Southport, NC

[llogue]

Will be taking a brief trip to the Southport area next week and would be interested in knowing what is going on there and possibly meeting some sailors in the area to talk about sailing conditions there. Considering a possible future move there.

 

[Hugh4753]

Southport/Southeast NC

I'll be interested in these responses since I've been looking at charts of the southeastern NC coast and it seems to me that (from the charts, anyway) there's not a lot of good inshore sailing ground. Was talking with a friend who powerboats in the area a good bit and he told me he'd only rarely seen sailboat with the sails up. I think that outside the ICWW the water is real thin in most places and although the Cape Fear is a good sized river another sailor friend told me that the current and prevailing wind makes sailing upriver problematic. I hope someone here can shed some more light on the situation as I'd like to take my boat to Wilmington for a few weeks next summer to take my grandson sailing.Hugh35.5 HunterS/V La Bourgogne

 

[sailorguy53]

You will Love it

I have a vacation home not to far from there (St James Plantation, on Rte 211 out of town)Anyway cant really help with the sailing as I havent sailed yet down there. But there is a guy who gives tours aboard his sailboat (Endlesss Summer)email me at sailorguy53@optonline.net I may have his number.Eat at Mr P's in town if you enjoy seafood, Breakfast you have to do Surfers just north of town on Rte 211 biggest and best pancakes you have had. Then take a short ferry ride over to Bald Head Island, also in town is a cute xmas store and nautical museum amongst other quaint shops. Do go to Wilmington and see the battleship NC and other shops about 40 mins North on Rte 133Hope this helpsFrankPS St James also has a full service marina just South of town on the intercoastal

 

[John]

New Bern

Can't help you on South Port but while in the area check out New Bern. My wife and I moved there from NY and love the place. We sail our Catalina 320 on the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound and love the sailing grounds and the fact that we do not have to haul our boat in the winter.We had a great time sailng down from NY in June of 2005.Johnjsail320@suddenlink.net

 

[Dana]

Cape Fear region

My husband and I have a sailboat here in the Cape Fear region. This area seems to mostly be host to cruisers passing through. We see lots of sailboats in the marinas, but its true that you just don't see lots of them out on the water with sails up. Some of the problems are that in the summer the ICWW is crowded, the inlets between the waterway and the sounds are narrow and tidal, and the points of ocean access are few (Southport, Carolina Beach, Wrightsboro, Topsail). As for sailing up the Cape Fear river, getting in the mouth is tricky because of shifting shallows, the whole river is very tidal, and because of the international port in Wilmington there are large ships going up and down.I'm not sure how the scene is different in Southport. Maybe it's easier to just head out and mess around in the ocean from there.Hope this helps.