Best late Sept - Oct route. New York City to Annapolis, MD

[Robert1224]

Hello,

What is the best route to take when sailing from NYC to Annapolis leaving mid September to mid October? I'd like to take into consideration safety and time in planning. In that order.... Anyone have experience or insight into this and some thoughts to share?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Hydro Therapy]

I just returned from a week long sailing trip from Ocean City NJ to Rock Hall Md. I can’t speak about the route North of me but I can tell you what I did. You cannot take the inter coastal from my location. To many shoals and low bridges. You have to sail the coast from OC to Cape May. Enter the CM inlet. That was day 1. You can rent a transient slip or anchor off of the Coast Guard station area. Day 2 motor through the CM canal and exit the canal at the Ferry station. Motor or sail up the Delaware to the C@D canal. It’s approximately 55 miles and you want to time it with the tide. We continued 2/3 rd of the way through the canal and anchored in a nice protected cove in Chesapeake city. Day 3 we continued the through the canal and down the Chesapeake. It was 40 miles to Rock Hall. I think Annapolis is another 25 but not sure.

I have read that the inter coastal is basically worthless in NJ for sailboats. My experience is that from Atlantic City to Cape May it must be avoided. I have no experience N of Atlantic City

 

[Allan Frey]

Spooled again's information is correct for that segment. From NYC, I've sailed along the NJ coast south to Cape May. At night and in fog, I've stayed in depths of less than 35 feet to minimize the chance of an encounter with a big ship.

allan

 

[Hydro Therapy]

I didn’t mention but you need to keep an eye on the weather. We have a line of hurricanes in the Atlantic and Sept and Oct is prime time for hurricanes

 

[jssailem]

@Robert1224
That last comment by @Spooled Again is of important note. Florence is out there and getting ready to visit the east coast in the next 2 weeks. Choose your weather windows carefully. Have preselected sites along the way to hide your boat from storms.

 

[lehighsail]

For the ride from NYC south to the Delaware River your options are limited. Leaving NY harbor you must be in the Atlantic until Manasquan Inlet. Shortly after entering the inlet, you pass two bridges (railroad which is usually open and Rte. 35) and about 1.5 miles up the river is the Point Pleasant Canal. Motoring up the 2.5 mile Canal are two more bridges. Check the tide chart as you near the entrance to the Canal because the water in the canal can move quickly and take you faster to the bridges than you would expect. When you leave the canal you are in Barnegat Bay at Bay Head. Check your charts for the entrance to the Metedeconk River and west of the entrance are some safe anchorages. Continuing south follow the ICW markers past the Mantoloking Bridge and then the Rte. 37 (Mathis) bridge. Continue to follow the ICW channel markers to Barnegat Inlet, exit the bay there and then follow the previous post suggestions down to Cape May. I really suggest staying in the ICW channel as there are many shallow areas on the Bay. Maybe Scott T-Bird or other lower bay sailors can give you local knowledge about Barnegat Inlet which can be very tricky to navigate. Alternatively, if the weather and winds are good, you could stay in the Atlantic down to Barnegat Inlet, come inside for the night and continue on in the morning. Be aware however, there are no inlets between Manasquan and Barnegat Inlets and it is about 20 miles.

 

[Monterey385]

Draft is important if you aren't going to run the NJ Coast on the outside but recognize that at least 50% of the run must be done on the outside and you will probably want to run the entire thing on the outside.

Thus, the good news is that you really don't need to choose between safety or time in planning.

You have a handful of choices to duck in due to sloppy weather or seas. In order from north to south: Sandy Hook Bay/Atlantic Highlands, Shark River Inlet/Belmar, Manasquan Inlet, Barnegat Inlet, Little Egg Inlet, Absecon Inlet (Atlantic City), and Cape May Inlet. If your draft is less than 5 ft and your mast is less than 65 feet, you can run from Manasquan to Atlantic City on the inside. South of Barnegat eel grass in your strainer, thin water, and twisting channels are a challenge.

I would not try to run Barnegat or Little Egg in rough conditions (especially wind opposing tide). I would also try to avoid Shark River in rough conditions as there is a drawbridge across the inlet and there is nowhere to go once inside (other than laying over).

If you can do a 120nm day/night you can make Cape May on Day 1 (I've done Cape May to Atlantic Highlands in a straight shot, its about 18 hours), otherwise its Manasquan or Absecon for Day 1. Time the outgoing currents in Ambrose and run inside of the Ambrose to Barnegat shipping lane (but not too close to shore). Watch out for fishing vessels at Shrewsbury Rocks (off Sea Bright) and around each of the inlets. Too, be aware of near-shore dredging operations along the shore.

Layover in Cape May and time the currents in the Delaware Bay to the C&D canal.

If there is tropical activity (such as we have now with Florence) plan to have rather large but rolling seas off your port bow which may slow you down a bit. Too, you probably don't want to be travelling when we have these sustained easterly winds.

In fact, checking Buoy 44065 (NY Harbor Entrance 15 NM south of Breezy Point) right now shows 9 foot waves out of the ESE with a period of 6-8 seconds and 25 knot winds gusting to 33 knots out of the East. Only a small part of this is due to Florence and suffice to say today is not a good travel day down the NJ Coast. Off Barnegat, Buoy 44091 is reporting 11 foot waves with a similar period. Bookmarking these two buoys for quick reference (or having access to them via an app) keeps the planning time minimal and the information maximized.

 

[Gunni]

Do you have a weather service?

 

[Benny17441]

With a shoal draft of 4.3' we ran from Atlantic City to Manasquan on the inside, with no problems. Things had calmed down a bit on the outside for the leg into New York Harbor. On the return trip we ran all the way on the outside to Cape May. It is all dependent on a weather window. Below Manasquan to AC most of the inlets are local knowledge only.

 

[John T1594]

Regarding the ICW run from Manasquan Inlet in NJ to Atlantic City: The RR bridge in Manasquan is narrow and can be a problem in heavy traffic. As mentioned, the trip through the Point Pleasant canal can be a challenge with the current, choppy water from boat traffic and the bridges coming up fast. The Route 37 (Mathis) bridge near Seaside is charted at 60 feet of vertical clearance but there are no tide boards to tell you actual clearance and the bridge tender for the accompanying Basqule bridge will not offer any advice or information. As discussed above, Barnegat inlet can be a real challenge but passable if tide and weather condition are right. If you decide to continue south through the ICW pay particular attention to your charts or GPS chartplotter as the channel makes many twists and turns and can be narrow and shallow. The Route 72 Bridges (new and old) at Manahawkin are charted at 60 feet of clearance but when you get there at Mean Low Water the tide boards show only 56-57 feet above you. I would not even attept using Litle Egg inlet as the odd shaped channel has many shifting shoals and the channel markers are few and spaced far apart with breaking surf on all sides. The ICW below that again is shallow but manageable if you follow the charted rhumb line down to Atlantic City. South of AC you will have to sail outside. Barnegat Bay, and especially the lower part of the ICW have lots of islands of floating eel grass which can easily clog your engine water intake. It is best to throttle down to idle and coast through them if they cannot be avoided.

 

[JamesG161]

Do you have a weather service?

If not, check outside for sure, each morning between Now and Saturday the 15th!
Jim...

PS: I am sorry. but I am laughing at Gunni's post, but I know this is a serious matter.

 

[Gunni]

My point was that for a newbie doing this trip a weather service could take the safety concern out of going off-shore, where this trip would be a beautiful thing, and not an obstacle course of sandbars, bridges, mobos, and tidal rips. You’ll get enough hassle running up the muddy-Delaware bay. Go like a sailor - sail offshore.

 

[jssailem]

Go like a sailor - sail offshore.

But please mind the Hurricanes. No need for the extra excitement.