Opinion on Coan Marina?

[patrscoe]

I am thinking of moving more north on the Chesapeake Bay and was wondering if anyone have a opinion of Coan Marina and sailing in the upper / mid area of the Chesapeake Bay. The upper bay area seems to have a lot of interesting destinations and would be a shorter initial sail, especially with our children (6 & 8 yrs old) as their attention span is about one day on the initial sail... need attractions to keep them having fun.

We currently sail out of Deltaville area.

Thanks

[PalmettoSailor]

Personally, I'd stay in Deltaville or move much further north. We sailed from D'ville for several years before moving to Herrington Harbor South which is much closer to mid bay destinations than Coan River.

Coan would put you closer to St Mary's, Solomon's and Great Wicomico, but it would still be a haul to any of the mid bay eastern shore destinations on the Choptank or Eastern Bay.

From the Herring Bay or West River area's you're close to Annapolis, St. Michaels, and a bunch of anchorages (Rhode River, Wye River, Choptank, etc.)

If you move up here, be prepared for a lot more crowded anchorages and near constant powerboat wakes, especially in Eastern Bay on nice weekends. I just can't see that moving to Coan River buys you much compared to sailing from Deltaville. If I could live closer to D'ville, I'd move my boat back in a heartbeat.

[kd3pc]

Coan River Marina is about half the cost of the midlin deltaville marinas...that being said, you are in a different part of the world on the northern neck...and just because it is written in the marina handout, does not make it so...

Jobs take longer to get done, truly qualified people are hard to come by.

That being said, you can not beat the area for sailing and gunkholing. As you hit the bay and find the winds and waves too much, you can just head back up the Potomac or one of the feeders, Lots to do and the people are really decent for the most part.

If cost is an issue, you can not beat the NN...there are other options there as well, but as ML says it ain't Deltaville or Naptown...

[aa3jy]

Spent about a year and a half on the Choptank River area..unfortunately about a year of it was not to my doing(2 engine rebuilds)..but sailing in that area was a delight..lots of small anchorages and much less power boat traffic then one would find up on the northern Bay areas.

I'd look for a marina in the Middle Bay area...

[patrscoe]

I am trying to stay within or less then 2 hours of our home so going more north is not a option. We are currently about 4 miles from the bay on the Rappahannock River, West of Deltaville. Coan is about 35 miles or so north from us right now.

I have heard it is really nice sailing in this area with destinations like St Michaels, Solomons, Tangier Sound and etc... Again, we have small children and having beaches within a couple of hours or so would be a nice break for the kids. They like to comb the beaches and shorelines for interesting findings...
I don't think we're much interested in sailing above Annapolis area.

I agree, there are some good mechanics and technicians within the Deltaville area but also you pay the price not sure if it is worth it sometimes. When you don't have to time to perform a tasks and you get an estimate to change out a 3/4" seacock for $500 plus haul out and splash fee. Which I have done this work in 2 1/2 hrs and material costs of $110... Sorry, don't want to get off the subject of my posts.

I did hear of a lot more motorboats then Southern Bay but I was thinking that was more above Annapolis area.

[PalmettoSailor]

Don't want to take the converstation too far of track, but service rates in Deltaville are about 20% lower for the same quality of work as you'll find closer to Annapolis and there a quite a few yards to choose from. Perhaps still not worth it if you have the time and skill do do the job yourself. That said, I'm toying with moving my boat back down for the winter to have canvas work done and perhaps an autopilot install.

Back on topic, I don't think there are any beaches with good overnight anchorage within a couple of hours of Coan River. The only one I've been to in the upper part of the lower bay is behind Windmill Point. There is a decent beach on Tangier, but I don't think there is a good place to anchor though you could go to Parks Marina. St Mikes is great, but I think its a tad too far for a comfortable overnight from Coan River which is why I suggested further north. St Mary's would be an easy trip from Coan.

Re: powerboats I guess its all in what you get used to. I haven't seen anyone besides myself expressing the opinon that there were a lot of powerboats between HHS and Eastern Bay out loud. However, on a typical weekend I hear dozens of irate calls about wakes on the VHF and I all too often have to make 90 degree turns to take a huge wake on the bow vs the beam. I don't ever remember hearing the kind of thing on the VHF that is common up here in my 5 years sailing from D'ville and I rarely had reason for a cross thought about a power boater down there. There were just far less of them and they were far more willing to adjust their course to give you some room.

[patrscoe]

Thanks. I go back and forth on this move. We are in a nice marina and enjoy their facilities.
Trying to figure out if it's woth the move.

Patrick