on Nov. 10th.

[Symphony]

i found that it was not worth it to go outside for only a day. there's a lot of time "overhead" in getting in and out of the inlets, getting back into the ICW frame of mind. If you go outside do at least 2 if not 3 days of straight travel. Watch for a weather window and then shave off the entire bight of Georgia!