Well, the trip was a great success! Saturday, as predicted the wind was NE. The general consensus around here is that Windy and NOAA just about always under-predict the wind speed and I found that to be true on Saturday and Sunday. Predicted wind was in the 12-16 knot range. It was generally 16 to 20 knots. I wasn't as prepared as I might have been to leave so my entry to Barnegat Inlet was about an hour late at 10:00 am. This was fine as the flood current had a chance to slacken a bit. 15 minutes later I was thru the inlet, let out the genoa and motor off!
I was on my way! Rather than the predicted 1-2' waves, they were more like 4' to 6' and came on fast! I'd say they were maybe 6 seconds apart. I swear, the wave lengths were maybe less than twice my boat length!. We were rocking and rolling for sure, but the boat stayed dry! It took me a little bit of time to loosen my clutch from the wheel and move about in the cockpit with autopilot on. I didn't leave the cockpit the entire trip. I had my pfd on and I had a harness line that I secured to a cam cleat on the coach roof. I don't have a way to secure it to me. If I felt uncomfortable about not being harnessed, I had a plan to secure it to my belt. But, I never felt unsecure in the cockpit.
My destination was dead downwind, but I needed to reach to feel comfortable. I headed offshore for almost 2 hours and was about 6 miles offshore when I made my first gybe. I sailed 38 NM in 4 legs to Absecon Inlet. I had a reef in the mainsail as I motored out the inlet. I left the reef in for the entire trip. I let the 150 genoa completely rolled out. I reached back in to the 3-mile limit and then reached out again before turning towards Absecon Inlet.
It was a fast trip! Obviously with the current running with me, SOG averaged 6.5 knots! During the second reach, I averaged 6.9 knots SOG over the 10 NM leg. I made Absecon Inlet 5:45 hrs after leaving Barnegat Inlet. Half hour later, I was anchored in an anchorage in Brigantine, just off the inlet passageway.
I didn't want to waste Sunday and leave my return to Monday. The weather prediction called for northeast wind in the morning, moving to east later in the day. But it was supposed to be lighter. After reading Active Captain reports about shoaling in the ICW (noticing that the comments are about 3 years old) and looking at the winding passage on the charts, I was turned off and thought it would be just too tedious. I thought, how bad can it be on the ocean? I'll just motor into it. I thought it calmed down overnight. So I got up and left at about 8:00 am. It's 2 miles out thru the inlet and to the markers that indicate the shoaling areas that you need to pass. Waves on the adjoining beach were impressive and I was rolling significantly heading out the inlet with waves on my port beam. I was dry, though so I persevered beyond the markers and turned a bit north of east to make my way up the coast line. It took very little time to change my mind and head back to the inlet! It took me 45 minutes to get outside the inlet, I was heading out mostly east with waves on my port side for only 5 minutes when I realized I was going nowhere fast.
I thought, ok let's try running parallel to the coast (NE), which put me with waves on the starboard side. I had to point enough into the waves to keep from rolling, but not directly into the waves to avoid slamming hard into the troughs. It took me only about 10 minutes on that side while all I could think about was the fuel going bad by being stirred up. After a few hull slams, I started thinking about how well do I know the keel bolts? The fuel problem didn't bother me too much because I figured I could easily sail back to the anchorage, but the thought about the keel bolts gave me the willies. I turned around after what seemed to be at least an hour after turning outside the inlet but was actually only 15 minutes! 15 minutes later I was safely back inside the inlet where it was just moderately better.
@jssailem , so John, I got my practice in Absecon Inlet
But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise! I dejectedly headed for the ICW, figuring I may as well get started and see how tedious it would be! As it turned out, I loved it! It's not nearly as winding as the charts deceptively show it. The distances are very under-represented, I think. Not only that, the area is beautiful beyond my imagination. It is a bit strange, because the high rises in Atlantic City loom over your shoulder for a long time. Yet it appears as if AC is on an island that doesn't affect the bays and estuaries around it. Besides, with your back to the city, there is a huge expanse of natural marshes, sedge islands and even many stretches of unspoiled wooded shoreline. It wasn't hard to realize that there is a lot of unspoiled nature between Brigantine and Tuckerton! Besides, I had the current with me almost all the way from Absecon Inlet to Little Egg Inlet. The area around this inlet is equally unspoiled and beautiful, transitioning to beach side sand dunes. There were hundreds of sport-fishing boats scattered everywhere and the beaches were filled with people for the holiday. It was actually a very pleasant environment.
I was moving with the current at 7 knots SOG for much of the trip with the engine just purring along at about 2700 rpm. I finished the entire trip past Long Beach Island and entered Barnegat Bay by mid-afternoon, completely refreshed by the pleasant weather and stimulating trip on the ICW. I had time to roll out the genoa and sail in Barnegat Bay to pass some time.
And what about the reported shoaling? Well, they must have fixed all those spots because I found no trouble and rarely found water less than 12' in all of the areas that were supposedly troubled. I was surprised to find depths of up to 40' in Little Egg Inlet! It was a trip that I'll be happy to make again!