New York to Florida Via ICW

[oday27]

I recently purchased a 27' oday with a yanmar diesel. The boat engine is solid and the sails are in great shape.

I am new to sailing big boats. I have a J-22 race boat. I am wondering if a 27 oday is to small to make a coastal trip to florida from New York. I would have experienced sailors and navigators onboard for the trip. I understand preparation is key.

Thanks

[chuck5499]

ODay27 -- not sure when you are leaving or what your route of travel is but here are a few things to consider -
first - there we are now in named wind season so a careful daily check on the weather is mandatory -
second - are you going via the c&d canal, down the chesapeake, then via the icw to say beaufort and off shore or what - remember the weather around point lookout can be bad and it can create it's own weather -
third - how much time are you planning - probably not enough
two of us brought down a jeanneau ds40 in oct and came via the icw from annapolis and went offshore at cape fear river - we ran like heck and i mean running 24 hours a day where we could and the rest was before dawn to after dark and we made cape canaveral in 9 days - but it was brutal - we went via the ditch on purpose to avoid cape lookout - someday we will go north and come back again and via the outside but not that trip due to the weather, time of year and once committed there is no place to duck for cover if a front blows through
good luck and enjoy the trip down - it is a blast
chuck and soulmates

[camaraderie]

An O'day 27 can certainly make the trip but I would suggest that you take the traditional near and intracoastal route to insure you can duck in and get tucked away in the event of bad weather...This would mean hops down the Jersey Coast..up the Delaware and down the Chesapeake via the C&D and then the ICW to Beaufort to avoid Hatteras. From there you can make day hops or extended passages depending onn the weather but since things can blow up quickly in the summer...suggest staying close enough to shore so that you can duck in or get help if something goes wrong. Personally, I would not head south of the mid-Atlantic till mid-October.

[sailorjim]

Two years ago I brought my Morgan 323 down to Ft Myers Fl via the ICW and outside. It was a great trip. We did not spend any time fooling around and the tripo took from 6/21 to 7/29. We came through the Great Dismal Swamp, something I would recommend.


Draft is something to be considered. My boat draws 4 feet and I bottomed a couple of time and got stuck, not to hard once. If you take the Dismal Swamp route be careful, I found my underwater tree.

Anchorages are many and picturesqe. Boat yards are abundant. But it is a long trip, from RI to North Ft Myers is 1658 miles.

The weather is to be watched, but in my estimation is not a cause to not go. If a big storm is coming you have lots of warning and can adjust accoringly. I am assuming you are not planning on goiung "outside" with your inexperience.

I would buy a neat litle book on the ICW, it gives drawing of channel intersections etc. I cannot remember the name but it is available in Marine Book stores and is well worth the $20.00 Also the cruising guide is an essential thing to have.

If you plan to stop in Atlantic City DONOT stay in the NJ State Marinia. It is operated by Trump, I paid $125 for a night. If you plan on Manasquam be careful of the tide, they are fierce.

The C&D Canal is a pirce of cake, the Md side (west) has a great place to drop anchor (Cheasapeak City.) Annapolis is great, expensive but neat. Norfolk is a busy place, if you intend to take the Dismal Swamp route when you get to Mile Marker 1, turn right.

Charlestown, Savannagh, Jacksonville Beach are all ok, over-rated in my estimation. St Augistine is great. The Indian River, Canaveral, Melbourne etc are great and boater friendly.

If you want more send an email to sailorjim@earthlink.net.

Jim

Elizabeth City NC is great, free slips to transients. The C&D

[sailingdog]

I'd also like to say be careful of the NJ coast. It can be very unfriendly and quite dangerous in the right conditions, and there aren't many good harbors of refuge along its length.

Generally, the boats are far more capable than the sailors. If you are comfortable and trust your boat, then I the O'Day 27 should be fine for what is basically a coastal cruise, albeit of longer duration than most.

I don't know how well the O'Day would handle offshore conditions, as I am not familiar with the boat and don't know which of the three models you have. From what I do know of the boat—it should be fairly capable in even heavy weather conditions, if you are up to the task.

[oday27]

i am planning to go from New York City to Daytona Beach. I plan on spending about 12-15 hours a day sailing. I can only alot two weeks so if it is going to take longer then that then I would only take the boat to south carolina or so. I am told by many that an oday 27 is a pretty seaworthy boat. The boat draws 3'11. I am planning to do this trip the last two weeks in october so I will winter the boat in daytona. I imagine sailing outside would be much faster as far as wind is concerned. I am planning to take some avid sailors along so the boat should be full of experience.

[camaraderie]

No way I would do that in an O'day 27 in the fall/winter. 100 mile days would not get you there and there is NO WAY you will have 14 hundred mile days and calm seas at that time of year. The boat is fine for coastal cruising in fair weather but you should think twice about this trip. I had an O'day 32 for many years and would not have attempted what you are proposing. If you do it be sure to rent a raft and in EPIRB!
Sorry to sound harsh but tight timetables and the wrong season going the wrong way in a lightly built boat can put even the most competent crew in danger.

[sailingdog]

Just watch the weather... you'll still be in the heart of hurricane season, and if this year's is anything like last year's...UGH...

And sailing on a schedule is generally a bad idea...usually it is a good way to get into a lot of trouble.

[jared]

"i am planning to go from New York City to Daytona Beach. I plan on spending about 12-15 hours a day sailing." That's a nice concept but I don't think it can happen that way. If you take the ICW, you won't be able to sail for most of the route unless you are short-tacking like crazy all day. This is a "drive the bus" trip where you will wind up motoring at a sustained 5 knots from sunrise to near sunset, trying to make the best time on a long trip.
And of course if you are offshore...you can't sail 12-15 hours, there just aren't a lot of places to duck in at night, and the inlets in NJ can be brutal if the tide or wx is against you. There are also extensive shoals which will cause rougher water than you expect, for quite a ways out.
Then there's the length of the trip. If you are going in the ICW and provisioning along the way, no problem except money. Going offshore and sailing, you may have to figure how/where to keep ten days of food and water for your crew onboard, and if you have plenty of crew (minimum of three in order to rest one and have two on watch) you're going to be heavily loaded and feel any weather that much more. At 27' you are in the borderline where even "small craft warnings" means you should be in port someplace, or you'll be slogging and fighting.
I know someone who thought this trip would be easy solo, he was lost at sea in what you would think were safe waters within sight of the NJ shore in a larger boat. Then the USCG and NJSP informed his widow that someone needed to pay for salvaging the boat and removing it as an obstruction to navigation.

I'd spend the first season getting to know the boat, especially in bad weather, and doing a top to bottom checkout of it. Old rigging, turnbuckles, masthead sheeves, spreader fittings...you can get a lot of nasty surprises on a thousand mile trip. At least read up on how and when the trip is normally made, and make sure you've gotten a couple of days of really bad weather sailing in with it first, to see how mannerly it may or may not be in 4-6 seas and 30+ knots, because you can easily expect that, unless you head down the ICW--and "drive the bus" for a month. (Three weeks at the best.)

Then of course, unless you're moving down, you've got to bring it BACK.

[oday27]

It was not my intention to sound ignorant on this matter i was mearly feeling it out. If i have to "drive the bus" so to speak then that would be fine as well. planning a schedule does sound very unpredictable given weather and tide contraints. This is something i have always wanted to do and the more feedback i could review the better decision i think i could make. I know a few guys i used to work with in a local marina that have done the trip in 34-40' seay rays, but of course power boats can clip a "tad" faster. Thank you for the info