Best route from Texas to Florida

[prroots]

We are hoping to purchase a used Beneteau 411 in the Houston area and sail her to East coast of Florida for outfitting before heading for the Caribbean. We'd be interesting in receiving advice on how best to make this trip during January. We could sail on the outside or take the ditch. All things being equal we'd prefer the outside. A concern would be the rigs. The boat comes with radar, but so far we have not been able to get it working. We did check the pilot charts for January and it appears that the predominant wind direction is from the East so we'd be pinching most of the way.
Pete

[john1066]

There is a main shipping fairway running southeast from Galveston. You need to follow it to a waypoint approx 27.5N, 92.35W. From that point you can head to the west coast of Fl. It's about 800 miles, all told. You will need to keep a sharp lookout for rigs and oil industry traffic even on the fairway route.
If you go by the Gulf ICW be aware that from Galveston to Lake Pontchartrain is a nightmare of commercial traffic. Check out my blog for pictures of the things you are likely to meet along the way. That stretch has very few viable anchorages along the way so you have to plan meticulously. There are two major locks to transit, but you do get to sail for a short distance on the mighty Mississippi!
I'd never do that piece of the Gulf ICW again without a gun to my head or if I was on a tug.
Offshore I reckon you are going to be doing a lot of motorsailing.
I guess you are familiar with the Florida end of things - depending where you're going you can cross over to the east at Key West or the shorter route via Marathon. Or Okeechobee, if your mast fits through. 49' at Port Mayaca, unless things have changed.
Have a good trip!

[MARC2012]

Been one norther after another lately.Outside would be no fun right now.Have not been to Galv in a long time but 4 locks on icw for sure.Would go inside or wait.marc

[prroots]

Originally Posted by john1066

There is a main shipping fairway running southeast from Galveston. You need to follow it to a waypoint approx 27.5N, 92.35W.

Thanks a lot. What is the point of heading to that waypoint; is it to avoid many of the rigs? I think I found the waypoint you're speaking of at 027 51.4886 N / 092 34.6040 W. Is that the one?

Originally Posted by john1066

Or Okeechobee, if your mast fits through. 49' at Port Mayaca, unless things have changed.
Have a good trip!

Yup, the mast is 58-6 so guess that leaves out the Okeechobee.
Pete

[seafrontiersman]

You might want to get a copy of charts 1118A and 1117A (lease block charts for GOM) and stick close to the safety fairways until you are 80-100 miles from land; after about 100 miles, the drilling platforms, rigs, and oifield service traffic thins out dramatically. Also, platforms and rigs are BRILLIANTLY lit with LOUD horns at night so your radar is not essential for getting through them; you will want to look out for Oifield Service Vessels which operate at anything up to 30 Kts.

I've operated an OSV for 10 years in the Gulf and my advice for you is to get offshore as soon as possible and then head East; East of 90W you should the Gulf pretty much to yourself.

Good luck!

[john1066]

[quote=prroots;686699]Thanks a lot. What is the point of heading to that waypoint; is it to avoid many of the rigs? I think I found the waypoint you're speaking of at 027 51.4886 N / 092 34.6040 W. Is that the one?

Yes, it gets you out to sea via the fairway, beyond the main population of rigs. At that point you can turn east.

[svHyLyte]

From the sea bouy off Galveston to the Sea bouy off Marco Island is about 720 miles at a heading of about 100º (M). Even with a nor-easter you'll have a screaming to tight reach which is doable on that yacht and the Gulf Stream meander will give you a bit of a lift as well. Assuming the yacht's rig is good, you should be able to do 130-150 miles a day so you're only looking at 5 to 5-1/2 daze. Check out passageweather.com which can give you a pretty good 5-6 day forecast based on the GFS model which seems to be the most reliable. I'd get the radar working before leaving.

FWIW...

[prroots]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

From the sea bouy off Galveston to the Sea bouy off Marco Island is about 720 miles at a heading of about 100º (M). Even with a nor-easter you'll have a screaming to tight reach which is doable on that yacht and the Gulf Stream meander will give you a bit of a lift as well. Assuming the yacht's rig is good, you should be able to do 130-150 miles a day so you're only looking at 5 to 5-1/2 daze. Check out passageweather.com which can give you a pretty good 5-6 day forecast based on the GFS model which seems to be the most reliable. I'd get the radar working before leaving.

FWIW...

That's a great site. Thanks
Pete

[prroots]

Since the boat is new-to-us, we're thinking of taking the ditch as far as Port Arthur, about a 60 mile trip. Hopefully, this will familiarize ourselves with boat. From there we would head out via the freeway to get past most rigs before heading East towards Key West. Does that make sense?
Pete

[PBzeer]

Actually, you'd be staying inside on the worst part, and going out at the worst point.

The point of heading South to Southeast from Galveston is to take advantage of prevailing conditions. Don't head that direction enough, and you're liable to spend as much time going north and south as going east (not necessarily, but more likely to).

If you do decide to take the Ditch, I would recommend going outside from Galveston to the Calcesieu River. Once to the ICW, there are some docks you can tie up at just east of the junction. From there, you can anchor just off the Ditch on the Mermentau River. Anchoring between there and Morgan City is iffy, but possible. Having crew at that time, we followed a barge overnight on that stretch. Houma is a day's run from Morgan City. From Houma, if you can't clear the Harvey Locks by 3:00 pm, find a slip or a place to anchor. Once you clear the Industrial Locks on the next day, take the canal east to Bogues Sound. Then either go to Pensacola, or head SSE to the Keys.