AICW NY to Delaware River.

[melliott0352]

Thinking of taking the boat south for the winter in a few or more years. Trying to do some homework. Norfolk south well documented, but what to do with NJ? From CT in a Catalina 350, 52 ft? Height. Stay outside whole way? Have to do that all in one run? Is it feasible to find refuge each night, and where? Understand weather window critical, but how to decide?

 

[gettinthere]

Its an easy day from Port Washington to Sandy Hook. There is decent priced fuel at Atlantic Highlands and you can take a slip, a mooring or anchor behind the breakwall.
We do an overnight now all the time because its just easier and cheaper. Its about 24 hours to Cape May. Often, when we arrive off Cape May in the morning we can catch the current and run all the way up the Delaware Bay to the C and D canal. Some boats make it all the way to the Sassafras River on a fair tide.

But if you don't want to overnight, there are choices. The first inlet is Manasquan, which is about 30 miles from Atlantic Highlands. The inlet is good but there is no room to anchor so docking is mandatory.
Next is Barnegat inlet. It is dangerous with N or NE wind/waves but has anchoring room. Local knowledge is required to run the inlet.
The next day you can make Atlantic City with a very good inlet. There is anchoring room off the CG station but the current really rips there, it always seems windy all night and there is a lot of boat traffic. Or you can stay at a marina.

Then its off to Cape May. Excellent inlet and decent anchorage or dockspace is available. I'm not sure if you can get under the bridges on the Cape May canal. If you can, that saves a long trip back out in the ocean and around Cape May into Delaware Bay. There is a shortcut VERY near shore inside Prissy Wicks Shoal but you need a bit of local knowledge to do it. Otherwise its a good 5 miles out and around.
A good alternative to Cape May is Cape Henlopen on the south side of the bay. Great anchorage but no dockage inside the harbor.

With a bit of patience, you can wait for good weather at Sandy Hook and have a good trip.

And the run down the East River is excellent!!

 

[JustDucky]

My wife and I have done the trip south twice here is her blog.
sailingducky2013.blogspot.com

http://sailingducky2013.blogspot.com/

 

[Benny17441]

We did that trip in an 84 h34. We staged and timed our departure from Port Washington and flew by Hells Gate at close to 11 knots and reached Sandy Hook in a few hours to start our watch for a weather window. Luck was on our side and next morning the seas were flat. Hardly any wind but we motor sailed and when we reached Manasquan conditions were good and we kept on going and reached Atlantic City with summer daylight. It was not this easy on the way up as we laid in Atlantic City when a low churned the seas on the outside and we had Broadway theater tickets for a three days away performance. During the night a local sailor pulled in and said he had come in on the inside as it had gotten really nasty outside. We had explored the possibility of leaving the boat in AC and taking a train to the Big City but this sailor assured it was completely doable on the inside. We left early next morning through the marshes of AC following the magneta line on our GPS indicating the center of the channel and watching the depth sounder. Our keel never touched bottom. Being from Florida we are used to skinny waters. We had been advised that once we left AC we should not head out until reaching Manasquan as the inlets required local knowledge. We had one mishap that first day when we sucked a plastic ice bag into our raw water inlet and had to pull into a marina. Next morning we were a little delayed leaving as we had a local shop guy provide us with a compressed air tank to blow out the obstruction. I'm sorry I don't remember names but we found two bridges real close to each other that had to be timed as you would not want to get stuck in between. There were also some strong currents in a sector approaching Manasquan and the there was a bascule bridge. We did have a cruising guide which provided valuable information. By the time we reached Manasquan the seas had settled considerably to 3-4 ft waves. As we approached the entrance to NY harbor a weather warning came over the VHF and all kinds of boats were heading in on single file. The inside trip was very enjoyable as it goes through beaches, beach homes and the traffic is mostly pleasure boats. We di not see a sailboat larger than ours but it was totally doable with a 4'4" keel. Our air draft was I want to say 54' and we encountered two 56' bridges in the Cape May Canal for which we had to wait for a low tide. The currents in Delaware Bay can be strong and need to be timed as well. Later on we spoke with a professional yacht captain who indicated to us that the year before he had run a large power yacht on the inside from Cape May to Atlantic City with no problems. Just wanted to advise of the option of traveling on the inside.

 

[melliott0352]

Thanks for all the good info. Now to spend some time on active captain and a guide book or two!
Keep it coming!

 

[RichH]

Once you get to Cape May, here's some info for traveling up/down the sometimes 'notorious' Delaware Bay:

see the last post (RichH): http://www.ssca.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=17226
If you cant get under the 55ft. Cape May Canal Bridge - This includes how to pass 'inside' all the shoals at Cape May and will save you hours 'rounding' the Cape on the 'outside' ....

You probably will have to join the Severn Seas Cruising Association - SSCA to read the forum.