Passage

[Popeye99]

Hello : Diego here in Hollywood,florida some relatively new to sailing (2 years or so )I just purchase a bennetaou 32s5 and need to bring it from Galveston to south florida ,all advice is welcome ,Thank you so much in advance for any help with planing the passage

[Unicorn Dreams]

Welcome Aboard Cruisers Forum Diego

[osirissail]

Generally speaking you simply follow the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Apalachicola, Florida then run the coast to St Petersburg and on down to Ft Myers. You may have to go "outside" sooner if your mast height is taller than 50 feet.
- - If your mast height is under 50 feet you can take the Okeechobee Waterway from Ft Myers to Stuart Florida and then onto your destination if it is on the east coast of Florida.
- - Alternatively, from St Petersburg Florida and Ft Myers you head south to Cape Sable then to Channel 5 east of Long Key (Florida Keys) or Moser Channel west of Marathon. Then up the Hawk channel to your destination in south Florida.
- - If your draft is under 4.5 feet you can go up the west side of the keys all the way to Miami. Otherwise, you will need to cross over to the eastern side of the Keys and then head north.

[MiamiFitJeff]

Welcome Popeye...and awesome informative answer Osirissail!

[Ita]

Hey, are you Diego the lifeguard?

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here.
kind regards,

[Popeye99]

Originally Posted by osirissail

Generally speaking you simply follow the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Apalachicola, Florida then run the coast to St Petersburg and on down to Ft Myers. You may have to go "outside" sooner if your mast height is taller than 50 feet.
- - If your mast height is under 50 feet you can take the Okeechobee Waterway from Ft Myers to Stuart Florida and then onto your destination if it is on the east coast of Florida.
- - Alternatively, from St Petersburg Florida and Ft Myers you head south to Cape Sable then to Channel 5 east of Long Key (Florida Keys) or Moser Channel west of Marathon. Then up the Hawk channel to your destination in south Florida.
- - If your draft is under 4.5 feet you can go up the west side of the keys all the way to Miami. Otherwise, you will need to cross over to the eastern side of the Keys and then head north.

Thank you very much for the info ,I haven,t been able to determine the mast high the previous owner don,t know the draft is 4.5 wing keel , a captain friend thought the best way will be to make a straight shot in the midle of the gulf to Tampa bay or cape coral , what 's your though about that on a 32 foot sloop ? thanks for any insights

[Popeye99]

Originally Posted by Ita

Hey, are you Diego the lifeguard?

nope not me

[osirissail]

Only two problems with going direct from Galveston to Tampa/St Petersburg or anywhere south is first; there are an awful lot of oil and gas rigs in your way (along that route); and secondly it is an awful long 650 nm or 6 or more days at sea.
- - Also, if you are planning to do the trip in the summer months you have lots of various types of storms to worry about.
- - With the coastal route you can duck in and out of the Gulf Intracoastal waterway as needed.

[James Baines]

Hi, first, your mast height is well under 50 feet; yours is a shade over 38 feet and you can double check that easily by triangulation.


Next, if you are going solo, and have limited offshore experience, inter coastal is probably your safest route but it's going to be slow and tedious.


If you can take along someone, or someone(s) with offshore experience, despite to wall to wall rigs out there, a well planned cross gulf route is going to be way faster (My son and I did it in a leisurely 4 days a couple of years ago) BUT: as always before heading out, check the weather, then check the weather, and when you have done that, check the weather.


Being a racing cruiser, your boat is lighter and less weather friendly than standard cruiser's so be sure to reef early, at the first hint of weather if you take the gulf shot.


And if that makes you nervous, you have your answer, Inter Coastal...James

[rgscpat]

How much water is in the Okeechobee waterway right now ... has it gotten better?

[Hannah on 'Rita T']

Picking a small nit: it's the Intracoastal Waterway.

[stevensc]

Those oil and gas rigs are well lit, large enough to see easily and spaced quite a distance from each other. The only time I've ever heard of a pleasure boat hitting one is when a large sportfisherman was coming in fast on autopilot an no one on watch.
I would be more concerned with the weather, and bringing a new (to Diego) boat that distance across the Gulf.
Steve W.

[Popeye99]

thank you so much for all the answers .really incline to take the straight shot ,on a crew with one very experience and possibly a third person with autopilot but always a watch.
I didn't know there is a gulf intercostal all the way?