Abacos to New England

[GraniteStater]

In a full displacement trawler (lets say a Kadey Krogen 52) how long should it reasonably take to get from say the Abacos to Cape Cod?

Ideally, I will get to the point in life where it takes as long as I want it to take. But I'm not there yet. I also don't want it to be straight shot, no fun, coffee fueled beeline.

So what do you think is a good amount of time to plan for?

Also, is it reasonable to leave the boat in a marina in the Bahamas for a couple of weeks when we need to fly up for business?

Thanks!

 

[menzies]

Blimey there's a lot of variables in those questions!

For example, what time of the year are you looking to leave your boat in the Bahamas, outside of hurricane season or during?

Are you comfortable doing overnight runs outside if the WX supports it?

Do you want to stop over and visit towns along the way - St Aug, Savannah, Charleston, Bald Head, Norfolk, DC, NY, etc.

It takes me five days from Abaco to Jax. It has taken me ten days from Jax to the Chesapeake - without stopping more than one night in any spot. So that just over two weeks from Abaco to Norfolk.

I suspect you can double that to get to Cape Cod, getting up to the C&D canal, outside through NJ, through NY and Long Island etc. Again only stopping to anchor for the night.

So I would guesstimate 30 days. Again with no stops.

 

[GH41]

That's easy.. Distance divided by speed plus time not moving forward. Is that so hard to calculate?

 

[menzies]

That's easy.. Distance divided by speed plus time not moving forward. Is that so hard to calculate?

Actually it ain't that easy.

You have a Gulf Stream to cross, a couple of sounds in NC, outside NJ etc. All those are weather dependent.

You can meet decent currents throughout the ICW that can add or detract a couple or three knots from your speed.

So the guesstimate I gave above was all thing being equal - meaning you get good WX rather than getting you nose wiped! And you get as many currents behind you as on your bow.

 

[GraniteStater]

Thanks Menzies - that's helpful. There most certainly are a lot of variables and I suspect every trip will be quite different. Now that things are stabilizing somewhat from COVID I'm doing a little soul searching.

If its roughly 30 days without stops I suspect we'd more likely be 45 to 60 best guess. That means 4ish months a year in transit which will be great when I'm more retired but might be a little hard right now.

Logically I know the right thing to do is charter extensively for the next few years so that I don't have the stress and time consumption of ownership. But then I look on yachtworld and daydream about buying....

We had originally been planning on chartering something (for the first time) in Florida for a few weeks in April but obviously things didn't work out.

Oh well, if my family are all healthy and I'm employed I don't really have much to complain about!

 

[menzies]

You can always charter a Moorings Cat (power or sail - which you can power) from Marsh Harbour when they are eventually back up and running. Then fly in and enjoy a couple of weeks a year.

 

[GraniteStater]

You can always charter a Moorings Cat (power or sail - which you can power) from Marsh Harbour when they are eventually back up and running. Then fly in and enjoy a couple of weeks a year.

That's the smart thing to do.

But when I read Pete Meisinger's truly helpful string I thought "life is short - do I really need to be smart? (my wife would suggest I'm not capable of smart so I should stop trying).

 

[menzies]

Well, maybe you don't have to be "smart" to the n'th degree but that doesn't mean you have to be stupid either!

We have done the Abacos every which way since our first trip back in 2002.

We have been many many times on our own bottom, we have flown over and rented a house and a 22' center console, and we have flown over and rented a Moorings four cabin sailing cat.

We enjoyed all of these experiences. These days your options will be probably limited regarding house rental or Mooring rental for a couple of years. But I do know of some units for rent as we are currently researching a trip over there in the next couple of months to look at some property.

 

[GraniteStater]

Raising a son (who is incredibly smart while also shocking dumb) has made me think stupid may have a high correlation with Y chromosomes!

We've got several friends who have or had places in the Abacos. We went to Exuma last year and everyone in the family loved it so much we started looking at property. In my wife's perfect world we'd buy a place in the abacos, elethera or exuma. Given the time constraints of our work and the kid's school it may be best to make my wife happy and buy a small cottage and charter when I need the boat fix. I just worry I'd get bored being in the same place (even if that place is paradise!).

Oh well, first world problems. What I should really do is learn to be happy with what I've got!!!

 

[twistedtree]

Squam? I spend a number of years on Squaw Cove.


ex New Hampster

 

[Larry M]

We left Walkers Cay in the Abacos and headed straight to the Cape Fear River, NC once. We didn’t want to deal with the ICW in Georgia and South Carolina. It was a quick trip at 7 knots through the water and up to 10 knots over the ground in the Gulf Stream. It was late spring and we had perfect weather.

 

[menzies]

We left Walkers Cay in the Abacos and headed straight to the Cape Fear River, NC once. We didn’t want to deal with the ICW in Georgia and South Carolina. It was a quick trip at 7 knots through the water and up to 10 knots over the ground in the Gulf Stream. It was late spring and we had perfect weather.

How long did that take? Three days and nights or shorter?

 

[bowball]

Squam? I spend a number of years on Squaw Cove.


ex New Hampster

And I many many years at RDC.

 

[Dougcole]

You might have some trouble finding a marina to leave the boat in currently. Maybe Hope Town Inn and Marina, they are back up and running. So is Green Turtle Club, but they stay pretty full. Bluff House was close to getting going last summer. I think there is one marina open in Marsh Harbor.

 

[FF]

If you jump into the Gulf Stream going north can mean 80 NM per day in your favor.