Anything wrong with shore-hugging?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Jdege

I'm listening to everybody talk about the difficulties of sailing close to shore, and the difficulties of sailing out in the deeps, and that got me thinking that the easiest thing to do might be to put the boat on a trailer and cruise down I-95

No. I-65 is better. You are outside the Gulf Stream and 600nms east of the Florida coast.

[Capt Phil]

Marks and others here make some excellent points. A lot depends upon the time of year you lab your passage, however. Tstano has also forwarded a long but interesting perspective. Being a former west coast delivery skipper, I can't tell you the number of times crew and particularly owners whose vessel I was delivering north and south asked me why I didn't travel closer to shore. As many have said here, other pleasure craft, commercial vessels, crab traps, buoys, debris, rocks, some charted others not and steeper seas are just a few of the reasons. Depending on the time of year and direction of the weather, being on a lee shore with no room to tack out is not fun. Phil

[SoundWave]

UPDATE:

We had a blast, sailed about 5-7 miles off shore in 1-day hops.
My 3 teenagers got seasick 1st day, fine afterwards. Admiral was fine.
They wound up loving it.

You all were right, it's easier further out. Didn't try overnight sailing, will do that in the fall Beaufort to Charleston.

Thanks for all your wisdom!

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by SoundWave

UPDATE:

We had a blast, sailed about 5-7 miles off shore in 1-day hops.
My 3 teenagers got seasick 1st day, fine afterwards. Admiral was fine.
They wound up loving it.

You all were right, it's easier further out. Didn't try overnight sailing, will do that in the fall Beaufort to Charleston.

Thanks for all your wisdom!

Wonderful!!! Glad you had a good trip and the family enjoyed it.

Guess you managed to miss all the buoys, sea serpents and other hazards.

[lesterbutch]

Originally Posted by SoundWave

UPDATE:

We had a blast, sailed about 5-7 miles off shore in 1-day hops.
My 3 teenagers got seasick 1st day, fine afterwards. Admiral was fine.
They wound up loving it.

You all were right, it's easier further out. Didn't try overnight sailing, will do that in the fall Beaufort to Charleston.

Thanks for all your wisdom!

O.K. you made step one! Sailing well offshore, and you discovered the ease of not having to compete with everyone else! Now its time for the best part, night sailing! Whenever we do long transfers we enjoy the night sailing the most! It is a totally different world! The lights of other vessels in some ways make them easier to spot early and then you can track them visually as well as on your chart plotter. That said, however, you must have a constant watch, especially at night. One thing that several people I know worry about is striking a lost container at night because they can't see them! I hate to burst your bubble but you can't see them in the daylight either. Unless they are empty they float too low in the water. The better news is, the chance is hitting one is remote! Can something unforeseen happen at night? Of course, it can happen anytime, so, go for it, chances are you'll like it!

[Capt Phil]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

As others have said, the most dangerous thing to a boat is the land, especially in areas where you have shallow water and the bad sea states which can occur there. So the further offshore, the better, so long as you are not so far as to make it too hard to get into a harbor if you need to. When I'm sailing along a coast, I really prefer to stay out of sight of land if possible without a big detour, and only at about 20 miles off do I start to relax a little. Close inshore you have all kinds of hazards -- small traffic, fishing gear, fishing boats, shallow water, lee shores, horrible sea states when wind blows against tide in shallow water, etc., etc., etc.


The other thing I would say about your plan is that a series of 100 mile day sails is an exhausting way to make miles. It takes me, personally a day or more to start to get into the rhythm of being on passage and start to really enjoy it. Even if you're not in a hurry, you might find it more pleasant to make a few longer passages of two or three days each, then just gunkhole around for a while, before making the next one. You'll be better rested and you'll get to see a few areas in depth, rather than just tying up at night and casting off in the morning. Another great advantage of this is that it gives you much more power to pick your weather. I, personally, like to "make hay when the sun is shining" -- sail and don't stop when conditions are good and you have a fair breeze, and spend time in port only when the weather is less than ideal.

+1, Dockhead... 50 years of commercial work on the west coast supports your opinion... Cheers, Phil