When Does Coastal Crusing Become Off Shore

[Freesail99]

When does coastal cruising before off shore ? At what point does that happen ?

[sailingdog]

When you can't get back to see land for 24 hours... you're now bluewater.

[Stillraining]

dock when aboard the Tincan.

[sailingdog]

Mean, funny, but probably quite true.

Originally Posted by Stillraining

dock when aboard the Tincan.

[bobwebster]

The NOAA forecast goes from Coastal to Offshore at 60 nautical miles.

[sailaway21]

IMHO, anytime your ability to reach port in a timely fashion ,to avoid incoming weather, becomes questionable.

[max-on]

If you cannot see land, it all looks the same.

[sailboy21]

Originally Posted by max-on

If you cannot see land, it all looks the same.

Not really.. wave form is a dead give away to the old salts.. you can also smell it! I've never tested this theory, but one cruiser reported a 50% increase in her solar panel output when "offshore" presumably due the the clean air.. possible?

[Sailormon6]

To me, the one thing that distinguishes offshore sailing from coastal cruising is that, if the weather turns bad, the coastal cruiser can run for shelter, but the offshore sailor has nowhere to hide. The offshore sailor has to be prepared and equipped to cope with any conditions, however severe. If you're out so far that you can't get to shelter within any weather window afforded by available weather services, then you're sailing "offshore," and you'd best be ready to cope with whatever comes along.

[Robby Barlow]

Don't know if the same applies in the US, but in Europe coastal applies to the area within a 12 NM zone from the land, and off shore anything beyond that.
This has to do with the different navigation rules (right of way) that apply and required safety equipment needed.