Long Island Sound or Hudson River?

[dmj]

Hello! This is my first post, please forgive me if I’m not posting in the right forum, etc...
I’m considering a sailboat purchase, and looking for opinions on pros / cons of Long Island Sound versus the Hudson River. I live in Westchester County, so can easily go in either direction. Any suggestions on daily charters for either so I could get a feel myself would be great too!

I grew up sailing a 32’ racing sloop in the California Bay Area, but haven’t sailed for about 10 years, so I’m probably going to take a basic keelboat course too. Has anyone had good success with courses around the NY / CT area? Thanks in advance!

[Muaddib1116]

I would advise keeping your boat in Long Island Sound somewhere. There is a lot more cruising to be done there than in the Hudson river.

[Tingum]

I second Muaddib, too much fast commercial traffic, wakes and current in the Hudson. The sound is much more sail friendly.

[Knotical]

Originally Posted by dmj

Hello! This is my first post, please forgive me if I’m not posting in the right forum, etc...
I’m considering a sailboat purchase, and looking for opinions on pros / cons of Long Island Sound versus the Hudson River. I live in Westchester County, so can easily go in either direction. Any suggestions on daily charters for either so I could get a feel myself would be great too!

I grew up sailing a 32’ racing sloop in the California Bay Area, but haven’t sailed for about 10 years, so I’m probably going to take a basic keelboat course too. Has anyone had good success with courses around the NY / CT area? Thanks in advance!

For sailing school and rental you can look at Port Sailing school in New Rochelle, I took their ASA classes a few years ago when they were based in Manhasset Bay.

https://www.portsailing.com/

[zeehag]

hudson river , northern section is awesome beauty-fullll... do sail it..is where i learned to sail, catskill point to west point and north troy. then go to sound, as the scenery is a lot different, as is the sailing. both are good. down by nyc the river is a beast of commercial traffic. where we were, not so much and is peaceful beautiful and historical. the sights and sunsets are magical. there are tides and shoals and skills to develop in the river, then take those out to sea via the sound.

[Time2Go]

I have sailed both areas extensively and raced on the
sound ( Can One Serries)
Hands down winner is,
Long Island Sound
For me the major reason is the 4-5 knot current in the Hudson
and you really can only sail north/south
LIS has SO much more to offer
You could keep a boat anywhere from City Island to Rye
Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard are easy sails.
You could reach them from the Hudson but waste a day timing
your run around Manhattan.
Cheers
Neil

[JasonS]

It’s been quite some time (like a couple decades) since I lived and worked in Westchester and Rockland Counties. When I did, I sailed the Hudson regularly. Ossining and Haverstraw has regular Wednesday and Sunday races and boats were always looking for crew.

My advice is keep your boat where you will use it. The trip from Westchester to LI can be miserable by car.

We ended up moving to South Florida, bought a catamaran and spent 7 years there. Two months ago we moved on board and are sailing up to the Chesapeake Bay for the summer, enjoying towns all along the ICW. Just finished up the outer banks of NC and will be in Norfolk on Tuesday.

Go where you can use your boat. There’s always someplace better, but your backyard will allow you to use it!

Enjoy!

[Dave22q]

IMHO it's a no brainer-- LI Sound. More ports, less tide, less commercial traffic, and probably lower slip fees. Fishing tends to be better as well. Also choice of NY or Ct registry.

[dmj]

Thanks all for the replies! I’ll probably focus on the sound, but it sounds like the northern part of the Hudson is beautiful - I’ll have to check that out too.

One more question: Do any of you recommend somewhere that will charter for a day on the Northern side of the Sound? I was looking at Sound Sailing Center in Norwalk, but any other recommendations would be great. Thanks!

[Emouchet]

For purchasing, I would favor the Hudson river watershed: the boat will have all the benefit of being used in fresh water. You may even consider boats upstate NY, as far as Champlain lake where there are plenty of Canadian sailors and low usage sail boats for sale. Champlain lake is only 5-7 days from NY city via the Hudson river, a nice and easy trip.

For sailing, once you get the boat, definitely the sound has larger horizon.