Wheres the best place to start the ICW

[gclayton]

My plans to sail my boat from Erie down the St Lawrence River to the Atlantic and NH are sunk due to a business snafu.

SO because I couldnt start until this October and the closing weather window I was stuck with the thought of trucking the boat back to NH for storage for the winter. Then the plan evolved! I will truck my Catalina 30 to the ICW in Oct and start there. I can drop it anywhere it will still be warm, mabye N. or S. Carolina??

I need advice from someone who has done the ditch before. Can anyone offer advice and recommend for a good location to drop my boat, a good marina with a travel lift I can have my boat delivered to? I will probably stay there a week for final provisioning before moving on.

Thanks for any help

George

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by gclayton

My plans to sail my boat from Erie down the St Lawrence River to the Atlantic and NH are sunk due to a business snafu.

SO because I couldnt start until this October and the closing weather window I was stuck with the thought of trucking the boat back to NH for storage for the winter. Then the plan evolved! I will truck my Catalina 30 to the ICW in Oct and start there. I can drop it anywhere it will still be warm, mabye N. or S. Carolina??

I need advice from someone who has done the ditch before. Can anyone offer advice and recommend for a good location to drop my boat, a good marina with a travel lift I can have my boat delivered to? I will probably stay there a week for final provisioning before moving on.

Thanks for any help

George

Well, the actual start of the ICW is of course Norfolk VA. Difference in temps in Oct between there and SC is minimal so may as well go for the shortest trucking and save a few bucks.

[Waterway Guide]

In October, anywhere on the Chesapeake Bay is a good starting point, and you may enjoy cruising the Bay a bit before heading south. You may want to check with your insurance about hurricane exceptions...some won't cover you for a tropical storm if you're, for example, below Cape Hatteras before December 1.

[gclayton]

Skipmac, Mike

So it looks like Oct in the Chepaseake is doable from a temp perspective to start going south?? Im from NH and Oct there is nice but can be cold. That would be much easier as far as locating a good marina to deliver my boat to. Are there places that may be cheaper for maritime vs a tourist trap area?

Thanks again

George

[djmarchand]

Generally the further south you go (except for Florida where the cost curve goes upwards as you go south) the further south you go, the less expensive it will be for Travelift services, dry storage and wet storage.

So it depends on your schedule and where you want to be when you start. The southern Chesapeake is not too cold in October and there are some low cost boatyards from Deltaville, Va down to the York River and then down to Hampton.

North Carolina is also cheap, but the yards aren't as accessable by airplane as in the Virginia Chesapeake.

South Carolina is good and their are yards from Myrtle Beach down to Charleston that could work.

You can check them all out on Active Captain and then switch from NOAA chart mode to map mode to see what land/air transportation would be like from a given yard.

David

[gclayton]

David
Thanks for the reply. I will be renting a car to drive to whatever yard I pick so accessability is less a problem. I would like to sail the Chesapeak for a day or so. No schedule or time limit until next spring. Can you suggest any yards ?

Thanks
George

[Auspicious]

George - Don't underestimate the logistics and costs of transportation. I agree with David. I'd look at Baltimore/Annapolis, Norfolk/Hampton/Portsmouth/Little Creek, or Charleston. Everything else gets hard.

From your description and my own experience I'd truck to Norfolk and drop the boat in at Vinings Landing Marina in Little Creek.

YMMV.

[gettinthere]

shop around for a REPUTABLE trucking company. There are a lot of hacks out there.

Then ask them where to take the boat. They will know the routes that are economical and less restrictive. Your boat isn't huge so there shouldn't be big problems but there are weight, height, length, beam restrictions all over the northeast to deal with.

[Gene :^)]

http://atlanticyachtbasin.com

They are at mile 12 of the Virginia ICW and past most of the bridges and the lock of the Elizabeth river. They are 20 minutes from ORF international airport (norfolk) and 50 minutes from PHF airport (Newport news). They have travel lift and are close to just about every store you could need.

-----

Gene :^)
http://www.Strathbelle.com/

[djmarchand]

George:

So you want to truck your boat to the Chesapeake, launch and cruise the area for a day or two, haul it out for the winter and come back in the spring to cruise south, right?

In that case I would truck it to York River Yacht Haven just accross the York River from Yorktown. They are one of the cheapest dry storage yards on the bay. And Mobjack Bay, one of my favorite cruising grounds is right around the corner.

If you are flying back next year, the marina can arrange for a local to pick you up at Newport News airport.

David

[Azul]

This is a little bit like helping you pick out a girlfriend, but you could truck it to New Bern, NC which has a nice little airport with commercial service and easy access to the ICW. Then take the boat down to Beaufort, maybe do a few day trips out into the ocean from Beaufort Inlet, the first good southern access to ocean hops south of Norfolk. Beaufort is a great place to hang out for awhile. For planning purposes, it is 180 miles on the ICW from Beaufort to Norfolk and the Chesapeake Bay. Get Kettlewell's ICW guide for more information, he is a knowledgeable frequent contributor on CF. From there you can go north or south on the ICW as your time allows. Bock Marine near Beaufort has a great reputation for work and storage if you decide to keep your boat down south.