Lake Mi to Atlantic via St. Lawrence

[Capt Andy]

Have been planning a 2009 trip from Lake Mi., to Fl., via the Erie Canal, Hudson and Atlantic, on my Catalina Morgan 440. Was just talking to my 1st mate, from Cal, who will be coming to Mi to go on our trip south. We will have a crew of 5-6, by the time all is said and done. We are now considering taking the long route and going out the St Lawrence instead of going up the canal. We know it is about 1700 miles further, but time is not an issue for us and we are thinking, when we we ever get the opportunity for this trip again. How early in the summer can we go? We know nothing about this route......., weather, currents, how late we have to wait till the ice is gone or really much of anything else? Would appreciate any feedback you might have and any suggestions on where to go it investigate this trip?
Thank!


Andy Mattingly

 

[higgs]

The Great lakes have so much to offer one cannot do it in one cruise. Problem is you want to get into good weather by late October at best. Lake Ontario is a great cruising ground, but you will have to hurry so as not to be caught at the Atlantic side of the St L in the fall when the Nor'easters can be at their worst.

What about a two year trip? Enjoy the Great lakes for one summer and leave the boat around NYC for the winter and then continue on in the spring. While on the hard, charter in the BVI for a couple of months.

 

[Capt Andy]

I live in the GL now. Moving to FL. Planning to do the trip in 30 days, not 2 years.

 

[Roger Long]

I live in the GL now. Moving to FL. Planning to do the trip in 30 days, not 2 years.

And in the original post:

Time is not an issue.

Which is it?

I just went from near Detroit to Maryland via the canals in a powerboat that cruises at 18 knots and it took 8 days stopping at night. I hope that Morgan really moves if you only have 30 days.

The outside route works out to 118 miles a day going 24/7. That would turn the trip of a lifetime into a marathon slog that only a professional delivery crew would want to undertake.

Big serious water out there around the corner along with some of the most beautiful scenery you'll ever see if you don't bring the boat back north.

 

[sailingdog]

Thirty days is a bit short for that trip, unless you mean you're leaving in 30 days, which i wouldn't advise. Sailing the St. Lawrence in January is not advised.

I'd recommend leaving in late April or early May, so as to miss most of the problems associated with snow and such. I don't believe you should have an issue with mast clearance on the St. Lawrence. On the Erie Canal route, you'd definitely need to drop the mast and re-step it. You should get as recent a copy of a St. Lawrence cruising guide as possible.

 

[letterman]

30 days!!!!

Good luck! we did Cleveland to Miami and it took 2 months. Of course we REALLY weren't in a hurry, and stopped 3-4 days at various stops along the way.
Figure 50 miles a day. On the ocean, if away from land, it makes no difference and you can go farther. But why?
Michigan. Hit the Islands..Put in Bay for a day. Then either Vermilion, a cool old town of which you will see many along the way, or Cleveland. You can dock right behind the Rock Hall and Science Center.
On to Ashtabula, then Erie (spend a day or two...Boat Museum, boat school), Dunkirk, then Buffalo or the enterence to the St. L.
If you do the Erie, there are plenty of small towns on the Westside to hit, not as many on the East side. Stay a day or two at the last stop...two bars in town were fun for us.
Then on to the Acadamy, West Point. Worth a few days. Next, The big city, NY. Hit Liberty Landing and then Ellis Island, The Lady in the harbor, then Wall Street area (another nautical museum.) Next is AtlanticCity if you like that sort of thing. Cape May for the night, then up the Delaware to the cut. Baltimore, Annapolis, Solomon's Island, Newport...then up the Ally!!! Elizabeth City...you want more? You just blew a month!
Believe me, it's worth the trip.
I have a log book someplae at home, but these are he highlights.

 

[Brian Schwerdt]

Thirty days is a bit short for that trip, unless you mean you're leaving in 30 days, which i wouldn't advise. Sailing the St. Lawrence in January is not advised.

Although certain Clarkson students have been known to go windsurfing on the St. Lawrence in January...Kinda the North Country equivalent of the polar bear club. Still, not advised.

 

[Ross]

I would ask how many miles you have logged from can see in the morning to can't see at night. Then take that as the best you will do on the river. I make it about a thousand miles (statute) from fort Covington NY to the gulf of St. Lawrance. After that you still have PEI and Nova Scotia to pass before you are back in US waters.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Must have been a typo.

We need to wait for Andy's next response, that had to be a typo. They won't make the Atlantic going out the St. Lawrence in 30 days. Sounds like they are going across Huron and through the Trent-Severn canal to Lake Ontario to reach the St. Lawrence. That would be much shorter than Lake Erie to the Welland Canal. But he would have to pull the stick that direction. Not so in the Welland and the St. Lawrence.

 

[Ross]

Re: Must have been a typo.

Andy, come back and talk to us. We have questions. We know that you must use a canal or the St. Lawrence seaway to pass Niagara Falls. But the trip you propose is long and we wonder if you have picked up your dividers and gone to work on your charts. It is a long way from Detroit to Halifax and a long way from Halifax to Cape May,NJ and another long way from Cape May, NJ to Miami, Fl.