I've made that run four times in the past three years and agree with all the
previous sensible advice. Certainly do at least a short shakedown cruise in
the Chesapeake before committing yourself to either Delaware Bay or the
Jersey Coast. In a boat that averages 5.5 to 6 knots cruising speed I
figure one long day Annapolis to Chesapeake City, one short 10 hour day
Chesapeake City to Cape May using the Cape May Canal and an easy 19 hour
overnight from there to arrive around dawn at Sandy Hook. Then another six
or seven hours through the East River to Mamaroneck by early afternoon -- a
nice place to refuel and have a good shore-side meal. Then either overnight
to Newport or two or three or four days of sailing to Block Island. Block
to Hadley Harbour is a nice day's run and likewise from there to
Provincetown. Otherwise one can do the Cape Cod Canal to Boothbay as an
overnight run, then two days or three days to Deer Is. or thereabouts . If
in "delivery mode" one can do that entire run in 7 - 8 days by doing Cape
May - Block Island direct and carrying some extra fuel in jerry cans, but
not a good idea in an untested boat and one misses all the pleasant stops
along the way. Weather windows are critical and will make or break any
pre-planned cruise plan. A lot depends on whether you want to take it easy,
harbor-hop and enjoy the run, or get up before dawn, sail all night and push
hard. The former is usually more fun and certainly safer if in unfamiliar
waters in a new boat!

Hitting the currents right in the C & D Canal, Delaware Bay, The Narrows -
East River and the Cape Cod Canal is esential and requires some advance
planning to catch the right departure date and time..

Scott

"dsparks" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thomas:
I sailed my 30 ft sailboat from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine and
back three times. My marina was in Swann Creek on the Eastern shore,
north of Annapolis. As others indicated, the shortest route is through
the Chesapeake-Delaware Bay canal.
Delaware Bay has significant current, and the trip down Delaware
Bay is much easier in a sailboat if you have a favorable current. There
is a small anchorage at Chesapeake City on the canal where you can stop
until you have a favorable current. There is a canal at Cape May that
allows you to cut the corner there. Most people think there aren't any
anchorages on the northeastern section of the Delaware Bay, but I've
anchored several times in Back Creek.
Atlantic City and Manesquan are the only inlets I recommend along
the NJ coast after you leave Cape May. There is a lot of barge and ship
traffic along the NJ coast, so make sure your crew members know the
light markings for different types of vessels. The barges are usually
being towed, not pushed. Sometimes they have very long tow lines and
this makes identification difficult at night.
I did not have enough fuel to go from Cape May to Block Island if
the wind was not favorable. If I had good wind, we sailed around Long
Island to Block Island. But if I had to do a lot of motor sailing, we
went in the NY harbor and down Long Island Sound.
We encountered a lot of fog in Buzzard Bay in the Newport,
Elizabeth Islands area. A good radar reflector and sound signals are a
must. Radar would have been wonderful, but I did not have radar on my
boat.
You will need to wait for a favorable current to go through the
Cape Cod canal. There are lots of places to stop after you exit the
Cape Cod canal, but on our three trips, we went straight to Boothbay
Harbor.
Note that my last Chesapeake-Maine-Chesapeake trip was in 1995, so
my information is not current. I've been sailing on Galveston and
Pensacola Bays since then.
Dave

Thomas Wentworth wrote:
Hypothetical question ,,, if you were buying a sailboat somewhere up in
Chesapeake Bay. And you needed to sail the boat back to New England, to
downeast Maine ..

Would you go up the bay and take the Delaware Canal and then down
Delaware
Bay toward Cape May or::; would you go down the bay and out to the
Atlantic
?

If you decided to go to the Atlantic: once you turn north after leaving
the
mouth of the Chesapeake are there good harbors along the stretch of coast
Virginia, and Maryland, Delaware, and then north along the New Jersey
coast?

I always see postings that say the New Jersey coast has no place to put
in.
Is it just that the harbors are not good for sailboats? What about along
the coast like near Ocean City Maryland?

Thanks