Stops to sleep between Hatteras and Chesapeake Bay Entrance?

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Statistical

Yeah I think the prior poster meant there are marinas to overnight at in Little Creek which is true I think there are like six of them in a row covering every square inch.

My boat is there and like you I have never seen anyone anchored out.

Chotu if you do swing this way Little Creek is reasonably sheltered and Cobbs Marina is a decent DIY yard. It is a bit pricey (as most stuff in the area is). Prices get cheaper as you push westward into the bay.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.9249...!1e3?entry=ttu

https://fishing-app.gpsnauticalchart....9223/-76.1778

As you come down the channel as others have indicated hang that right into the creek proper as soon as it becomes available. Sailing further south will get a welcome visit from the Navy boys. It happens all the time so they are semi-chill about it. As chill as a armed rib telling you over loud hailer to cut your engines can be.

I'm at a marina on Little Creek also. Bay Point.

The only places here lately I have seen anyone anchor is just to the right after you enter Little Creek just inside the entrance and maybe in 800 - 1000 yards or so.. That's #1.

Right now though when the wind is wrong like heavy NE, the tugs bring in the work barges and place them there.

.....from where they are building the second tunnel on the bridge.

This may not be a problem when he comes up and since he doesn't draw much he can get in close.

The other place is after you make the turn to the right in Little Creek. #2.

Just past Bay Point Marina and before Little Creek Marina there is a spot to the right side just past that East Beach Apartments dock which is just inside Bay Point's Marina.

Before that apt was build Matt Rutherford anchored there to rest and resupply with beer, food, and water before heading back up the Bay to Annapolis after he circumnavigated the Americas on an Albin Vega 27.

In Little Creek photo, Cobb's Boatyard and Marina is in close bottom of photo on left side of creek as you come in. This is "up the creek" a ways. Little Creek Marina is across the creek from Cobbs. The area in the upper left that is grass when the photo was taken is now totally filled with new homes.

In Photo Little Creek1, Bay Point Marina is last on the left on the way back out. Little Creek Marina is the next one in (just before) same side. BTW the Little Creek Navy Base is across the creek from Bay Point. If you get to close, the patrol boat will come after you. It's the Navy Seal Training Base, and they are all in.

The area between is the anchoring spot. The apartment will be built on that grassy area. It has a single dock coming out about as far as Bay Point's Docks are.

It's like 5 stories tall. I found a photo of it ......and it's attached. Photo East Beach Apt1 was taken from Bay Point Marina E Dock. Docks are A-F.

Homes in East beach heading into Bay Point sell for around $750,000 - $1,000,000 I would guess

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by sailorman14

Your BEST option is to take additional crew and stand watches. I like 3 people onboard with 3 hour watches each. This is the safest option.

Not if a murder mystery takes place. That could be quite dangerous.

No outside crew.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Sounds like wrong prop pitch

Willoughby Bay is an easy anchorage and there is a marina at the opposite side west of the bridge.

That’s precisely what it is. Prop pitch. I have said it about 300 times on the forum. I don’t know. It seems to get lost. I run out of RPMs before I run out of power with the Outboards. They are pitched down too far.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Seaward22

Here’s a link to the latest USACE of Oregon: https://www.saw.usace.army.mil/Missi...-Oregon-Inlet/

It was done 6/13.

That’s strange. They didn’t sound the part that looks good for anchoring. They cut off right at the beginning of it. It’s present in other USACE soundings of the area.

[mojosailing]

I agree with Sailorman14. Crew for safety…of those boats around you if not for yourself.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by mojosailing

I agree with Sailorman14. Crew for safety…of those boats around you if not for yourself.

For a single overnight passage along a beach where you can stop off the beach to rest if necessary? Seriously?

What boats around me?

And you can just walk home from a disaster in this area. Lol. There is no danger to self at all. Step off onto the beach if you were dumb enough to end up there.

Here one from Sunday. Engine failure, not poor nav skills. Although they should have had an anchor of some sort so they could figure the engine out and avoid having to walk home.


https://www.13newsnow.com/amp/articl...c-871b684acbff


I feel like peoples’ imaginations just get a little too crazy sometimes on this forum.

All I need is the weather window just like what you see in the picture. Beautiful sleeping weather. Can get a nice good rest right by the beach and press on the next morning.

And finally, crew is exhausting! It’s much less tiring to do it yourself.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by Chotu

And finally, crew is exhausting! It’s much less tiring to do it yourself.

I agree.

I first started singlehanding because i estimate (from experience) that i and the boats around me are safer with me by myself than me with a random person I've never sailed with before.

This is a short passage. Check radar, check AIS, make a visual check, set the autopilot, and take a 20 minute nap. Stop and sleep at the anchorage just inside the bay.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by wholybee

I agree.

I first started singlehanding because i estimate (from experience) that i and the boats around me are safer with me by myself than me with a random person I've never sailed with before.

This is a short passage. Check radar, check AIS, make a visual check, set the autopilot, and take a 20 minute nap. Stop and sleep at the anchorage just inside the bay.

Right??

People acting like I’m rounding the Horn.

It’s 150 miles.

I’m with you. It’s much much better to do it yourself than to try to rely on other people. It’s so exhausting. With all the time and effort you have to put into instructing them and whatever, you could have already been there.

Even if the person had incredible skills that you could trust on the very first day you met them, you still wouldn’t sleep all night. You’d be awake. Not trusting them. At least I would be. Better to face facts and just do it.

[markxengineerin]

Cobbs Marina is a decent DIY yard. It is a bit pricey (as most stuff in the area is).

Man, I think Cobb's is cheap! Prices are almost double for an equivalent yard in New England. Must be some really good pricing elsewhere in the Chesapeake.

[CarlF]

I've been around Hateras a good number of times and never had weather calm enough that I'd have considered anchoring off the beach.

The forecasts NEVER exactly matched what I found. The weather always changed in some unexpected way during the passage - and never for the better.

The nasty combination of competing currents, swells from multiple directions, and unpredictable weather is unlike anywhere else on the East Coast. I've never seen it anywhere near calm.

The problem isn't where to go at the entrance to the Chesapeake. That's easy with many great spots. And Cape Lookout is a joy - easy to enter or depart in the dark. The problem is that 130 miles in between. A good bit of which you'll be fighting a foul current.

While the new high bridge at the Oregon Inlet would seem to make it possible - read the ActiveCaptain report of the 43' Leopard SV Kindness trying to transit from inside out to sea (you'll find it under the Inlet marker). They had 3 day old sonar information, talked to the CG, and even tried to pay a local fishing boat to guide them - and still ran aground.

The other inlets are even less passable for a slow sailboat for one reason or another.

With a crew so you don't have to stop, it's safe enough if you wait for a weather window

But if you aren't willing to take a crew, the safest move would be to unstep the mast (or keep it down) and take the ICW.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by markxengineerin

Man, I think Cobb's is cheap! Prices are almost double for an equivalent yard in New England. Must be some really good pricing elsewhere in the Chesapeake.

Cobb's prices have gone up quite a bit.

They installed all new floating docks a few years back then more recently the other boatyard and marina on Little Creek, Cutty Sark, closed.

There's another apartment building going up there now.

One of my dock mates told me recently that if your boat is old, you have to put down like a $4,000 deposit to have it pulled there incase you decide not to come back for it. I wasn't charged that in 2018/19 last time I was there, but that was a while back

I haven't verified this though but don't doubt it.

As far as prices go, I'll be paying $10/ft on my next least. So $270/month or $3,240/year for my 27' sailboat.

When I retire, I'll have my boat at a marina that charges $1700/year. There is a spot going in that creek that is only 4' deep.

I was paying $135/month at another marina near that one but the channel is 2' deep on low tide so you could only come and go close to high tide. I draw 4'. The boat sat in the mud at the dock during low tide.

These two marinas are also 8-10 miles from say the nearest grocery store with no public transportation available

Everyone talks about Annapolis, St Michaels, Baltimore, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Hampton and other spots along the Bay, but those of us that grew up here know lots of other spots that are way cheaper but maybe not close to work, stores, etc.

Cape Charles for example used to have a deal where you could leave your boat stored there all Winter (September-March) for the price of the Haul Out which was cheaper than the haul out at a place like Cobb's

Deltaville used to have good prices also and it's a pretty good size little town that supports sailboat. I they still make and repair sails there also

http://latellsails.com/

Yard storage $110/month for example.

https://dycboat.com/slips/

[Chotu]

It’s like when I went in the Sarasota inlet this past winter. Everyone thought I was a goner. Lol

I’m going out the Hatteras inlet. I am going up the Hatteras national seashore coast. I’m going into the Chesapeake Bay.

In between I can stop at the beach, one of those tricky inlets with a lot of careful and slow movement, as long as there are not big swells to bounce me off the bottom and that’s it. It’s as simple as that.

Maybe a lot of people here actually aren’t aware of how good my boat is for this stuff. Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I should give it the benefit of the doubt.

I have kick up rudders. I can navigate (not well, but possible) in just over 24 inches of water with them up by using engines.

I can navigate perfectly with the rudders down in 36 inches of water.

I have a 25 foot beam. That makes the boat not bouncy in almost any conditions you can imagine.

I have a 33kg/73lbs Rocna anchor. I can easily sleep off the beach in these conditions:

[neilpride]

Chotu, I don't want to bother you in your adventure in Hatteras.

But you should keep this in mind.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by neilpride

Chotu, I don't want to bother you in your adventure in Hatteras.

But you should keep this in mind.

That is very high on my list. Thank you. I have been watching that thing.

That’s why I’m getting out of here now. One of the many reasons. Friday is the day. It may take me an additional 24-48 hours to provision and replace the cooling systems in my outboards and stuff.

My plan for that thing is to just do what I plan to do (if it is not a factor), but if it becomes a factor I will run up a river. My usual plan for hurricanes. Go as far inland as possible.

[Chotu]

I motored out of this “anchorage” out here in this area, by the way. Rudders up.