Hatteras

[jeanathon]

The do's and dont's of Hatteras. What are they?

[boatman61]

Don't do it in a Northerly..
Go wide..

[SailingHarmonie]

Watch your weather forecast. Know what you and your boat are capable of.

Never go because your schedule says you "have to." But that should be true everywhere--all the time.

We have transited Cape Hatteras at least twenty times on deliveries and our own cruising, and never once had an unpleasant trip. We have pulled into Beaufort once to wait for a better window northbound, and many is the day we have waited in Norfolk for good southbound weather.

To me it's no more complex a passage than any other. It's just one with more bad weather, so you end up waiting more for the good weather.

There are many simple "rules" that apply sometimes, but are also made to be broken. One October we split out of Norfolk as soon as the wind shifted to the NW on a strong frontal passage. With 30 knots of wind on our tail, we stayed close to shore, and had a fast and fun ride for the start of our sail to the Bahamas. On another trip we have left the Chesapeake and headed due east for 200 miles, crossing the Gulf Stream and leaving it behind before we turned right to head south on a downwind run for four days. That was another fun and fast trip straight down to Port Everglades.

People frequently get stuck into looking for "normal" weather, and the truth of the matter is that in higher latitudes near the coast there is no such thing as "normal" weather. You look at what is coming, and you either deal with it, or you wait. We see a lot of people waiting for "perfect" who miss one window after another of "very good".

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

Watch your weather forecast. Know what you and your boat are capable of.

Never go because your schedule says you "have to." But that should be true everywhere--all the time.

We have transited Cape Hatteras at least twenty times on deliveries and our own cruising, and never once had an unpleasant trip. We have pulled into Beaufort once to wait for a better window northbound, and many is the day we have waited in Norfolk for good southbound weather.

To me it's no more complex a passage than any other. It's just one with more bad weather, so you end up waiting more for the good weather.

There are many simple "rules" that apply sometimes, but are also made to be broken. One October we split out of Norfolk as soon as the wind shifted to the NW on a strong frontal passage. With 30 knots of wind on our tail, we stayed close to shore, and had a fast and fun ride for the start of our sail to the Bahamas. On another trip we have left the Chesapeake and headed due east for 200 miles, crossing the Gulf Stream and leaving it behind before we turned right to head south on a downwind run for four days. That was another fun and fast trip straight down to Port Everglades.

People frequently get stuck into looking for "normal" weather, and the truth of the matter is that in higher latitudes near the coast there is no such thing as "normal" weather. You look at what is coming, and you either deal with it, or you wait. We see a lot of people waiting for "perfect" who miss one window after another of "very good".

Could not agree more with this post. Water is water and weather is weather. It’s the same throughout the planet. There are a lot of myths.

Just be conservative about the navigation, as you should everywhere. It’s easy to find shallows in that area and such an awkward course that it’s tempting to forget to go wide.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Could not agree more with this post. Water is water and weather is weather. It’s the same throughout the planet. There are a lot of myths.

Just be conservative about the navigation, as you should everywhere. It’s easy to find shallows in that area and such an awkward course that it’s tempting to forget to go wide.

Actually it's not the same throughout the planet.

Tides are stronger up here than say along the Gulf Coast of Florida. Here they are every 6 hours vs every 12 there.

The winds here can quickly jump to 35 knots or more very quickly after an average cold front goes through in the nicer seasons of Summer and early Fall. We expect it in the Spring.

Then there are the currents.

The currents at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay can be very strong but near Hatteras they are even stronger due to the Gulf Stream meeting the Northern cold water current.

Along the Barrier Island here the current/tides are strong and you have to be very careful entering some of the inlets due to depth and tide/current. Depth can change as much as 5' almost between low and high tide.

Tide change depths are more than that in some places in the higher latitudes that here and much less in others which would give you less current, but in those gentler areas some days of the year the current is very strong

[s/v Moondancer]

We have done the trip several times, both north and south. There are red markers on the 60 ft line marking all the shallows. In good weather it is easy to stay to the seaward of the markers, especially coming south which keeps you out of the Stream.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Actually it's not the same throughout the planet.

Tides are stronger up here than say along the Gulf Coast of Florida. Here they are every 6 hours vs every 12 there.

The winds here can quickly jump to 35 knots or more very quickly after an average cold front goes through in the nicer seasons of Summer and early Fall. We expect it in the Spring.

Then there are the currents.

The currents at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay can be very strong but near Hatteras they are even stronger due to the Gulf Stream meeting the Northern cold water current.

Along the Barrier Island here the current/tides are strong and you have to be very careful entering some of the inlets due to depth and tide/current. Depth can change as much as 5' almost between low and high tide.

Tide change depths are more than that in some places in the higher latitudes that here and much less in others which would give you less current, but in those gentler areas some days of the year the current is very strong

Man, I sure hate to line up with Sailorboy when he likes to hassle me so much but…

But yes, it’s all the same everywhere you go. If you go somewhere you could check that out. The water is the same everywhere. The weather is the same everywhere. Navigation is the same everywhere. Currents and tides exist everywhere except for a few spots. It’s all the same everywhere you go. There is nothing different about sailing anywhere. Sometimes there is just some more instances of bad weather exactly as was said in the post I quoted. That’s it. The water itself, navigating, sailing, watching the weather. That’s all the same everywhere you go. The same set of skills. There’s no reason to fear any body of water. They are all exactly the same. Despite stories and legends.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Man, I sure hate to line up with Sailorboy when he likes to hassle me so much but…

But yes, it’s all the same everywhere you go. If you go somewhere you could check that out. The water is the same everywhere. The weather is the same everywhere. Navigation is the same everywhere. Currents and tides exist everywhere except for a few spots. It’s all the same everywhere you go. There is nothing different about sailing anywhere. Sometimes there is just some more instances of bad weather exactly as was said in the post I quoted. That’s it. The water itself, navigating, sailing, watching the weather. That’s all the same everywhere you go. The same set of skills. There’s no reason to fear any body of water. They are all exactly the same. Despite stories and legends.

No, the weather, tides, and current are not the same everywhere.

And there are reasons to fear many areas which is why many do not sail the higher latitudes and avoid Cape Hatteras when the wind is Northerly especially Northeast and strong.

I'm sure there are many other areas that are much worse than average.

Along the Gulf Coast the weather is usually pretty gentle as compared to up here (excluding hurricanes and tropical storms etc.) which is why many beach cat races take you 15 miles are so offshore.

That isn't done up this way.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by thomm225

And there are reasons to fear many areas which is why many do not sail the higher latitudes

Given your cruising range, do mean north of the Deltaville ?

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Man, I sure hate to line up with Sailorboy

When you have 20,000 posts and stay mostly attached to a mooring and call it cruising, you really don't learn very much about sailing and boating.

So as soon as you can get your mast installed, I'd recommend doing a bit of sailing so you can get a better idea of the differences of say sailing along Florida or from here North

Racers sail a lot pretty much regardless of the weather. You can learn a lot that way.

We raced most weekends for about 10 months out of the year along the Gulf Coast and most times it didn't compare to the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean along here. Higher winds and rougher seas here.

Even going out Beaufort Inlet (Morehead City) on the wrong day can be quite tough.

I almost lost my 17' power boat there but luckily was able to make the turn and get back in between swells.

Other times it got so rough at Cape Lookout that I/we took the inside route back to Morehead City. I was 19 the wife was 16 and we had no radio as we learned the waters from Cape Lookout to Swansboro inside and out.

Most times no one even knew we were out on the boat

I was stationed at Bogue Field (ASR. PAR Radar Tech and IFF) so we knew that area after coming back in Swansboro Inlet on the same 17' boat which had a 4 stroke outboard on it from the late 1960's (Bearcat 55 HP)

All systems ran on generators which put out 3 phase 400 HZ as long as the Mech's hooked up the cables correctly.

There was no running water on our side of the runway. So we could experience actual deployment conditions

Photos are of the 3900' runway at Bogue and the metal planks it was made out of.. The Par Radar pictured was housed in the Raydomes along the runway in photo right side mid way. We had 2 of those plus and ASR Radar

[boatpoker]

Good Grief !

[thomm225]

The biggest problem I had with that old 4 stroke Bearcat outboard was dirty gas.

We'd be 10 miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean and that thing would start to miss badly due to the dirty gas.

I'd had maybe 4-5 other power boats with outboards before that even though I was still only 19 but never had a dirty gas/clogged Carb problem.

Took me months to figure that on out.

The weirdest thing I remember when stationed at Bogue is that when a Hurricane approached we'd be called back early from a weekend Liberty of leave.

So I'd be headed back down from here toward the potential Hurricane while there was a long line of traffic coming back this way from the Outer Banks and all areas near Cherry Point and Bogue Field.

Back then it was all two lane black top. None of the four lane stuff like today

***The key point with my experiences on the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean is that I was on boats at 6 years old. You learn a lot better when starting so young in most anything but especially boating***

Being stranded offshore at 17 years old until 3-4 am was another big lesson. I'm here because the weather stayed calm. We were on a 14' aluminum boat 5 miles off. 3 teenagers

[Chotu]

Good lord. Lol.

Been doing this 35 years or so now and spent more nights of my life sleeping at anchor than on land until building this one. Typically cruise from Venezuela to Noca Scotia. But yeah, you're right maybe I'll learn all about 3 phase power and military equipment and runway installation once my mast is up.

running a tricolor masthead so definitely the 3 phase power will come in handy lol

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Good lord. Lol.

Been doing this 35 years or so now and spent more nights of my life sleeping at anchor than on land until building this one. Typically cruise from Venezuela to Noca Scotia. But yeah, you're right maybe I'll learn all about 3 phase power and military equipment installation once my mast is up.

Yep most learn too late that understanding electrical, electronics, and computer systems can be very beneficial on a sailboat that relies on all of those.

Being able to quickly troubleshoot each is also very helpful plus knowing a couple operating systems (OS's) and enough software to be dangerous can also be beneficial.

Batteries and solar are pretty routine for most of us old techs that are now computer nerds that is those of us that stuck with it and didn't retire to sit at anchor and argue on the internet all day

[sv_pelagia]

of course, some sit on the internet and post questionably relevant photos... lots of photos [emoji6]