Sail out of Lake Champlain to Florida

[chopsy]

I am looking to sail out of Lake Champlain, headed to Florida. No Floatilla, No children, send Rum!

Really, looking for advice from who has done this. Canal passages, best time of year, and a rough timeline. Can I get that done in 2 months? 30 foot Cheoy Lee Bermuda ketch, and I got years of money-wasting sailing experience. I'll be droppin a new diesel in before I leave. Take a week on the lake to work out all the travel-demons before heading North.

Thanks in advance
Paul G

[BigCountryEsq]

might wanna turn your map upside-down..... florida is south.

[sailingdog]

Two months is a bit tight on time for that trip IMHO, especially since you have to unstep and restep the masts in order to do the canal section of the trip.

[sailboy21]

sailingdog, you are a buzz kill. 2 Months would be leisurely. He is only 200 miles from open water. Even if that took a week he then has only about 900 miles to go. I covered 800 miles of BC & Alaska inside passage, running dawn till dusk, in 9 days. San Diego to Vancouver (1,300 Nmi), with a headwind and current for most of the trip, took just over three weeks total running time in an equally slow boat. If Paul goes offshore, even for a day or two he can cut huge chunks of time out of the trip. If my slow boat can go 2,100 miles, mostly against the current and wind, in just over a month running time I am pretty sure Paul can go 1100 miles south in two months Sounds like a good time.

[sailingdog]

Sailboy-

He's taking the first week to prep the boat, at least from what I read in the Opening Post. Chances are pretty good that will actually take two weeks, especially considering that the boat is getting a new diesel during this time.

Then he has to do the canal portion of the trip, which requires unstepping the masts, traveling through the Erie Canal, and then re-stepping the masts. He may not be able to get the masts unstepped and stepped immediately, so figure two days for unstepping the mast, and two more for stepping the masts again.

You also have to figure that he will be motoring for most of this trip, and travelling only during the day, stopping at night, as that is typically what sailboats do on rivers and canals. Motoring in a 30' boat, he's probably going to be doing 6 knots or so on average, so an average day's run might be 50-60 nm., running 8-10 hours per day.

Getting to New York harbor might take three weeks of his eight. Then much of the trip, if he goes outside, is going to be against the prevailing winds, which are often out of the southwest for a good part of his trip.

If he is doing this during the summer months, rather than April and May, he does run a small risk of an early tropical storm causing problems. Of course, the summer months have the advantage of warmer weather and longer days.

Also, if he is planning on going the Northern route, via the St. Lawrence, he's looking at another 1700 NM or so... So, exactly how am I being a killjoy?? ... I'm being fairly realistic. It would be a very different thing if the boat was in ready-to-go shape, and not being re-powered just before he starts out, but he is re-powering the boat, and that will generally take a while to get into running order, unless he is very, very lucky.

[CrazyRu]

It took me 4 weeks to get from St.Lucie Fl to NYC NY. Solo. All day trips, most of them inside on ICW, some outside, some sailing, most motoring. Small 28 ft boat.

8 weeks is good gestimate for the trip from lake Champlain to Keys, with plenty spare time.

[sailingdog]

Not quite the same thing... since if you went outside, you'd probably be able to sail on a reach or run...rather than beating... Going from NY to Maine is far easier and faster than generally going from Maine to NY... and going from Florida to NY is probably going to have much the same advantages compared to going from NY to Florida.

Originally Posted by CrazyRu

It took me 4 weeks to get from St.Lucie Fl to NYC NY. Solo. All day trips, most of them inside on ICW, some outside, some sailing, most motoring. Small 28 ft boat.

8 weeks is good gestimate for the trip from lake Champlain to Keys, with plenty spare time.

[CrazyRu]

I went on outside along DelMarVa and NJ coast. Taking Chesapeake Bay route will add another 3-4 days.
If he leaves anytime between late fall to mid spring most likely he will have downwind sail since it is a time for cold fronts and corresponding Northerly winds 2/3 of time.

Catching a front and riding with a flow may be very fast since boat moves with the front, never running out of favorable winds.

His primiry challenge is canal's schedule. Most of them are not operate untill late april

[Cruiserwannabe]

Labatt has done this Champlain canal a couple of times now I think and has had a few great posts one of which is here http://www.sailnet.com/forums/genera...ain-canal.html

Hopefully he can chime in and give you some first hand who what where and whens but I think they are making the trip as we speak ?? I hope all is going well for them,hope this helps

[chopsy]

Hey Cruiserwannabe,

Paydirt! Thanks for the link to s/v Pelican's blog. This was exactly the sort of info I was after.

To everyone else,

Thanks for the spirited discussion. I plan on spending a week on the lake working out any kinks. I'll be handstepping the masts while drunk before I hit the canal just to make sure I can do it under real-world conditions. If I find I need anything I'll make a left coming out of the canal and grab what I need in montreal.