It looks as if my son will not be able to go with me after all to
return my boat from near Sarasota to N. Florida. This leaves me
crewless unless I go singlehanded which prob isnt a good idea
overnight. I have done the coast hopping route so many times I just
will not do it again. Along the Big Bend coast, there really are very
few ports enterable with nearly 4' draft, even Cedar Key is
questionable. Not sure what to do unless I wait till after June 12 but
then it will be fairly hot.

wrote:
It looks as if my son will not be able to go with me after all to
return my boat from near Sarasota to N. Florida. This leaves me
crewless unless I go singlehanded which prob isnt a good idea
overnight. I have done the coast hopping route so many times I just
will not do it again. Along the Big Bend coast, there really are very
few ports enterable with nearly 4' draft, even Cedar Key is
questionable. Not sure what to do unless I wait till after June 12 but
then it will be fairly hot.


That's the beauty of a trailer able sailboat. You can coast upwind at
55 mph in air conditioned comfort

What's the depth? Can you anchor?


wrote in message
ups.com...
It looks as if my son will not be able to go with me after all to
return my boat from near Sarasota to N. Florida. This leaves me
crewless unless I go singlehanded which prob isnt a good idea
overnight. I have done the coast hopping route so many times I just
will not do it again. Along the Big Bend coast, there really are very
few ports enterable with nearly 4' draft, even Cedar Key is
questionable. Not sure what to do unless I wait till after June 12 but
then it will be fairly hot.

..=2E.go and check out Find a Crew=99 - www.findacrew.net, you will have
your crew very quickly...

Cheers Daniela and the Find a Crew=99 team

"Falky foo" wrote:

What's the depth? Can you anchor?

I would suspect that weather and possibly boat traffic might be a
problem.


wrote in message
oups.com...
It looks as if my son will not be able to go with me after all to
return my boat from near Sarasota to N. Florida. This leaves me
crewless unless I go singlehanded which prob isnt a good idea
overnight. I have done the coast hopping route so many times I just
will not do it again. Along the Big Bend coast, there really are very
few ports enterable with nearly 4' draft, even Cedar Key is
questionable. Not sure what to do unless I wait till after June 12 but
then it will be fairly hot.



grandma Rosalie

Between Tarpon Springs and Cedar Key, there are few available ports
except Crystal River that is so close to Cedar key as to make no
difference and Crystal River has a channel so long that Cedar Key is
better for a cruiser trying to get places.
One can anchor at Cedar Key although it is a little exposed. NW of
Cedar Key, Suwanee seems to have a difficult and shallow channel.
Horseshoe Beach seems to have only a 3' channel leaving Steinhatchee 48
miles west of Cedar Key as the only port for a long way. Steinhatchee
has deep water. Further west, Keaton Beach is too shallow leaving only
St. Marks, 60 miles west of Steinhatchee as the only available port.
In general, the water is less than 8' deep as far out as 8 miles on
this coast with some isolated tongues of deeper water but they are not
reliable enough to enable you to use them to seek shelter. A new
factor that might make navigation more difficult is that the Coast
Guard has removed the old tripods of pilings with lights that used to
be every 10 miles on this coast.
At this time of year, you are actually better to be at least 20 miles
out because the afternoon thunderstorms are beginning to form at the
seabreeze front adjacent to the coast. On the Big Bend coast, other
boat traffic is never a problem and I would expect to go for a day or
so without seeing another vessel.

It looks from my charts that if you swing just the tiniest bit toward land
(I'm talking about 5 miles off a straight course) you can get into water
that's about 8 fathoms, which should be good enough to anchor if you have a
moderately long rode. Just put up a light or two at night and you should be
fine, as long as you're not in a traffic lane. Or sail at night and put up
a black ball during the day if you want to be extra careful.



wrote in message
oups.com...
Between Tarpon Springs and Cedar Key, there are few available ports
except Crystal River that is so close to Cedar key as to make no
difference and Crystal River has a channel so long that Cedar Key is
better for a cruiser trying to get places.
One can anchor at Cedar Key although it is a little exposed. NW of
Cedar Key, Suwanee seems to have a difficult and shallow channel.
Horseshoe Beach seems to have only a 3' channel leaving Steinhatchee 48
miles west of Cedar Key as the only port for a long way. Steinhatchee
has deep water. Further west, Keaton Beach is too shallow leaving only
St. Marks, 60 miles west of Steinhatchee as the only available port.
In general, the water is less than 8' deep as far out as 8 miles on
this coast with some isolated tongues of deeper water but they are not
reliable enough to enable you to use them to seek shelter. A new
factor that might make navigation more difficult is that the Coast
Guard has removed the old tripods of pilings with lights that used to
be every 10 miles on this coast.
At this time of year, you are actually better to be at least 20 miles
out because the afternoon thunderstorms are beginning to form at the
seabreeze front adjacent to the coast. On the Big Bend coast, other
boat traffic is never a problem and I would expect to go for a day or
so without seeing another vessel.

8 fathoms? For this part of the world, thats seriously deep. Sailing
from Clearwater to St. Marks last time I dont think the depthsounder
ever read over 10 fathoms. Deepest I see between Cedar Key and Tarpon
Springs is about 4 fathoms. There is no traffic here.
I may do it thsi weekend.

sorry... Pacific ocean sailer.. 8 fathoms is like a backyard pool.. Last
time I wanted to anchor out off the continental shelf I had to carry 5 miles
of rode. Try stowing that on a 25 foot cabin cruiser! Not easy I tell ya.
And pullin it in by hand was a bitch.

Well then yeah, anchoring's your best bet.



wrote in message
oups.com...
8 fathoms? For this part of the world, thats seriously deep. Sailing
from Clearwater to St. Marks last time I dont think the depthsounder
ever read over 10 fathoms. Deepest I see between Cedar Key and Tarpon
Springs is about 4 fathoms. There is no traffic here.
I may do it thsi weekend.

wrote:
8 fathoms? For this part of the world, thats seriously deep. Sailing
from Clearwater to St. Marks last time I dont think the depthsounder
ever read over 10 fathoms. Deepest I see between Cedar Key and Tarpon
Springs is about 4 fathoms. There is no traffic here.
I may do it thsi weekend.


With shallow water like that, why not sail until sunset and then anchor
for the night. Make sure you have an anchor light and a radar reflector.
Radar with an alarm would be a real nice addition.
Put out lots of rode....maybe 7 to 1 (175 feet)