Jupiter Inlet Question

[ND09]

Hi everyone. My wife and I are considering buying a house in Jupiter, FL located on the ICW about a mile north of the Jupiter Inlet. There is a dock that comes with the house where we would plan to keep our catamaran. She's 55ft and draws about 5ft.

Our schedules allow us to sail very frequently and we would like to take the boat out the inlet and sail around for a couple hours as often as possible. However, I have heard how rough the inlet's conditions can be (changing sandbars, a strong outgoing tide.) How often could we expect to be able to safely motor through the inlet? Would the conditions allow us to go for a sail 50% of the days? 25%? Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, ND.

[Hudson Force]

'tough question.... Above mid tidal range would be best, so that's 50% of the time. Daylight is best, so that's another 50%. These probabilities together leave you a 25% probability. Southeast Florida surf is most often very flat early in the morning when you consider the daily cycle of onshore winds, so early out is often good. There's more frequent "northers" and northeast winds during the winter months which make the inlet rougher. Local knowledge and experience with staging your position in relation to shoals, swell, and current is extremely import.
These factors would cause me to want to gain experience by passing out and back in frequently during calm mornings. Of course, the local forecast rules over all,- any day can be a poor choice depending upon conditions.
Reviewing my post, I see I've pretty much given you a non-answer!
How's all that

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

'tough question...
Reviewing my post, I see I've pretty much given you a non-answer! ...

There is a family of sayings about the formidable task of successful prognostication:
"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." ~ Nils Bohr
“I never make predictions, especially about the future.” ~ Yogi Berra

[Boatguy30]

Do you honestly daysail a 55’ Cat very much? If so any nice day for a daysail is going to be a relatively easy day in the inlet. 5’ draft is about the same as the bigger sportfish that always use the inlet.

[dougweibel]

Call the local TowBoatUS or SeaTow office and talk with one of the tow boat captains. They are generally very helpful. I have done this for other inlets and received very detailed info on the inlet conditions.

[Tonali99]

Originally Posted by ND09

Hi everyone. My wife and I are considering buying a house in Jupiter, FL located on the ICW about a mile north of the Jupiter Inlet. There is a dock that comes with the house where we would plan to keep our catamaran. She's 55ft and draws about 5ft.

Our schedules allow us to sail very frequently and we would like to take the boat out the inlet and sail around for a couple hours as often as possible. However, I have heard how rough the inlet's conditions can be (changing sandbars, a strong outgoing tide.) How often could we expect to be able to safely motor through the inlet? Would the conditions allow us to go for a sail 50% of the days? 25%? Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

At the best of times Jupiter inlet can be a real pain. Literally hundreds of big sportfish go in and out daily. With little or no respect for other boats.
Combine that with the two bascule bridges close by on the ICW nearby. One north, the other south. They run on the hour/half hour unless you are commercially licensed, like tugs with barges. An outgoing tide with the inevetable seabreeze will kick some chop too. Oh, don't forget the little ones buzzing around like gnats.
I wouldn't raise the sails till well past the break wall and bear a little SE when you clear it.

[Snore]

As others said- call towboat or sea tow. Also go down to the charter dock and see if you can get one of the charter Capts to talk about it.

I can tell you as a delivery guy I would only use that inlet in a calm day and then only if I had to.

Why? 1) The inlet has a healthy current. (Sit on the breakwater and watch it). 2) In wave vs tide that inlet can produce some epic waves. In my younger and slightly stupider days I surfed by 18’ NW Discover kayak in the break. Incredible- just don’t make a mistake. The other side of that is a few years back a big sport-fisherman was coming in and she got rolled. The captain was up in the tower, he did not lose the boat. But, he subsequently died of his injuries.

This is info from a few years back- get an update before buying!

[Tonali99]

Originally Posted by ND09

Hi everyone. My wife and I are considering buying a house in Jupiter, FL located on the ICW about a mile north of the Jupiter Inlet. There is a dock that comes with the house where we would plan to keep our catamaran. She's 55ft and draws about 5ft.

Our schedules allow us to sail very frequently and we would like to take the boat out the inlet and sail around for a couple hours as often as possible. However, I have heard how rough the inlet's conditions can be (changing sandbars, a strong outgoing tide.) How often could we expect to be able to safely motor through the inlet? Would the conditions allow us to go for a sail 50% of the days? 25%? Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Back with some other thoughts. Since you're only "considering" the house, have you considered Stuart Fl.?
Good inlet,fairly decent bodies of water to play around in without going 'outside'.

[ND09]

Thank you for all the input. Sounds like the amount of time we'll have with good all around conditions will be limited. I plan on calling Tow Boat US and picking their brain for some local knowledge. Tough currents, sandbars and plenty of other sport fisherman zipping around sounds pretty hectic. I'll keep doing my research but thank you for the advice. Very helpful.

[Tin Tin]

We have sailed past that inlet many times and often wondered if we could stop over there on a 45ft cat. I just looked at the chart again where it shows 5 ft depth, and warning sign and a commentary about hazards, no way would I go through there in anything but flat calm and no swell. If you want to enjoy your sailing you want 10- 15 knots of breeze, if that is counter to the current and or there is a big swell running caused by storms hundreds of miles away it will be challenging. Throw on top of that those awful thunderstorms with lightning, horizontal rain and 40 - 50 kn gusts that appear very quickly in Florida, and usually when you are crossing an inlet, and you have a very scary crossing to make - sort of ruins the day.

[dougweibel]

I have not lived in that area but have left my boat at Loblolly Marina about a dozen miles north of Jupiter on the ICW for a few months the past three falls. Not sure what you are looking for but there is a very nice range of neighborhoods with docks up that way close to St. Lucie inlet. St. Lucie inlet, although not as easy as Lake Worth inlet, is much more friendly than Jupiter inlet. We have cumulatively hung around that area for over 6 weeks doing boat work, etc. and found the communities of Hobe Sound and Stuart both to our liking. An additional huge benefit to being on the ICW up there is the proximity to the quiet parts of the Hobe Sound Nat'l Wildlife Refuge.

[Steelhands]

Wow, something I actually know about. I used to run my 20 cuddy cabin in and out of both Jupiter and lake Worth inlets most weekends. Both can be dangerous to deadly BUT take the usual cautions, the good advice above and watch out for the cross current/opposing wind condition, esp strong ebb. Watch what happens to other boats as they go into and out of the inlets. I've turned around more than once. Think carefully about what it's going to be like on your way back. Have plans A and B and C. Make sure your radio is on and accessible. All that said, most mornings in the summer you should be out in a flash. Winter in SF if always iffy. I've been blown out (kept ashore) for over a week many times. Plus, your boat is bigger and stronger than most. Great fun for you, IMHO
Regards,
Steelhands