Our boat is close to home ...
We can drive to our county park marina which is less than five minutes from home. Our house overlooks the lake we sail on and the marina is probably less than a mile away. That's on the plus side! Unfortunately, I work 50 miles from home (an hour usually, but often worse) so evening sails after work are not normal, unless we plan on getting home early. Lake Hopatcong is generally narrow and only a few miles long, so we are tacking within five minutes of raising the sails. Sometimes, if I don't hurry, I raise the main, hank on the genny and then run out of room and have to tack before hoisting her (when I'm the both the bow man and the pit crew). Upwind, we are generally tacking at intervals of no more than five minutes! Downwind, we might get a 30-minute run averaging 5 knots if the wind can push us from the starboard quarter (heading south) or the the port quarter (heading north) for the length of the lake.I am soooo ready for having more room, but the convenience of being on the lake so close to home is a pretty strong influence. On the other hand we do have the ski boat to keep us happy close to home when we move the sailboat to another location.Within a two hour drive (light traffic), we could have options from Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, Raritan Bay and New York Harbor, Long Island Sound out as far as Milford, and the Hudson River up to Haverstraw (this might be our closest option). I could be in Keyport 20 minutes after leaving my office but the Jersey Shore is out of the question for my wife ... she hates the traffic. Long Island Sound may be the most attractive location but I am also concerned about the traffic. Haverstraw, on the Hudson may be our best option and we are thinking about this location the most, since it may be the easer drive for us to make from home.