From Portsmouth, RI, to Chesapeake Bay, MD

[jmunson2]

Greetings!

Has anyone made this passage, particularly in spring?

My brother is purchasing a '71 Cheoy Lee Clipper Ketch located in Portsmouth and we need to begin planning the voyage south to "home." The trip will begin sometime in spring. Although, at the rate the weather is going, if it stays this mild we may do it sooner...

Interestingly enough, the boat began life in Virginia, moved to Rhode Island, and may now be coming nearly full circle.

If anyone is interested, once he secures this boat, he'll be selling his Bayfield 25 and also the pickup he used to haul it around. I think, though I can't speak for him, he'll take $20k for the boat, trailer & truck...the boat is also available seperately. If interested, let me know.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

/s/ Jon C. Munson II

[camaraderie]

Jon...have made the trip offshore from Montauk to Norfolk as well as "inside" through the Sound and NYC...down the Jersey Coast and up the Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake. Which way to you plan to go...will the boat have a shakedown cruise before leaving...and how much time do you have to do the trip?

[jmunson2]

Greetings!

We'll be heading south from Portsmouth to Chesapeake.

We're not sure how much time we'll have before actually taking the trip. If the current owner is amenable, he'll be going the entire trip. If he's only able to do a 1-day sail, we'll most likely hire a captain to take us at least part way depending upon costs involved.

As for time on the trip, depends upon what the "average" passage time would be. I'm thinking around 4 days or less - but that's without knowing anything at all about the conditions, etc., nor what she'll make as far as kph goes. We're happy to budget as much "realistic" time is needed - but we do need to know what that will be.

We have much planning to do...including finding a decent marina for that boat - a 42' craft isn't exactly easily moored somewhere... Right now Herrington Harbour is getting my vote.

Thanks!

Jon

[Faster]

Well done, Jon - getting someone else to keep buying bigger boats for you!! What's your secret?

I almost feel sorry for the Bayfield... being passed over so soon!

Seriously, though, good luck with your delivery.

[camaraderie]

John...I guess that means Offshore, non-stop, RI to VA.
Montauk to VA took us 2.5 days in a 44 footer so my guess is that 4 days is a good estimate for how long it should take. I would be prepared especially in early spring to pull in at Montauk and be sure you have a good 3 day forecast before proceeding south. A lot of really violent squalls move offshore at that time of year due to the cold/hot differentials and there is nowhere to pull in if a low comes sweeping across. The good news is that once you clear the sea lanes into NYC & Philly there is not very much traffic except for fishing boats until you get to Norfolk.

Doing an offshore run in an untested very old and new to you boat in a season where the weather can change quickly does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. I hope you encourage your bro' to buy/rent the proper safety equipment, clean out the tanks and fuel system and get the proper marine forecasts before deciding to head out. If the existing owner is experienced offshore and still willing to go all the way to Norfolk with you...I'd consider that a real good sign about how the boat has been maintained!!

[jmunson2]

Thanks guys!

Faster - I "pay" for my share of the boat through what work I can do on it, that is, through sweat equity. When the time comes that I can financially contribute (beyond the nickel/dime stuff) then I'll do so. In this case, this boat has a bit of water damage to most, if not all, the teak plywood around the portholes (apparantly these boats go by "leaky teaky"). The portholes were fixed, but the plywood wasn't replaced. So, I'll be pulling that apart and replacing the wood. Not exactly a job I'm looking forward to (I'm expecting the worst - meaning far more work than it looks), but that's how I "pay" my way for now...

Cam - thanks for the input! As I said, if the current owner isn't able to go with us (he had originally sailed the boat north upon his purchase), we'll attempt to hire a captain (someone with experience) to take us as far as possible at least until we get close enough to the Bay area where we'll be able to handle it. And yes, I'll make sure we've a life raft aboard at the very least...

Sincerely,

/s/ Jon C. Munson II

[jmunson2]

Greetings!

Back on this thread once again.

Looks like the boat sale is going through - the craft has been accepted, with some money in escrow for certain things, and the financing end is under way.

So, that being said, I'm looking for more specific information.

We're trying to determine routes to go (Portsmouth, RI to Herrington Harbour, Chesapeake Bay, MD) and approximate nautical miles each route would take. We are also trying to determine relative costs involved, whether or not legs will be involved (not the human kind, mind you as that's a given), general weather conditions (although that is now rather up-in-the-air [excuse the pun]), currents, other influences on speed-of-passage, etc.

We don't have charting software (like Fugawi), but that is going to be part of the costs (depending upon a GPS solution) we'll be incurring as part of outfitting/repairing/making ready for the passage.

Anyone with specific information please post - I'd love to entertain your thoughts!

Thanks!

Sincerely,

/s/ Jon C. Munson II

[velero]

Jon, get google earth from google.com. It has a ruler that you can do some planing for your trip.

[jmunson2]

Thank you Velero.

I actually, a while ago, downloaded a free enc reader (forgot from where) and used that to guesstimate mileage for a direct trip - about 450nm is what I determined (could be more). That software, while nice, has a very steep learning curve that I am not willing to pick up at this point (can't knock the free aspect though) - I found the interface a little less than intuitive.

What I was hoping is that someone may be gracious enough to correct that for me with something a little more advanced, as well as "follow the curve" to determine basic mileage for an along-the-coast route.

I will, however, revisit google earth and see what I can do with it in the meantime.

I am still seeking feedback from those who have made the trip, or a similar trip, or as part of an overall trip, to get a more realistic feel of what to expect.

Thanks!

Jon

[jmunson2]

OK, I've revisited Google Earth (has been changed from my last visit, nicely I might add).

I used the ruler option to calculate a basic direct path and a basic "hug the coast" path. I came up with at least 475nm for a direct path and 505nm for a hug-the-coast path.

For the direct path, I determined that, at a couple of points, we'll be about 35-40nm out from a shore.

So, on a basis of averaging 7nm/hour over 10 hour days, that's about a 7 day trip. If we continously sailed (no stops or problems) at that average, that'd be 2-3 days.

Now, the question of the moment is, is that a realistic view?

Thanks all!

Sincerely,

/s/ Jon C. Munson II

p.s. Thanks Valero, for bringing Google Earth back to my attention.