Lake Erie to Beaufort SC
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In simple terms you can figure thirty miles per day average some days will be much better and some days won't see more than a couple of miles. The advantage would be a wonderful trip and lots of experience and bragging rights. The disadvantage would be the time needed to make the passage.
Sail to SC
We trucked our 410 from NJ to west MI last year. Couldn't do the time.
Next time she's on a truck she will belong to someone else! Outside of the obscene amount of money in prep, shipping and restoration there was a month of repairs caused my the trucking company from eastern MI.
She still has scars that will never go away.:cussing:
We're leaving next year and we're going out the St Lawrence! Not carrying the mast on deck! IMHO Even stepping the mast is better than trucking.
Hope you enjoy the adventure!
We trucked our 410 from NJ to west MI last year. Couldn't do the time.
Next time she's on a truck she will belong to someone else! Outside of the obscene amount of money in prep, shipping and restoration there was a month of repairs caused my the trucking company from eastern MI.
She still has scars that will never go away.:cussing:
We're leaving next year and we're going out the St Lawrence! Not carrying the mast on deck! IMHO Even stepping the mast is better than trucking.
Hope you enjoy the adventure!
Sounds like a lovely trip. If you can't make it I'm sure there's someone that would like to take it. May cost you a flight back home...
I once was asked by a buddy to take his car to Lake Tahoe from Ontario. I said sure. I'll need it for 3 weeks. (Its a 48 hr drive max.) We went via New Orleans etc, etc,... 5000km in total. (Just happened upon Burning Man!) I paid for gas and accommodations (camping), he repairs, put us up for 3 days and flew us home.
We both won!
I once was asked by a buddy to take his car to Lake Tahoe from Ontario. I said sure. I'll need it for 3 weeks. (Its a 48 hr drive max.) We went via New Orleans etc, etc,... 5000km in total. (Just happened upon Burning Man!) I paid for gas and accommodations (camping), he repairs, put us up for 3 days and flew us home.
We both won!
There are so many variables. The best estimates can be off by two weeks or more. Will you sail in only daylight for example? We were four days to Buffalo from Huron. Then when we were going to do the masts on Saturday we had to wait until Monday. Figure at least five days in the canal. We stayed three days at Waterford(Hudson entrance) to check out stepping options. Three more days after stepping to NYC. We day-hopped New Jersey, four days to Cape May. Two more to go up the Delaware to the Chesapeake. Lots to see and do in the Chesapeake but you can get to Norfolk in three days if you push it. Figure five more days in ICW, Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound, to Beaufort, NC. Not sure from there because we went outside after that to St. Augustine. Our only bad weather was the first day. We left Huron and went in at Vermilion!
ICW
Ed, We plan on sailing at night when its condusive and practical. During the part of the ICW you mentioned, do we have to worry about our 65' mast height? I am thinking of 250 mi +/- hops.
Didn't you go on over to New Orleans from St Augustine? How long did that take you?
Anyone know how long the St. Lawrence route takes?
Ed, We plan on sailing at night when its condusive and practical. During the part of the ICW you mentioned, do we have to worry about our 65' mast height? I am thinking of 250 mi +/- hops.
Didn't you go on over to New Orleans from St Augustine? How long did that take you?
Anyone know how long the St. Lawrence route takes?
Looks like Ed provided you a great log of the fastest trip possible thru the Erie Canal system. Can't answer your question on the St. Lawrence route, but your 65' mast on the ICW can be problematic. Most fixed ICW bridges are designed for 63' minimum clearance, so you may have to time bridges for lower tide to get through with 65'. A third option is to hire a captain to move your boat, not sure on the costs compared with shipping.
Eric, I figured Ed would be a wealth of information. When I bought my boat 9 years ago, I didn't even consider the ICW bridges.
BTW my mast clearance 60'5". Not sure what I was thinking. But I believe that there are parts of the ICW where it would be a problem.
BTW my mast clearance 60'5". Not sure what I was thinking. But I believe that there are parts of the ICW where it would be a problem.
I have logs from our trip Buffalo, NY to Charleston if you would like to read them. I would consider shipping as a LAST resort. Way too much $$$$. If you do get to Buffalo give me a shout and I will do what I can to help get your boat ready.
ICW Bridge Height
We took Dreamboat south this past winter going down the ICW from the Chesapeake to the lower Florida Keys and back. We need just about 60' of clearance (58.5' mast plus anchor light, tv antenna, wind sensors and vhf antenna). We had no problems except for the need to go outside around Miami due to a 55' fixed bridge there. There are cruising guides and blogs that will tell you the official height. For example the Bridges tab on this one http://cruisersnet.net/ A couple are officially only 63'. However, there were bridges with no tide boards on them, so you cannot tell whether the water level as you get there is more or less than you need. Now this was our first time doing the ICW so other more experienced people will hopefully chime in, but I would be very uncomfortable planning that trip with the need for 65'.
OOPS, I see you corrected your mast height to 60.5'. That should be no problem.
We took Dreamboat south this past winter going down the ICW from the Chesapeake to the lower Florida Keys and back. We need just about 60' of clearance (58.5' mast plus anchor light, tv antenna, wind sensors and vhf antenna). We had no problems except for the need to go outside around Miami due to a 55' fixed bridge there. There are cruising guides and blogs that will tell you the official height. For example the Bridges tab on this one http://cruisersnet.net/ A couple are officially only 63'. However, there were bridges with no tide boards on them, so you cannot tell whether the water level as you get there is more or less than you need. Now this was our first time doing the ICW so other more experienced people will hopefully chime in, but I would be very uncomfortable planning that trip with the need for 65'.
OOPS, I see you corrected your mast height to 60.5'. That should be no problem.
When traveling a well known route or open ocean at night you can relax a little. In the unfamiliar and narrow channels which constitute much of your route I think traveling at night will be so exhausting it will be unacceptable after sailing during day time.
There's one bridge on the AICW in the NC section (south end of the Alligator Pungo canal) that's 'usually' at 63ft. due to 'wind tides'. Most other 'problem' bridges are so marked for the 'lowest' part of the curved span over the water (side of the channel) or the height to the lowest portion of the midspan marker lights; most will be actual 65 ft. at mid span. When in doubt ask the nearest bridge tender - Ch 13 in VA and NC.
Consider 10-12 hour days at 6 knots average = 60-70 nMi.
When transiting the Delaware Bay leave Cape May Point 'just before' the turn of the tide 'up' the bay ... and you can 'ride the tide' all the way up and have correct current direction even in the C&D canal.
Dont run against the tide with a NW or SE wind howling on the Del. Bay -- wait it out. If there were heavy rains in Penna. and Western NJ, expect 'heavy' current against you - all the way.
When rounding Cape May Point (at slack tide) use the 'inside route' to save 1-2 hrs travel out and around the shoals. The inside route will bring you 'almost' as close to the point so that you can almost spit on the land .... follow your chartplotter carefully, its a shallow and 'winding' course close to the beach.
We don't travel the Detroit River at night and it sounds like the ICW should be treated likewise. (I think Ed told us not to run the Detroit at night when we made our 1st trip to the North Channel) Thanks Rich for the local knowledge around Delaware Bay.
In addition to the link I provided earlier to a log of a trip, have you read Roger Long's posts right here on this forum?
http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/forumdisplay.php?f=142
http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/forumdisplay.php?f=142
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