Quote:
Originally Posted by YellowcakeMan
We did almost a straight line from Block Island to Atlantic City in June, crossing the three shipping lanes at 90 degree angles in the dark. We didn't experience any shipping at all, and the trip was a non-event. Wind was on the bow, so we had to use the engine for the entire transit.
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YellowCakeMan is correct that you should not worry too much about the shipping lanes. I should point out, and I am sure he would agree, that you still need to be careful. There can be a fair amount of shipping along with many
fishing vessels depending upon the day and time of the week. For example, a lot of the
cruise ships leave on Thursday evening. as well as Sundays. Actually, I think some also leave on Saturday but they rarely leave on Mondays. The container ships run on different schedules as do the bulk carriers. Some days you'll see almost nothing and then other days you'll see, to borrow a phrase from an Army buddy, a whole passel of them. The 4th of July weekend tends to see a lot of
fishing activity in the
Hudson Canyons area.
The shipping lanes and fishing boats are not really a problem if you are awake since they're rarely that close to each other, other than at a few choke points. It could be dangerous if you were to take a nap however. If you are used to staying awake that long then you'll have no issues. If however you are
single handing the vessel, and you tend to nod off after the better part of a day, then you may want to think twice. Not all of the fishing boats have
AIS so you can't rely on
AIS alarms. You also can't rely on their lookouts.
The end result is that either
route can be good and each has its advantages and disadvantages. If you're coming through on 4 July, check for the fireworks display. Every other year they are, in theory, alternating between the East River (just south of hell gate) and the
Hudson. Last year it was on the East River so in theory, and it is a good theory, you will be all right in 2017. On the other hand, the theory was, and it too was a good theory, that I would be a gentleman of leisure by this time.