On Tue, 15 Nov 2005 11:06:17 -0500, "Armond Perretta"
wrote:

Aimee Shimlis wrote:
I'm very new to boating/sailing and want to move to a place where I
will be close to water with ocean access ...

Since you are _very_ new to "boating/sailing" how can you be certain that
ocean access is of prime importance? Many "boating/sailing" enthusiasts
spend their entire lives just messin' around on lakes and bays and are none
the worse for it.

The other variable of course is that what is "ocean access" to a
Sandpiper or a Shark or some other trailer sailer might be something
else entirely to a larger boat. Also, the type of tides and riverine
currents you might have in a certain area (Saint John, N.B. comes to
mind) would dictate what type of boat vs. what degree of access.
Duluth is "ocean accessible" in that sense, but you have to be a
decent sailor in a well-found boat to traverse the first few hundred
miles of Lake Superior, which is likely to have more severe conditions
than anything you'd encounter before the Atlantic.

By contrast, consider the Amazon. I believe sailboats can go over
1,000 miles up it from the Atlantic delta without trouble and with
adequate draft (if you can figure out its ever-changing meanders and
avoid snagging on trees on its banks, I suppose).

The last thing to consider is whether you wish to use locks or not.
Many people on the Great Lakes lock down the Erie and the Hudson to
New York to reach the Atlantic, because at a few hundred miles of
mastless cruising and locking is vastly easier and takes weeks and
weeks less time than going out the St. Lawrence, around Nova Scotia
and past most of New England and is not for the inexperienced or those
on a schedule. (Although it's no doubt the better trip...)

R.