Cruising to Baltimore

[Brud Helhoski]

Can anybody give me a rough Idea how long it has taken them to sail from St.Augustine FL to Baltimore MD. I know there are a ton of variables but I'm just getting started in the planning phases of making the trip and I was wondering if anyone who has made the trip could give me a few pointers

 

[Wayne Estabrooks]

Recent similar passage

Brud,I recently made a similar offshore passage from Ft. Pierce Florida to North Carolina with a total crew of 3 persons including myself.I flew to West Palm Beach on Saturday and got on the boat at Manatee Pocket in Port Salerno near Stuart FL. On Sunday we had a name change ceremony casting some good rum into the sea to King Neptune and also to the four winds and any other relevant sea gods. On Sunday we went to Ft. Pierce, as the inlet there is more of an all weather inlet than the one near Stuart.We left Ft. Pierce inlet on Monday morning August 12, 2002 and arrived after 3 nights on the ocean, at the Beaufort Inlet near Morehead City, NC on Thursday afternoon about 2:20 PM.We were fortunate to have SE winds of 15 to 17 knots for much of the trip and was on a reaching course of 030 T for the first 23 hours which found us 100 mi. off St Augustine on Tuesday morning. I was on the other side of the Gulf stream as my speed over ground dropped to the boat speed about 6.5 kts. We changed course toward Charleston, SC to get back into the Gulf Stream. Later in the trip the winds shifted to southerly and they were light so we motorsailed downwind the last 170 miles up past Frying Pan Shoals toward NC.The total trip was 524 miles, We had the benefit of a push from the Gulf Stream much of the trip and this gave us consistent speeds of 9 knots over the ground with an occasional boost to 10 knots. I was helping friends bring their newly acquired 1990 Island Packet 35 to their homeport in NC. We had planned on it taking 5 days or much longer if we had to go up the ICW but we were fortunate to have good weather and missed all of the tropical storms of recent days. The boat was very well equipped with life raft, 406 EPIRB, Radar, wind generator, solar panels SSB, Weatherfax, and much more. We spent time attaching lee cloths on the bunks and preparing for offshore securing things like the refrig doors etc. cushions, anything that could become a danger. It was a very enjoyable trip and the boat owners were excellent to sail with. See the web site link. The Radar was very helpful to monitor ship traffic and navigating around storms to the extent we could. It was the first voyage of this length for all of the crew. I now have a bigger wish list for my boat. The roughest water we encountered was coming out of the inlet at Ft. Pierce where we took blue water over the bow. Great trip!!! Take a look at the web site my friends have. The last section deals with the offshore portion of the trip. The web link I listed does not seem to be able to be edited and I put incorrect URL. Use this one instead. http://homepage.mac.com/bethandmark/Intuition/Menu9.html Then look at Leg 2

 

[Eric Lorgus]

Cape Canaveral to Annapolis in 6 1/2 days

My trip was from Miami to Havre de Grace, MD, in mid-June last year. We sailed along the coast until Cape Canaveral, got our last weather update, then on Sunday afternnon made a beeline for Morehead City. Two days later we were 120nm SW of Morehead City when we got within range again of VHF, and got the latest weather. We found that Hurricane Allison had moved out of Texas and was bearing down on SC.So we changed course for Southport, NC (Cape Fear), and got in late Tuesday. We waited out Allison's rain for three days in Southport, then began the ICW part of our trip on Saturday morning. We made only moderate progress on our first and last day on the ICW, due mostly to having to wait for bridge openings. There were two days that we made 110sm each day, but that was when we had 15 hours of daylight in June.We entered the Chesapeake Bay Tuesday afternoon, and sailed overnight to Annapolis, arriving at noon on Wednesday. I didn't count the weather delay in my title, but you should always plan for something like that.The boat was a Hunter 54 with a crew of three. Safety equipment included liferaft, 406Mhz EPIRB, & radar. Never really needed the radar except for one night anchored alongside the ICW when we got fogged in.We had very light winds on the ocean, and had to resort to some motorsailing. On the ICW we averaged 8 mph (everything on the ICW is in statute miles). Roughest seas encountered were on Albemarle Sound, where one wave boarded.Trickiest part of the trip was the night sail on the Chesapeake. Steered an 11-leg GPS course and had to watch out for substantial ship traffic in the lower bay. Easiest part of the trip was out on the ocean -- for about 36 hours, we were entirely alone -- no other ships, not even any chatter on VHF 16.Eric Lorguss/v Impulse 83H54