Jumping outside the ICW!

[furisgrampa]

Can someone provide a list of the best. "Day jumps outside the ICW", best overnight jumps headed southbound.

Thanks
Bill

[Steadman Uhlich]

Bill,
I don't have a list handy, but I know that other CF members have posted extensive (long) comments with tips and suggested "outside" trips and inlets.

Here is a list of ICW threads, and with some reading I am sure you will find good suggestions in them. In fact, at least one thread has a similar title to your topic.

https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=011403...ICW&gsc.page=1

If you (or others reading this) need crew for your trip, let me know. I am hoping to hop on a boat that is hopping down the ICW or outside this fall. My seabag is packed and I am ready to go on short notice.

Bon Voyage!

[skipmac]

There are as many options and combinations as the factorial of the total number of inlets IE how many different ways you can combine all the inlets like A to B, A to C, A to D, B to C, B to D, etc, etc, etc.

It would help to understand your preferences in this: saving time, bypassing boring/shallow/troublesome sections of the ICW, offshore practice or ???

One thing to bear in mind, in many of the inlets it is a long way from the ICW out the channel to deep water in the ocean. Often 2 - 3 hours, sometimes more. If you're trying to save time then the in and out will eat up most of the savings unless you plan a long offshore hop like an overnight sail.

Will also depend on how far north you're starting and how far south you want to go. When I brought my boat down from New England my outside hops were:

- NYC to Delaware Bay
- Delaware Bay to Norfolk
- Little River SC (very short hop to deep water) to Charleston
- Charleston to Brunswick
- Brunswick to St Johns River (final destination)

Most of these were to save time, some to bypass shallow sections (Charleston to Brunswick).

[DougR]

Google "coastwise distance tables" and this will take you to the NOAA tables that give you that info. For example, Beaufort/ Morehead City to Charleston- 220 n miles. Charleston to Fernandina Beach, Fl., etc.

You can use this to figure the time involved at the cruising speed of your vessel, and you can develop a table of options all the way down to Key West.

Frequently this table is reproduced in the back of the cruising guides from Norfolk to Fl.

DougR