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Looking at my charts it will be approximately a 60 mile trip from the Rhode river to Smith Is. I plan on making this trip in May while I still have spring winds. Here are a few questions anything else will be great!
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Smith Island, the Island that time forgot....
We went to Smith this summer, still there but barely. Once the last tourist ferry leaves at 3:30 EVERYTHING is closed. Nice to walk about, but as for food or people forget it .
Saw 4-6' of water in the channel at high tide, was hard aground at the dock at low (love that Chesapeake mud). Getting into the marina was fun, was aiming at the furthest dock and by the time we were lined up, I was looking at the last slip, must have been 3-4 kts coming through the cut.
Leaving at high tide we had a following current at 4-5 kts and found ourselves crabbing through the channel. Ended HARD aground right between the marks. Was lucky to have had a ex-waterman who was visiting who they got out of bed to pull us off. Had us heeled over at 30+° pulling us the 6" back into the channel.
It was quite interesting listing to the watermen on the VHF saying, another sailboater just ran out of water in the same spot as those other ones, maybe we should put some stakes in there. Needless to say we could see 3 or 4 of them and they were just too busy pulling pots to see if they could help.
First time I sailed into Smith was in the mid 80's, there was no marina, pulled up to the town dock, was told by the locals we were one of the first larger sailboats they ever seen come in. Very sad to see that there were dozens if not hundreds of workboats leaving at o'god hundred back then and this time there was maybe a dozen. The island's population is probably 25-50% of what it was then.
As for the OP's questions:
How long will this take (15-20knts. wind) ?
Depends on the direction. Agree with all from Rhode doing it in one hop is not advisable. Solomans to Smith is good.
Will the currents make a big difference in travel speed?
You'll see up to 1.5kt in the bay around the Pax river, half the time it's going with you, the other half it's not.
Should I drop anchor in the Bay if we need to rest or find a river ?
Take the above advice, and do NOT anchor in the bay.
Good places to eat and sleep on the Island ?
Get there before 3pm and there are a few options, after that nothing at all
How hard is it to navigate Smith Is. channel ?
On a 1-10, and 10 being the hardest, I'd give it a 7. The channel is cut right through the sunken island, so you have 3-6' cut right through 1' of marsh. Add to that there are some wicked currents and the channel likes to wander on it's own.
Should I go in the channel at night?
Good luck! I don't think the locals go in at night....
Where can I tie up ?
It's a buck per foot at the Smith Island marina, nice new docks, shower and lounge with AC.
Do I need GPS ?
If you know what your doing, you don't. But for $100 or less you can get a GPS to tell you your coordinates that you can plot onto your chart.
Sailing from the Rhode, you have lot's of great 1 day sails: St Michaels, oxford, Wye River, Solomons, etc. But doing Smith as a 1 day trip ain't gonna happen. Feel free to PM me as I'm at Herrington Harbour S on the southern part of Herring bay.
Smith Island Sunset:
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