Need Advice on Upper Chesapeake Bay - Harve de Grace MD

[spadaforaj]

Need some advice - just relocating from Raleigh NC, where our Hunter 33 with a 5 foot draft is slipped in Oriental, NC - Love It !

Will be located in Bucks County, PA.

Delaware River for sure is a no-Go

Jersey shore is ok - but the boat is too big for the bays and too small for the Ocean

Does anyone have experience with such a cruising boat around Elkton or Harve de Grace, MD ? - they are not too far away, but the charts don't indicate such greating cruising. Andy advice on marinas, etc appreciated


Also looking for someone who might be interested in delivering the boat

 

[4arch]

Welcome to the bay!

Havre de Grace and Elkton require motoring through very long access channels to get through the Susquehanna Flats and out to deep water. Also being at the northern end of the bay, it would be a real endurance run to go Annapolis or St. Michaels and a bit less so bit still a long haul to Baltimore or Rock Hall for an overnight getaway. Many people from PA and NJ berth their boats on the eastern shore on the Sassafrass, Worton Creek or Rock Hall, all of which put you farther south. If you wanted to stick to the western shore, the Middle River area is also worth considering. A half hour or so extra driving might save you 2 hours underway toward points south. That said, the northern bay is a beautiful area and still gives you a lot of options for great overnight anchorages at Worton Creek, Still Pond, and the Sassafrass, etc.

 

[31seahorse]

Welcome to PA. As mentioned many members of the PA Navy keep boats in the upper Chesapeake Bay. HdG and North East both are fine little towns showing lots of upgrades and boater friendly changes in recent years. Eastern shore boasts the Bohemia River as its first nice (my opinion) River for sailboats. Bohemia Vista Yacht Basin and Bohemia Bay Yacht Harbor are each sporting nice docks. Bo Vista is a bit depth challenged at present, but that may change. Bo Bay is deep, protected, and boasts very professional manager and staff (my opinion). Following Rt 213 south the Sassafrass is a great river with access at Georgetown. However, from there the trip to the Bay itself is about 7 miles. Warton Creek or Fairlee Creek offer deeper slips at several marinas and protected harbors. Interesting entrances, but very understandable and manageable with a sailboat. Tolchester, between the Sassafrass and Rock Hall, is another possibility although I have never been into that harbor.

RE: cruising in that area.....You can visit all the towns mentioned as well as go south to St Michaels, Cambridge, Oxford, and more. You could also go through the C&D canal and visit spots on the Delaware Bay out to Cape May. Depends on your amount of time to spend.

Enjoy the new location. The cruise from Oriental will be an adventure.

Phil

 

[RichH]

Suggest keeping your boat somewhere between Worton Creek and Rock Hall on the upper eastern shore...
2 hours travel from mid-Bucks (I476 to I95 to Del 1 to US 301, etc.) during non-rush hour traffic ... the roads south of Wilmington are all 'rural' and very well maintained (but increasingly heavily patrolled by police departments looking for enhanced 'revenue' -- unless posted, MD has an archaic 50 mph speed limit.)

With all the marinas further north you will spend an awful amount of time 'getting to the bay' on the creeks and rivers. Plus, you are limited to only cruising 'south'. The mid upper eastern shore has access to both north and south ... and at max. you can reach Annapolis or Bal'mr in 4-5 hours sailing time.

Worton Creek, 2 sailboat marinas
Fairlee Creek, 1 marina
Tolchester, 1 marina
Rock Hall, many marinas
... and Langford Bay on the Chester River, 1 marina

If youre into 'browsing towns, etc.' Rock Hall would probably be your best bet @ 2-1/2+ hrs. from Central Bucks. Rock Hall has the best preferred location for also sailing the Upper mid-bay as well as the Northern/Upper Bay.

;-)

 

[Deadhead]

I live in the City of Bethlehem, PA and keep the boat on the Sassafras. 2 hours portal to portal. I have thought of going to Rock Hall but the extra 40 minutes is just a little too long for me.

 

[Davidasailor26]

We moved to Havre de Grace just a couple years ago ourselves. It is a very nice sailing friendly town. You can sail in the mouth of the Susquehanna (not a big area but ok for a quick ride), or take the longer ride out to the bay.

Having said that, I grew up sailing on Barnegat Bay and you might not want to cross it off your list. Your 5 foot draft would be on the deeper side, but I know of plenty of 5 foot drafts in Forked River that manage just fine. Once in the bay it's plenty wide at that depth and with some care you could probably get to Tices Shoal anchorage. The best thing about Barnegat compared to the Chesapeake is the consistent daily prevailing wind pattern - westerly in the early morning, a couple hours of calm, and an afternoon of wonderfully steady building sea breeze.

 

[catsailor]

Second what Rich said. If I was commuting from the north I would start my search in Rock Hall. Well worth the drive (I actually stay further south, but I've cruised all of the Bay).

 

[MLampner]

A couple of thoughts having literally been in Harve de Grace yesterday. Great town much to do and a nice sailing community, but as others have said the channel out can be a problem dependent on the winds.

I sail out of Middle River and many of my neighbors along the dock are members of the PA navy. By the way the Delaware can be enjoyably sailed with several options for dockage don't just write it off. That is not to say the lower bay is without challenges, strong currents and heavy chop can make you wish you were on blue water. We have even sailed up the Christiana into Wilmington though the drawbridges do make it a challenge and if tip of mast to water line is over 50 feet you can only make the trip at low water.

Lots of good sailing in the area. The only negative to the eastern shore ports, many of which are quite lovely is they can be very buggy in the summer. Still recovering from mosquito bites from my last trip there.

 

[MrBee]

We used to keep our boat in Perryville, above the railroad bridge on the susqy river but 2 seasons ago moved to Middleriver area. HDG is a very nice area but we just got tired of the shallow water or the long run down the channel. We really like the area we are in now and are a lot closer to wide open sailing and an easy day sail to many overnight destinations.
If you will mostly go out for short daysails and don't mind tacking regularly then HDg will work for you and is a nice area. Our drive from Lancaster county increased from 1hour to 1.5 hours after we moved boat to middleriver but the drive is well worth it.
The eastern shore would be great also but for us was a little more than we wanted to drive.

No matter where you dock your boat I'm sure you will enjoy the bay.

Brian

 

[Dan Johnson]

Upper Bay two cents worth...

While you're considering the northern Bay locations, don't overlook the North East River and the North East River Yacht Club where I belong (check out our website). Your 33 would be about the average size "larger boat" at our club.

The NE river has a much larger day sailing venue than HdG on which we hold club races twice a week. And, the channel is easier to navigate than that to HdG (just took my boat to Tidewater in HdG today--forgot how tight it was in places!). There are a number of other sailboat-friendly marinas here as well.

We have a number of members that travel from fairly deep in PA to get to our water area. We're probably the furthest point north that you can keep a good sized boat. My drive is about an hour and twenty minutes from Lancaster, PA.

Rich H and others have pointed out many good locales further down the Bay, all of which are destination points for our club members when cruising. Your choice will depend on the type of sailing you wish to do. Visit all before making your final decision.

Good luck and welcome to the area!

 

[s sauer]

Re: Upper Bay two cents worth...

Worton Creek, Great Oak, and Rock Hall, I'm sure all have decent facilities, but Tolchester has direct access to the bay with the deep water channel probably 150 yards off the protected entrance. You can stand on the beach and check the wind and wave conditions, and if necessary lounge around the pool or beach front bar if sailing conditions aren't cooperating. There's also a NOAA weather reporting station in the entrance fairway, so you can go on line from home and check out the wind, tide, air & water temperature.

 

[Dan Johnson]

S Sauer

I hope this was only a "once in a life-time occurance for you guys at Tolchester!