I have reviewed the stories of many sailors who have ventured
to sail the Intercoastal Waterway to Florida.
The major part of the stories warn of constant danger..
being run down by barges and tugs.. the huge costs of
repairs to damage.. the horrific storms.
I wonder if one can avoid these dangers and seek your
advice.

On 10 Apr 2008, (John W. Bienko) wrote:

. . . . stories of many sailors who have ventured
to sail the Intercoastal Waterway to Florida . . . .
warn of constant danger . . . being run down by
barges and tugs.. the huge costs of repairs to
damage.. the horrific storms. I wonder if one
can avoid these dangers and seek your advice.

Yes, there are reports to this effect -- but (apart from some
important generalized/structural issues of national budgetary
priorities) they largely reflect particularities, i.e., depend on to
where along the ICW one refers and on then/there weather and all other
relevant conditions. In other words, expressing the above concern in
such vague/generalized terms does not tell anyone anything of
importance about any specific place along the ICW at any particular
time.

The ready availability Coast Guard's weekly advisories to navigators,
various "cruising guides" that include telephone call numbers
including to local marinas for reports of conditions, constant
real-time flow of radio traffic by ICW users, etc., etc., and
(obviously!) being cautious and observant but not fearful, taken
together, very substantially mitigate and, for most, completely moot
the above sorts of concerns.

Incidentally, for an at once amusing and also in this repsecct maybe
informative photo of some of the realities of ICW sailboat users,
click on the picture titled "follow the leader" at
http://picasaweb.google.com/cdichter3/JourneyAlbum3
(several other photos at that URL/linkj and related others have been
also taken the ICW just a few months ago).