On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:32:49 -0400, Rosalie B.
wrote:



The Chesapeake IMHO is one of the best places to sail. We have a
friend with a boat like ours that has a 6'6" draft and he has no
problem sailing in the Chesapeake (and neither do we). After all,
freighters and tugs transit the Bay all the time. Anchoring close to
shore might be difficult for a deeper draft craft, but anchoring
farther away from shore means that you have less insects (usually).

I've always wanted to visit there, and hear some of those Virginia
Yankees talking too. There was an old Virginia Yankee tending
lockers in Norfolk whose voice was like music to my ears.
Chesapeake Bay is on my short list of places to devote some time to.

Another problem in the Bay is crab pots - usually if you see crab pots
that will alert you to the fact that the water is getting shallow
there (and this also holds in much of the rest of the ICW)

I've been hearing a lot about props fouling because of crabpots.

BUT -- all the weather problems that Skip had, he would still have had
in the Chesapeake. And he would still have had the freighters etc,
and in addition would have had to do the Delaware Canal at the other
end of the Bay and the trip would undoubtedly have taken longer.

I'm starting to think my solution to shoals, freighters and crabpots
is a shallow draft boat with all of its own compromises.

--Vic