New Jersey and Sailboats (do they mix?)

[VaughtDH]

My family and I are moving to Medford New Jersey in the Spring, We have our "Strictly Southern Sailboat" Free Flight a Pearson 26, in the southern cheasapeake on the york river. I would leave Free Flight here in the Warm waters of Virginia except that a 12 hour round trip drive would severely cut into my daytrips (and afternoon sails)

Are there good sailing grounds and home ports in New Jersey? Barnagats bay looks like a possibility but it is awfully shallow!

any comments at all will be helpfull.

Rev David.

[bcavileer]

Barnegat bay is great sailing! Afternoon
breeze is steady and strong.
Lot''s of good water, sure there are shallow spots but at least it''s soft bottom...
You''ll sail for years there and not get bored.
Mariner''s Marina in Barnegat is stricly sail oriented and they are friendly and helpful.
My 38'' with 5 foot draft was there for 2 years till we moved south.
Good luck with the move.
Fair winds

[Yodagwb]

Barnegate is pretty thin compared to the Chesapeake, however it is most likely your best bet, as the other parts of NJ are either much narrower or even more shallow. The Toms River to Barnegate Light area is probably your best bet for bay sailing, if ocean sailing is your thing I''d probably prefer a more consistent and forgiving inlet than Barnegat or Little Egg, maybe AC or Manasquan. Definetly mud and sand bottom, think you''d be hard pressed to find a rock, let alone hit it.

[Yodagwb]

Barnegate is pretty thin compared to the Chesapeake, however it is most likely your best bet, as the other parts of NJ are either much narrower or even more shallow. The Toms River to Barnegate Light area is probably your best bet for bay sailing, if ocean sailing is your thing I''d probably prefer a more consistent and forgiving inlet than Barnegat or Little Egg, maybe AC or Manasquan. Definetly mud and sand bottom, think you''d be hard pressed to find a rock, let alone hit it.

[tjr3c]

We keep our Gulf 27 in a marina on the Forked River which empties into the Barnegat bay. There is consistently deep water in the middle between Tom''s River and Barnegat light. The Bay is some 23 miles long and some 3 - 4 miles wide. There are some great marinas on the Forked river. I bet you can make the drive from Medford in less than a half hour.

[TDanz87646]

Hello
Try Raritan bay, there are five yacht clubs and the bay is deep. I have been sailing the bay for 25 years and`found it to be excellent,New York harbor is nearby; so there is plenty to see and do. Call up the Raritan Yacht Club site for a starter.The area is easily accessible via. Turnpike, Garden state parkway and Route 1.
Joe

[jnj]

The Barnegat is wide, friendly and forgiving. . There are wide long expanses of channel to cruise and a few marinas almost entirely of sailboats. Mariner''s Marina, as one fellow sailor pointed out is such and decidedly the closest in mileage from Medford. This helps when you want to be isolated from high HP enginesand PWCs. And our fellow sailors are thoughtful in advising you toward the soft bottoms. Lots of grace to your keel when you''re on the outside.
We had been tempted because of proximity to take a slip on the Delaware however a strong current, narrows, subtle infrequent wind and a variety of traffic make it an interesting adventure but you might not want to challenge it every weekend.
Good Luck, we''ll be on the "Huff & Puff".

[billkirk]

Dave:

I just relocated from Charleston to NJ and have been going through the same search. I don''t have a boat at the moment but am looking for some sailing. As you can probably tell from the majority of responses, Barnegat Bay is probably your best bet. It''s about an hours drive from Medford and there''s lots of marinas up and down the bay.

I did find a yacht club on the Delaware River that''s just 10 miles from Marlton where I am, probably about 15 from Medford, but I don''t think the have any slips. It looks like they have a good junior program and racing on Wednesdays and on the weekends. Here''s a link to their site, http://www.rivertonyachtclub.org/

Good luck,

Bill

[Loualfr]

We moved to central NJ from Philly last year. I ''ve mostly sailed on the northern Chesapeake and down to Annapolis, its hard to beat that area. But I''d say that Barnegat Bay and the Raritan Bay Sandy Hook area are pretty good. We actually bought our Cal 22 from a guy in Medford and he sailed it out of Winter''s marina in Riverton on the Delaware. there''s a big racing community there but I don''t love the amount of power boats and lack of wind in the mid summer. Barnegat always has wind but you have to watch the depths. I''d say the closest to Chesapeake sailing in NJ is up near Sandy Hook. We keep our boat on the Navesink near Red Bank. Lots of places to cruise including NYC harbor and Long Island Sound. Problem for you is that you''re abot equadistant from there and the Northern Chesapeake. If youdon''t mind the hour''s drive, I think the better cruising ground is the N. Chesapeake.

[BigRed56]

Ahoy Pastor, Dis here be one pirate whats glad to impune your goodness wit de bitter truth. There is no good sailing in New Jersey!! It is the most shallow clam baked rip current foul weather,commercial traffic infested state in the union. In fact with the single exception of Mr. Bruce Springsteen that slimy swamp of a state is a distant second to me beloved mangrow flats ere on the SW caoat of Paridise. Pirate of Pine Island.