So what's the logic to the ICW bridges between Miami & Fort Lauderdale?

[RTB]

Originally Posted by bratzcpa

The reality is that this stretch of the ICW is slow and very "trying".

The same can be said about going outside, if you are southbound. Running against the gulfstream doesn't make much sense to me. I'll deal with the bridges.

Ralph

[Cheechako]

I've sailed from Lauderdale to Biscayne a few times outside. Always a nice sail. Would never do that portion inside if weather permits.

[napadiver]

Tennessee st bridge to Mare Island. Never had to have it opened, but after lowering my aerials, have had to duck on the flybridge at high tide. If you look close next time, you might see one of my hand prints on the cross beam.

Originally Posted by markpierce

Prefer bridges that lift upon request, but that doesn't mean one won't have to wait a few minutes.

[fla.sailor]

Not only the bridges, some folks with many more ponies under their hood think its a place to drag race making as big a wave as possible. When possible we went outside but weather often dictated the bridges....

Problem solved, we retired on the west coast! Now we're 3 sailing days from the middle keys without bridges!

CHeeRS!
-dennis

[jaybird1111]

Originally Posted by RTB

The same can be said about going outside, if you are southbound. Running against the gulfstream doesn't make much sense to me. I'll deal with the bridges.

The Gulf Stream is fairly far offshore - no need to go out far enough to be in the Stream to get from Ft L to Miami

[RTB]

Originally Posted by jaybird1111

The Gulf Stream is fairly far offshore - no need to go out far enough to be in the Stream to get from Ft L to Miami

I was crewing for i2f, on his 46' cat "Imagine". Ft. Pierce to Miami, about 2-3 miles offshore. 2 Yanmar diesels humming along all night, averaging less than 3 knots. Saw 1.9 SOG for a bit. So, that's what I remember of my only time running south to Miami. The winds were light, so no help that time.


I also remember the stream staying with us almost to the inlet at Ft. Pierce coming back from Bimini. I guess it just depends on what the stream is doing at the time.

Ralph

[jaybird1111]

Originally Posted by RTB

I was crewing for i2f, on his 46' cat "Imagine". Ft. Pierce to Miami, about 2-3 miles offshore.

Apparently you were too far out. I've done the trip several times and have been able to stay in close enough to not have any problems. In fact, I have drifted eastward, and the lumpier seas were indicative to me that I was getting too far out and I came back in.

[RTB]

Being from Texas, I'm no expert on sailing the East Coast. I even managed to find counter current going north from Fernandina to St. Simons. Oh well, we give the ICW hell though -



Ralph

[Robin3]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

That said, get out of the ditch an take the ocean- much less stressful. And you can actually sail.

Sound advice! I'm just a whinging Pom for whom circumstances dictate having to stay off the ocean for a few more weeks; but once cleared for sea, I'll be straight back out there where it's stress-free and safe - the ICW's just scary!

And from another whingeing Pom, logic does not exist here in Florida on the roads so on the ICW it would be very unlikely. Road Design and layout has no relation to the simplest of commonsense safety even, like for example an entry road not feeding in to a busy 3 lane road round just a blind curve so that vehicles entering have any kind of sight of what might be barreling towards them,Russian Roulette with cars, A 90 deg junction enables drivers to easily look both ways, but swept in curvy ones leave you needing a fully 360 deg rotatable neck/head, but heck they looks pretty on a drawing and our local road designer sure likes curves. By the same logic traffic lights here are not interlinked like many back in Europe, even those on consecutive main road junctions a mere 50 yards apart. Small wonder that red light jumping is a favourite pastime in Florida.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by RTB

I was crewing for i2f, on his 46' cat "Imagine". Ft. Pierce to Miami, about 2-3 miles offshore. 2 Yanmar diesels humming along all night, averaging less than 3 knots. Saw 1.9 SOG for a bit. So, that's what I remember of my only time running south to Miami. The winds were light, so no help that time.


I also remember the stream staying with us almost to the inlet at Ft. Pierce coming back from Bimini. I guess it just depends on what the stream is doing at the time.

Ralph

I always worked along right close to shore from Ft L to Biscayne. No stream really. And fun shore watching. Fun daysail.

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

That said, get out of the ditch an take the ocean- much less stressful. And you can actually sail.

Sound advice! I'm just a whinging Pom for whom circumstances dictate having to stay off the ocean for a few more weeks; but once cleared for sea, I'll be straight back out there where it's stress-free and safe - the ICW's just scary!

Well, you also could have simply waited until those bridges went off restricted operation, generally sometime between 1800-1900... That's a pretty straightforward section to run at night anyway, and this time of the year chances are you could make it thru before complete darkness falls, anyway... :-)

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I've sailed from Lauderdale to Biscayne a few times outside. Always a nice sail. Would never do that portion inside if weather permits.

If one does have to do that stretch inside, one of the nicer anchorages in S Florida is the one at Oleta State Park, behind Baker's Haulover Inlet... Haven't been in there in a few years, but it's a beautiful spot, and was always hassle-free, certainly a consideration given the climate prevailing in FL lately...





Also, if you're already inside at Lauderdale, and are bound for one of the anchorages behind Miami Beach near Venetian Causeway, there can be some logic to just running down inside... If conditions don't favor sailing outside, by the time you come back in at Government Cut and go all the way around Dodge Island and back up behind MB, it wouldn't necessarily be any shorter than coming down the ICW from Port Everglades...

Originally Posted by RTB

The same can be said about going outside, if you are southbound. Running against the gulfstream doesn't make much sense to me. I'll deal with the bridges.

Ralph

Yup, as jaybird has already noted, you were too far out... WAY too far out...

;-)

In favorable conditions, you want to run that stretch with 'one foot on the beach'... Generally speaking, the only significant current you should see will be from around Hobe Sound/Jupiter Inlet to just a bit S of Lake Worth Inlet, and it's rarely more than 0.5-0.75 knot or so if you're close enough to shore... For sure, you'll get into some water depths some find disconcerting in the ocean, and you'll have to watch out for some mooring buoys for small boats placed along sections of the reef, but in ideal conditions it's very do-able... My favorite sail in S Florida can be to leave Palm Beach right on the heels of the passage of a cold front, before the breeze moves around to the NE. It can be a spectacular downwind sail in flat water...

By the time you get down around S Lake Worth Inlet, you shouldn't notice any adverse current at all... And, by the time you're down off Boca Raton or thereabouts, there's a good chance of picking up some counter-current... A couple of weeks ago, I ran into a surprisingly strong S-flowing current from Hillsboro down to Port Everglades, and at that point you don't even need to be that close to the beach...

It's understandable that some folks can be timid about running so close to shore... But when you grow up sailing in a place like New Jersey - with its arrow straight shoreline coupled with relatively consistent depth contours along much of the coast - you learn to get comfortable sailing just outside the surf line when the conditions are right...

:-)

[RTB]

I'll remember that for the next time. Thanks.

Ralph

[tdh1849]

Geeez, do I ever have fond memories of Lake Sylvia !!!!

[jreiter190]

In the 70's, most of the bridges were on demand, three blasts of a whistle, horn or conch shell. The bridge tenders tended to not like long hairs or beards. They would open the spans two or three feet, (more than a few times dismasting sail boats that were classics), and close them the instant the mast was through. The DOT, who regulated bridges, had regulations to cover all possible circumstances; they were simply ignored. A tipping point had been reached between marine traffic, the reason the bridges existed and who had priority, and street traffic which had to wait for the boats. The street traffic prevailed and boats became the waiters. What we have today is the system that was hashed out to satisfy all parties in as fair a manner as possible. It is, for a sailboat; reliable, boring and maddening, but safe. Use it when you have no recourse to the sea.

[catshopper]

I lived in Lauderdale for many years. I would like to remind all you speed demons that a large portion of that trip is a no wake zone. Granted sailboats leave virtually no wake but then there are the manatee zones.

Powerboaters should stick to idle speed all the way except for one or 2 small stretches. That's IDLE speed.

Slow down, enjoy the trip or go offshore