Dc, northern virginia sailing in the winter

[Whigman]

For those who live in or frequently sail through the DC area. Is sailing (or being in a wet slip and working on your boat) in the winter much worse than say...being in new York? I'm trying to gauge possibly pulling a winter trip in the last week of December from DC to Florida. My girlfriends parents (who love me) rented a house in the keys and I'm invited ... keep in mind I have a bare bones 25 footer with no heat, only 12v dc, and very little experience. I just moved from Chicago to northern virginia and have little to no idea what to expect when it comes to winter sailing in the middle of the east coast

 

[rpwillia]

A lot of us keep our boats in the water with proper winterization. If I understand you correctly you are thinking of taking a 25 foot bare bones boat on a trip to Florida in December? I would get a plane ticket or hitchhike as that would most likely be a cold, long, miserable trip on your boat.

 

[kloudie1]

That is a two week one-way trip.. quite an undertaking.. Certainly would be possible, but man, you'd be miserable.

 

[Ron20324]

Generally, people leave Annapolis by mid-October if they can. November 1st, the latest. I have a buddy who left late one year, and man, did he hate the cold.

 

[charliegrau]

How much time do you have to make the trip? If you have a strong motor, and at least a dodger, and plenty of time, it is doable. Check the distances and estimate the miles per day you can make based on your cruising speed. I have done Norfolk to St Augustine beginning Mid November, with no dodger or enclosure, dressed warmly enough, it wasn't terrible, but I would not want to do it again. I think I was underway 11-12 days on that trip, running from dawn until dusk most days at 7plus knots...waits for drawbridges, stops for fuel and provisioning are factors to consider. Also, you will need functional ground tackle - for max travel in daylight you have to be able to anchor pretty much wherever you are when the sun sets. Active Captain can be very helpful in planning the trip.

 

[Gunni]

I hear ya Ron, but Whigman is a midwestern lake sailor, those people are cut from stern cloth! He undoubtedly has a locker full of cold weather gear we wouldn't even recognize.

 

[Bad Obsession]

The winter in the Chesapeake Bay is a different beast all together. There two different winds most of the time. The first one is little to no wind or it blows holy hell. The wind likes to come out of the North and in the Potomac it wants to come out of the North West.

When I was young, and partly crazy, I use to sail a sunfish all year on the Potomac. That is unless there was ice on the river. I did wear a wetsuit and I did sail almost all winter once or twice week.

That would take a lot of time off of work to motor down there and motor back. You would want to stay inside the ditch so it would be a ton of motoring.

It would probably be cheaper to rent a boat down there and keep your boat back home.

 

[Whigman]

Haha! Thanks for the vote of confidence Gunni. I HAVE sailed on Lake Michigan and Erie but I'm originally from India (My first 18/33 years). I DO have a locker full of cold weather gear though.
Based on everyone's responses, I might rent a "land yacht" for that particular trip for two reasons,
1) Time: I have nowhere near 4 weeks of sailing time to make the trip. My work schedule will allow 8 days total and my motor is a good worker but its a 9.9 hp from the 90's. I doubt she would survive that kind of beating.
2) Weather: While I am cut of "stern cloth," I doubt I want to dodge icebergs, sharknados, and hailnados.
Thank you for the advice everyone.

 

[Tomrail44]

I want to hear the answers to this question. I remember my first get ready for a trip from the dc area to the keys and all the flax from the family. This ain't like sailing on the Great Lakes it busy it crowded on the inner coastal and if you ain't done it before better get a skipper to take you down first time around. Don't take me the wrong way if you've got the experience go for it