those boats sailed past right in front of the house.
marinette is 15 miles from home
marinette is 15 miles from home
East River
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Dave, you are correct. Navionics does not know how to handle air draft when auto route planning despite having a field for air drat. When I was creating routes for the trip up from the Keys we were planning, I found verbiage in either the app or the web site, don't remember which, that stated Navionics may not route you around obstacles in the water or bridges too low for your clearance requirements. Definitely not good if you don't see that "fine print".
edited: spelling
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Good to know. I was questioning my set-up. It's a bit irritating. Otherwise a very handy app..
I'm still working on getting better with OpenCPN. That has been quite a strong winner for me so far.
dj
Just spent a week using Navionics with my Raymarine e125 transiting to Block Island and back to NJ. Automatic routing is useful, if not actually great, for a quick hit estimate of transit distance and transit time in most cases.
For Route planning however, I used manual to lock in start and destination then carefully inserted waypoints. It worked very well on my iPad. Once route was set, carefully reviewing bottom contours, bridges, and other objects (just like the old days) was still required to be safe. Finally, a quick Plotter Sync and import put the route on my Chartplotter. Roughly 1/3rd the time of my old PC based approaches and could be accomplished safely right in cockpit.
For Route planning however, I used manual to lock in start and destination then carefully inserted waypoints. It worked very well on my iPad. Once route was set, carefully reviewing bottom contours, bridges, and other objects (just like the old days) was still required to be safe. Finally, a quick Plotter Sync and import put the route on my Chartplotter. Roughly 1/3rd the time of my old PC based approaches and could be accomplished safely right in cockpit.
Not sure how I’d do that using just a cell phone. I don’t run a chart plotter. With the cell phone haven’t seen the need to spend those $’s
dj
I don't get what the big deal is about Hells Gate. The fastest current I could find in the tables was 5.0knts although it is probably higher in June. I go through Deception pass all the time at over 6 knots and it is only a little over 300' wide. Although I have never gone through at the really big currents which are in the 8.5knt range, I have been through in currents as high as 7.6 knots.
A couple of weeks ago, I went through with 6.1-knts at 11:30pm.
A couple of weeks ago, I went through with 6.1-knts at 11:30pm.
Hayden, it's a "rite of passage" for the East Coast folks. Well deserved, too, I think. Perhaps a wilder comparison would be to point out, oh, say, Seymour Rapids? Or Skookumchuck?
The issue is the cross currents, bottom contours, and large commercial traffic. If you are not used to strong currents steering can be a challenge. The narrow parts of the river are narrow, larger then 300' but still narrow.
Tidal water for about half Long Island Sound fills and empties through the East River the other half fills at the Race on the east end of the sound.
And then there is the reputation.
I think you might fail to realize the difference in power of a 4-5 knot current vs a 6-7. The power of moving water is based on the square of velocity so 5x5 = 25 wereas 7x7 = 49. A 7 knot current has fully twice the power of a 5 knot current. The min width is 330' at high water but the actual navigable width is really only just a bit more than 100' because of the rock outcrops on the Whidbey shore.
This is curtainly not the top pass in this area as Stu pointed out. Seymour Rapids can hit the upper teens but at least it is wide and unobstructed so you will flush through if you go during a big run.
Skookumchuck or more specifically Sechelt rapids is in a class by itself. currents up to 18-knts and narrow and twisting. Only the whitewater kayakers like it on a big ebb.
Done correctly it is no big deal. Done incorrectly and it can be a disaster.
I've sailed both coasts, each has their "pain points", so to speak. Each has places where you need to know how to handle that particular aspect. Done correctly, no big deal (usually) - done incorrectly and ....
dj
In my youth I used to run Class 3 and 4 rapids in a Kayak and Class 3 rapids in an open canoe with newbies on it. I understand the power of water and rapids. That was one reason I was perfectly comfortable running the East River at max current for 14+ miles. Others without that experience may not feel as comfortable.
The river also has a several very sharp turns which create turbulent water. Unlike natural rivers, the East River is urbanized, much of it bulkheaded so waves bounce back across the river rather than being dissipated along a rocky shore.
I'm not suggesting that the rapids in the PNW are cakewalks, they aren't for the uninitiated. The East River is a strong tidal river that carries on for 14+ miles, if something goes wrong at mile 1 there will a long ride out of control until the boat is flushed out into NY Harbor. That puts it in a class of its own
Nothing drains faster than my beer on a hot day, we’ve had a few.
I have the same problem, the can drains fast, but the receptacle, well....... Age and wisdom have their price.
Three comments as much has already been stated:
1. Hell Gate’s name and reputation date back to pre-“engine” days and that was also before a huge chunk of rock was dynamited out of existence make the passage much smoother today than in the past … many a sailing vessel were lost.
2. The size of the commercial traffic many times invisible because of the twists and turns dwarfs available navigation space
3. Due to depths and currents, anchoring in an emergency is difficult to impossible
The thing about Roosevelt Island is that heading North in the East River with a Northerly current it comes up fast. Indecision is a problem. If you don't recognize quickly where you are, you can easily go on the wrong side of Roosevelt Island and lose your mast. To complicate things you have to do this while a good deal of marine traffic is happening. If you have to look very long at your chart plotter your eyes won't be on what's going on. Hell Gate is a piece of cake when you have the first third of the favorable current. You'll shoot through like "Crap thru a goose." But again you need to know your next buoy or marker because you'll get there sooner than you think. Again, no indecision. There are a lot of buoys and markers, as well as the said marine traffic so your attention is required to be on look out in the cockpit - not looking at your MFD's. You have to be ahead of the route and not following it. My 2 cents from two transits.