Depths through Kent narrows
- Thread starter Plankton
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We went through a year ago and I don't recall ever seeing less that 10 feet on the sounder. I want good visibility for that passage it is rather convoluted and very well marked. The current through the bridge can at times be impresive.
I, too, went through Kent Narrows about a year ago and it was a nail-biting experience. While we never bumped, I saw some 5-6 depths on my sounder (I draw 4 ft). This was 2 hrs before MLW.
Stu:
The url you provided is a nice tool, but it doesn't show any depths for Kent Narrows (east of Annapolis and connecting the Chester River to Prospect Bay). And yes the depths do change as this is a dredged channel and will fill in places with silt when the winds blows for days from the north. The navaids change too, so if you have an old route plugged into your GPS, you would best swtich to eye-ball navigation.
Stu:
The url you provided is a nice tool, but it doesn't show any depths for Kent Narrows (east of Annapolis and connecting the Chester River to Prospect Bay). And yes the depths do change as this is a dredged channel and will fill in places with silt when the winds blows for days from the north. The navaids change too, so if you have an old route plugged into your GPS, you would best swtich to eye-ball navigation.
Kent Narrows
I went through last August and did not find any inconsistencies with my charts. I did time it so that I hit a slack tide going south. Coming back north the following week I rode a flood tide up to & through the drawbridge - probably a 2 or 3 knot assist. I was first in the que and ended up circling for about 8 - 10 minutes waiting for the opening.
The bridge opens on a regular, published schedule. I think it is every 30 minutes on the half hour. The operator last summer gave precedence to the boats with the current behind them.
Good luck.
DH
I went through last August and did not find any inconsistencies with my charts. I did time it so that I hit a slack tide going south. Coming back north the following week I rode a flood tide up to & through the drawbridge - probably a 2 or 3 knot assist. I was first in the que and ended up circling for about 8 - 10 minutes waiting for the opening.
The bridge opens on a regular, published schedule. I think it is every 30 minutes on the half hour. The operator last summer gave precedence to the boats with the current behind them.
Good luck.
DH
I went south through there last Tuesday and back north on Friday.
My H410 draws 5'. I keep low depth alarms set at 8' and 6'. (8' means pay attention, 6' means DO SOMETHING!)
NORTH SIDE: Coming south, running just to the west of the center of the channel at 4pm - 5/4 (low was at 5:30pm), my 8' alarm went off after passing the second (from the north) piling. It got below 7' but not to 6'. I think it was between R2 & R4 (EDIT: looking back at the chart it had to be close to Red2N), but when the alarm is beeping I'm looking for deeper water not piling numbers. I wandered east of center and found deeper water. but was able to run just west of center the rest of the way to the bridge with plenty of water. Running back north about 3:30 on 5/7 (also on a downward tide but low was not until 7:30) in that same stretch I ran the liine of the east markers and had 8'+ the whole way.
SOUTH SIDE: No problems southbound side anywhere. Coming north on Friday 5/7, as I came in from Prospect Bay and made the sharp turn north towards the bridge where it narrows down (near the condos), I wandered east of the red-red line and was quickly in 6', but that may not be new as it's always been skinny there (EDIT: looking back at the chart it was at the R4 turn).
ps: We made it to Solomons and back in the best weather window we could possibly have chosen. 3 hours of beam reach coming north on Thursday from the mouth of the Patuxent past Sharps Island Light where our speed ranged between 7.3 and 8.4 kts with a partially furled jib! The usual Chesapeake lull over lunch while we motored through Poplar Narrows, but the wind came back as we entered Eastern Bay and we flew east to the Wye River. Spent a very peacful night up the Wye out of the winds. Great start to the season.
My H410 draws 5'. I keep low depth alarms set at 8' and 6'. (8' means pay attention, 6' means DO SOMETHING!)
NORTH SIDE: Coming south, running just to the west of the center of the channel at 4pm - 5/4 (low was at 5:30pm), my 8' alarm went off after passing the second (from the north) piling. It got below 7' but not to 6'. I think it was between R2 & R4 (EDIT: looking back at the chart it had to be close to Red2N), but when the alarm is beeping I'm looking for deeper water not piling numbers. I wandered east of center and found deeper water. but was able to run just west of center the rest of the way to the bridge with plenty of water. Running back north about 3:30 on 5/7 (also on a downward tide but low was not until 7:30) in that same stretch I ran the liine of the east markers and had 8'+ the whole way.
SOUTH SIDE: No problems southbound side anywhere. Coming north on Friday 5/7, as I came in from Prospect Bay and made the sharp turn north towards the bridge where it narrows down (near the condos), I wandered east of the red-red line and was quickly in 6', but that may not be new as it's always been skinny there (EDIT: looking back at the chart it was at the R4 turn).
ps: We made it to Solomons and back in the best weather window we could possibly have chosen. 3 hours of beam reach coming north on Thursday from the mouth of the Patuxent past Sharps Island Light where our speed ranged between 7.3 and 8.4 kts with a partially furled jib! The usual Chesapeake lull over lunch while we motored through Poplar Narrows, but the wind came back as we entered Eastern Bay and we flew east to the Wye River. Spent a very peacful night up the Wye out of the winds. Great start to the season.
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