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From: Ron Trossbach (no email)
Date: Mon Oct 03 2005 - 21:09:29 EDT
Cheryl and Wayne,
I'm sending this direct in case it is too long for the Trawler List daily
E-mail.
We have just returned from our 16th round trip to Maine by boat (14 sail + 2
power).
This message describes how we did the Salem, MA to Annapolis, MD leg (563 nmi)
from 12 to 28 Sep, 2005.
PUBLICATIONS (listed in the order of importance, IMHO)
Reed's Nautical Almanac, East Coast 2005. We use this daily.
The 'Pilot' section tells us how to enter ports and gives us accurate location
of GPS waypoints, etc.
The 'Tides' section is useful for anchoring but the 'Currents' section is the
most valuable part for us because it has current charts for all of the areas
we go thru, Cape Cod Canal, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay, Long Island Sound,
New York Harbor (including Hell Gate) and the Delaware Bay & River.
Waterway Guide, Northern 2005. We use this all the time too.
We switch to the Mid-Atlantic edition once we enter the Chesapeake.
These guides are our major source for facility location and services
description as well as general sailing directions including the location of
anchorages.
Anchorages Along the Intracoastal Waterway. Skipper Bob describes the section
from New York Harbor to the Chesapeake in this book. He also covers the
inside routes in New Jersey. We have never tried them but have seen and
talked to other trawlers who have. There are height as well as draft limits
inside which means watching the tides. Lots of bridges too.
ROUTES & STOPS. Our routine is to be underway at first light (about 1/2 hr
before sunrise) and run about 50 - 70 miles a day which means we are often in
before lunch (and the afternoon winds). We modify our typical day for
favorable currents in the two canals and Hell Gate but don't mind adverse
currents up to 2 knots now that we have trawler power.
Typically we stop in Marion or Onset at the southern end of the Cape Cod Canal
because Buzzards Bay can be really nasty in the afternoon especially with wind
against current. Our next stop is usually Newport then Block Island or
Fisher's Island. From there it is Port Jefferson then Manhasset and finally
Atlantic Highlands. We normally stay inside of Long Island, south shore and
go thru New York City but have talked to others who cut through Long Island's
Shinnecock Canal and run to Manasquan directly. Others do overnight from
Block Island to Atlantic City. We handle New Jersey according to the weather
and have stopped over the years at Manasquan, Barnegat Bay, Atlantic City and
Cape May. This year we went from Atlantic Highlands to Atlantic City on day
one then to Cape May on day two.
We were told years ago that if you had to give the East Coast an enema it
would go into the Delaware Bay. Skipper Bob sez to go thru the Cape May Canal
two hours after low tide if you want to have a favorable ride up the river and
thru the C&D Canal. This works as long as wind and current are not opposed
and the waves are down. We had ideal conditions predicted last week except
that 1-2 ft following waves were more like 4-6 ft which made the autopilot
unhappy. After that ride we stopped at Summit North Marina in the canal
($2/ft on weekends). We often stop in the C&D Canal at Chesapeake City if the
free dock is available. You can also anchor there. Lately we have avoided
the other side because the current makes mooring difficult and the docks seem
to be run down. On other occasions we have anchored in the rivers just after
the canal. We save the run to Annapolis for a new day because the weather in
the northern Chesapeake can also be nasty.
A FEW LESSONS LEARNED. Don't buy diesel in CT or NY ($3.66/gal in Port Jeff).
This trip we fueled in Newport ($2.89) at Atlantic Highlands, NJ ($2.55) and
Cape May ($2.65).
After much research we have plotted hurricane holes on our paper charts. We
actually diverted to one of these in Narragansett Bay for three days during
this trip while a hurricane decided whether it would come ashore in New
England.
We do not depend solely on NOAA weather radio for longer range weather. In
the case of the above hurricane NOAA didn't start telling us about it until 48
hours before it affected the local area. We were already headed for our hole
before that. We typically look at weather charts in the newspaper, watch the
Weather TV channel and go to the Hurricane Center on the Internet on a daily
basis.
We prefer to anchor or take a mooring over a dock. We learned that the
trawler needs more protected anchorages than the sailboat. In Atlantic City we
avoid the State Marina ($4/ft). Our notes say that Gardiner Basin charges
$1.50/ft. In Cape May we went to Utsch's ($2/ft). We make all of these
arrangements via cell phone at least a day ahead.
We never move the boat to a schedule. We seldom take crew with us. We often
see 5 or 6 boats going solo on each trip but don't think that is too good of
an idea.
We never tow a dinghy in the ocean. We now use Weaver Davits but are thinking
it would be easier to have lift up davits so that we don't have to rig and
unrig the motor to take UNCLE SAM (our yellow lab) ashore.
We came from sail to power with several safety gear ideas. We keep our
inflatable PFD's available in the trawler salon while underway. We have the
new Inflatable Lifesling and a Throw Rope handy and have a 5-1 block and
tackle ready for lifting a person from the water to the trawler's deck We
keep floating cushions handy to throw if someone goes over. We are now
thinking of adding a liferaft which is why we shy away from the longer
offshore legs described above. We have a paid up towing insurance policy.
We have the VHF hooked to the GPS so that we could use the automated Mayday
feature of DSC if we ever had to. We are getting a Ship Station License
before going out of the country next year and will use its MMSI to complete
the VHF/DSC setup.
In addition to setting up the DSC we have happily used all of the features of
our new ICOM 602 VHF Radio this summer (Intercom to the upper helm station
using the Command Mic, Automated Fog Signals, Hailer, continuous Scan of Ch
16, 9 and 13 and an extra speaker in the salon).
End of story. Hope this helps. Again, this is how we did this transit, not
how you should.
Good luck with your trip.
Come back to us if you have questions before, during or after your transit.
Ron (and Kathy) Trossbach
aboard SUNNESHINE in Annapolis
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