Crew Wanted: Short Notice New Jersey Sailing

[AShannon28]

I'm currently in Great Egg Harbor in Ocean City, NJ, awaiting resolution of some engine trouble we had yesterday. Looking to make a short hop up to Atlantic City, Barnegat Bay, or the long hop to Manasquan Inlet as soon as the weather and engine usability line up. From there, we'll be making our way up the East River to the Long Island Sound and on to Old Saybrook, CT. I mostly need crew for sailing in the ocean off the Jersey Coast. We will only be sailing during the day. I need to get as close as I can in the next week.

I'm looking for someone experienced who can spend a day or two to help me manage the boat while underway.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by AShannon28

I'm currently in Great Egg Harbor in Ocean City, NJ, awaiting resolution of some engine trouble we had yesterday. Looking to make a short hop up to Atlantic City, Barnegat Bay, or the long hop to Manasquan Inlet as soon as the weather and engine usability line up. From there, we'll be making our way up the East River to the Long Island Sound and on to Old Saybrook, CT. I mostly need crew for sailing in the ocean off the Jersey Coast. We will only be sailing during the day. I need to get as close as I can in the next week.

I'm looking for someone experienced who can spend a day or two to help me manage the boat while underway.

Howdy and Welcome Aboard CF!

I see this is your first post.

What follows is written in a friendly tone of voice with the sole intent to help you.

A few friendly suggestions follow, and if you answer these questions and follow these tips it may help you get the crew you need.

1. Describe your boat make and model and year.
2. Does your boat have an autopilot? Heater? Bimi? AIS? EPIRB? Etc.
3. Post photos of boat and describe current condition.
4. Will you pay the costs of transportation for the crew to return to origin port or pay their costs home?
5. Will you provide meals?
6. How long will you expect the crew to stay on the boat?
7. Will you compensate the crew in any way?
8. Describe yourself (age, sex) and your sailing experience.
9. Have you made that trip before or sailed that route before?
10. Is the boat new to you? How long have you owned it?
11. Do you own the boat or is this a delivery?
12. How many people will be on the boat?
______________

Hope this helps you and others and Bon Voyage!

[AShannon28]

Here's a bit more information for anyone interested:

The boat is a 1983 Shannon 28. My dad and I are slowly making our way to Connecticut up the New Jersey coastline. I can do everything I need to in order to sail it, but the boat is new to me, so it really helps to have an extra set of experienced hands. My dad is not a sailor, but he can man the tiller well enough for me to do everything else. We have an auto-tiller as well. We have VHF, navionics, and a Garmin handheld chartplotter.

The boat itself is a very capable offshore vessel, but the sails are old, so it can be trying to sail upwind in the heavy stuff. That's why we only want to sail on days when the forecast looks good. We also won't be going back out until I'm confident that we won't have any more engine trouble.


Anyone with experience in the New Jersey area who could help would be appreciated. Looking at the weather tomorrow, it looks pretty good, so we might make some good progress then.

We'll be fine without help, but it might provide someone with a nice time out sailing, so I thought I'd post. Just leave a reply in the thread if you're available.

[Steadman Uhlich]

What kind of engine problem are you having?

[rockDAWG]

Originally Posted by AShannon28

Here's a bit more information for anyone interested:

The boat is a 1983 Shannon 28. My dad and I are slowly making our way to Connecticut up the New Jersey coastline. I can do everything I need to in order to sail it, but the boat is new to me, so it really helps to have an extra set of experienced hands. My dad is not a sailor, but he can man the tiller well enough for me to do everything else. We have an auto-tiller as well. We have VHF, navionics, and a Garmin handheld chartplotter.

The boat itself is a very capable offshore vessel, but the sails are old, so it can be trying to sail upwind in the heavy stuff. That's why we only want to sail on days when the forecast looks good. We also won't be going back out until I'm confident that we won't have any more engine trouble.


Anyone with experience in the New Jersey area who could help would be appreciated. Looking at the weather tomorrow, it looks pretty good, so we might make some good progress then.

We'll be fine without help, but it might provide someone with a nice time out sailing, so I thought I'd post. Just leave a reply in the thread if you're available.

You may not want to hear this. For your current situation, it is wise to hire an experienced captain to help you for a few days. There is no safe harbour to get in when the wind picks up. Too many bad incidents happened in Jersey Shore. Things can go ugly fast, there is no reason to risk it.


Good luck.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by rockDAWG

You may not want to hear this. For your current situation, it is wise to hire an experienced captain to help you for a few days. There is no safe harbour to get in when the wind picks up. Too many bad incidents happened in Jersey Shore. Things can go ugly fast, there is no reason to risk it.


Good luck.

All true but this is a very short hop and one should be able to get very good weather forecasts for just a day or three.

[Dave22q]

[QUOTE=rockDAWG;2640553]You may not want to hear this. For your current situation, it is wise to hire an experienced captain to help you for a few days. There is no safe harbour to get in when the wind picks up. Too many bad incidents happened in Jersey Shore. Things can go ugly fast, there is no reason to risk it.


Also the NYC tides in the crowded NY harbor is no place for novices.

Good luck!

[ArmyDaveNY]

Unfortunately I am unable to get away for a few days but I hope the below information helps.


You have a couple of options and as you mention, Atlantic City and Barnegat Bay are two very viable options. At this time of the year you are approaching the longest days which will help. If possible, get to Barnegat Bay and anchor there. It will make the trip to Sandy Hook or Sheepshead Bay much easier. Either Sandy Hook or Sheepshead at good places to anchor. From there you will have a short run to the Narrows and the East River. If you time the East River correctly you will save quite a bit of time. If you don't get it right, you may want to drop anchor (Not in the middle of the East River though!) and wait for the change. The East River floods from the South West to the North East. I've gone through there and with the engine not much above idle was doing 7 knots over the ground on occasion.



Once you exit the East River, you have a number of options for anchoring or getting a transient slip. Good luck.

[Stmurray62]

As a 40 yr plus sailor & Delivery Capt. I agree hire a Capt, especially if off the NJ coast and then there’s the infamous Hells Gate on the East River. With that small a boat and a quirky motor u could be in a lot of trouble if u hit the river at the wrong time. Most Delivery Capt only charge in the $250/day range us expenses(transport and food). By the way, whether u pay crew or not, under the Jones Act u are obligated to get ur crew 🏠 home

[Stmurray62]

I am also busy for the next week, as I am departing Charleston bound for Key Largo.

[Chas.7]

Hello,
Make sure you listen to channel 13, 14 in New York harbor. You don’t want to meet a stern tow in the East River.
Good luck

[Chas.7]

Hello,
I did not read all the comments.
I do not think you come under the Jones Act less you are in commercial trade.
I’m not a lawyer but I am an expert witness. Check with a lawyer if you are concerned. Listen to the radio, stay out of the channel in the upper harbor. You can ride the edges. The anchorage off Brooklyn are deep enough. Just pick the flood tide for the gate. You will be fine.
Good luck

[Peregrine1983]

I have done the NJ coast and Hell Gate numerous times and agree mostly with what others have said here. You must respect the NJ coast inlets and you must time the passage of Hell Gate around a favorable tidal current in a sailboat. Don't forget that even inside the NJ inlets (like just inside Manasquan) there can be considerable tidal current.

Your first order of business is to get that engine running reliably. You especially do not want to lose power in the East River/Hell Gate. Timed properly with the tide, and in a properly working boat, it's a wonderful ride with amazing views along the East Side of Manhattan.

I would call the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club, Sheepshead Bay YC, or Raritan YC to find a captain who knows the area.

I've used this website for timing Hell Gate - http://www.offshoreblue.com/cruising...ver-timing.php

[Badsanta]

Make sure your fuel and tank are clean.

[AShannon28]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the advice and give an update.

We fixed the engine up as best we could in Great Egg Harbor and ran tests for 2 or 3 hours the day before we departed. Had a mechanic come, and we thought it was because we didn't have enough belt tension in the water pump belt. However we were also concerned about potentially getting diesel into the oil, because the oil seemed a bit thin and the level was too high. We did an oil change as well in case it was just the wrong oil used in the last change. After a few hours of testing, the oil looked fine, so we decided to head out the next day.

I checked the oil after a few hours of operation and everything looked fine, but a few hours later the engine stuttered just a little bit so we shut it down. Checked the oil and the level was high, and I was sure I could smell diesel in it. We now thought we had a bad fuel lift pump, even though those are pretty rare to fail.

Luckily, the wind was no longer straight against us at that point, so we sailed to Barnegat Inlet and got towed in to Forked River New Jersey. The folks at Silver Cloud Marina were great and were able to replace the fuel pump and do a little extra maintenance the next day.

Much more confident in the engine, we motored out of Barnegat Inlet and sailed North with good wind for 4 or 5 hours. Then the wind died off and some fog rolled in that I was definitely not a fan of. I was checking AIS using marinetraffic.com, which helped us get a little advance notice about a cruise ship that we needed to avoid when crossing Ambrose channel.

We anchored in Gravesend Bay and timed the tides according to the multitude of information online and we were just fine all the way up the East River into the Sound.

We never really had good wind in the Sound, and more fog than I would have liked, but we ended up safely at our destination a few days ago.