[chef2sail]

Its doable, but I prefer to make my two trips up the coast closer to equal and sail them. As well as have a place to "bail out to". Ive never been able to get done that distance in 12 or 13 hours. Thats all I am saying. To do it you will not sail at all unless you can keep a steady 5.75 knots up. You are forced to make the distance, and usually you can only do that by motoring. The problem with that scenario is that after Barnegat you only have one place to duck into (Inlet) and thats Manesquan. Manesquan we have done a few times. The inlet ranks third on ease of entry, but there is no place to anchor, a current which rivals the New England Race and you have to go up past two bridges which must open to stay in an expensive marina. We have avoided this by doing Barnegat and then the trip to Sandy Hoook is a shorter one. Horseshoe Cove is right behind the hook. One you clear Manesquan you have to commit to the 28 miles to Horeshoe Cove. Also when you come back south down the coast you will most likely have the wind on the nose or some part of it as afternoon brezzes at the Jersey Shore are usually SE or S. That makes the distance not possible during daylight.

Usually Lower New York Bay can be quite rough in the late afternoon as the wind has built up, especially with an outgoing tide and the on shore breeze in the summer. The ocean can have 4 foot swells and 15 knots and the bay is like a huge choppy dishwasher with large swells in many different directions, especially on the South Bound trip as in the summer the winds are predominatelty from the S or SE Also you have the big ships which take the Sandy Hook Channel to the Kill van Cul. Most ships go this direction vs the NYC one as the major docks are on the Jersey side.

I am not saying you cannot do it this way, but you will pushed for time and a very long day, not necessarily and enjoyable one. Thats why we break it up differently. Sonmetimes we have even done Barnegat to Atlantic City to Cape May on our trips back south due to heading into the wind.

Dave