Navigation Planning

[susanflies]

I''m planning to move my Pearson 39 from Tampa to Barnegat Bay, NJ, in April and May (I know, lousy time to go north, but we''re relocating).

Two topics:
1. I''ve read all the advice about going south this time of year, but if anybody has gone north from Florida this time of year, I''d appreciate any insights. We''re planning, weather permitting, to stay outside from Cape Canaveral to Charleston, and then go inside to Norfolk. Any advice?

2. I''m a pilot. I like computerized flight plans. Does anybody know of a website that will allow you to plug in lat/longs and get a trip log with heading and distance, and time back out? I''ve been searching for such a thing with no luck. I can, of course, crunch the numbers myself if I have to--it would be character building.

Any advice is welcome!

[fei]

hi susanflies !

check this software. sorry it´s only in
german - may be there is a enlish version !

best regards
fei

www.nautictools.de

[WHOOSH]

Susan, I don''t think your timetable is at all bad...and found it interesting that another Pearson owner from Tampa Bay wants to do the same thing we did in our Pearson in 2000.

Going north and watching weather carefully, you''ll find outside runs quite feasible. (You''re probably going thru Florida Bay but, if you can, don''t overlook using the Okeechobee Waterway - neat trip and you save time). If you''re a bit lucky, you can lace together offshore legs when you have a solid 24-48 f''cast, and continue plugging away in the Ditch when it''s snotty. Prevaling winds will be in your favor heading north, at least insofar as the Chesapeake.

As a fellow pilot, I think you''re looking for the ease and assurance of a ''flight plan'' when in reality this isn''t compatible with your alongshore plans. Boats move far slower than weather systems while planes move much faster, which is why flights we crunch out of our computers hours before flight generally are pretty accurate. Moreover, boats are far more susceptible to the physical consequences of typical, seasonal weather patterns, so you''ll want to have your weather f''cast skeds and planning carefully prep''d in advance (times, freqs, how to capture & update them). Having a working list of ''bail out'' inlets and nearby anchorages is also an important strategy, as there are several stretches in the Miami-Cape May run with no real way to get inside.

Good luck on the trip! Hopefully, you''ll be able to leave early enough you can actually enjoy it a bit. The way you describe it, it sounds like a delivery trip!

Jack

[russ325]

Susan -

Can''t help much on the travel timing. I used the Captain Software and purchased a disk with preplotted routes on the ICW (inside/outside). Take the waypoints given as a excellent starting point and watch for shoaling. The real advantage was I could just let the software run on my laptop and get my ETA constantly updated to a marina (or waypoint)with the VMG being updated constantly.

Fair Winds - it''s a great trip inside/out!!!

Russ

[susanflies]

Jack, Russ, and Fei--
Thanks for all the advice. I''m trying to plan it out ahead, and then stay flexible with regard to the weather. I''m going to check out nauticatools (and give my rusty German a workout!) and I''m going to look into the software you mentioned, too, Russ.

Jack suggested the Okeechobee Waterway--that''s actually what we''re planning to do, as we''re short handed until we get to the east coast, and don''t want to pull too many all-nighters. I''ve already been in touch with Indiantown Marina about leaning the boat, and it sounds like they''ve got lots of experience with it.

It''s a delivery trip, but we''ve got two months to do it, and we''re really looking forward to having a little fun along the way.

Thanks again for the advice!
Susan