Cruising the East coast of Florida prior to ARC Europe 2008

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Kristoria

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Cheshire, England
chrisspreckley.com
Hi. I'm thinking very earnestly about buying a boat in the Northern Caribbean and ultimately bringing her home to Europe and probably Spain. Prior to this I wish to commute a few times from the UK the air costs during winter are acceptable however the cost rises steeply into summer time. I have thought that taking her to the East coast of Florida would avail me of cheaper air fairs and shorter travel times. Does any body have experience of carrying out such a scheme, was it successful are their pitfalls? The desired boat also draws some 8ft6ins and the East coast of Florida doesnt seem to want to cater for such drafts is this correct or would I be simply able to keep her afloat?
Any or complete help or pointing me to the right web site for answers would be much appreciated.
 
The Inter Coastal Waterway isn't very deep, I've jet skied a lot of it and most of the cruisers churn up sand behind them as its pretty shallow even in the channels. I wouldn't bet on being able to use the ICW for its entirety with your draught.Its not for nothing most boats have stainless props over there as occassionally you are ploughing the bottom. You can of course run outside but it always looks pretty lumpy out to sea.
I once severly embarrassed myself by allowing my non sailing friends to persuade me to take a sailing boat out at Bal Harbour, they were all sprawling on the deck and coachroof while I was basically sailing single handedly! I noticed that a nearby bridge seemed to be keeping up with us, when in actual fact we were aground, the boat had a swing keel so it gently raised up as we met the sandy bottom and we were stationary heeled with the wind and going nowhere! Fortunately we just had to wind the keel up a bit more and we were off again.
 
WE Brits are used to that as with but a very few exceptions we have to coastal cruise and even out at sea on the western side of the island we have quartering seas coming in from the Atlantic and most often a south westerly air stream which keeps you going at near enough 200 degs close hauled so to swing into the seaway just simply luffs up. Although I have a chum who once did the whole trip from central England to Ile d’Ouessant under spinnaker. So if it's outside of the ICW., then so be it after all there's no Inter Coastal Waterway back across the Atlantic, or is there?But seriously, my main query is where can I moor while testing and refitting before 2008 for economics and cheap airtravel.
 
we are about to do something similar but no arc participation, 2007. We are looking to move the boat from Mississippi in January, hopefully, and are trying to narrow down the choices of, Savannah, Port Royal, Beaufort or Charleston. We draw around 6ft. Try a search on here.
With regard to air fares, then on the east coast of Florida, it would have to be Miami really, but only 30-40 mins from Ft. Lauderdale, but not sure Ft. Lauderdale would be a cheap option either for the boat.
 
Friend of mine recently bought an Ebbtide in Houston and sailed it round to Titusville near Cape Canaveral and had some work done on it before shipping it to Norway, so he used Orlando airport which is just 30 mins from the coast. Otherwise F.Lauderdale and Miami are easy to get into and there are lots of marinas in the area, I have a friend who lives in a marina complex in F.L so if you need any info let me know and I will mail him.
 
With 8.6 draft what is the air draft? Most fixed bridges and powerlines are less than 65ft. You can forget the route across Lake Okechobe which precludes those inexpensive layup yards to the sw interior. If you google around Cape Canaveral,Titusville(as said) and north to Daytona there are a fair few yards and marinas,which you will find delightfully reasonable after the uk.At Cape Canaveral 8.6 will not be an issue.
Further south to Lauderdale/Miami and you are getting into glamorous expenditure..
This link may help www.geocities.com/bill_dietrich/PlacesEastCoastUSA.html
Budget for a hire car and you can often get odd plane seats on Virgin and others going through to Cancun but stopping in Orlando.
Summer is pretty evil for refitting,October-April delightful.I am not sure what the requirement now is on how long a non-us boat can stay in the water in the us..Nor the visa limits.Perhaps a post on the live aboard section may illicit more info.
 
Dear all, for the help so far, which is much greater than I ever, imagined I would get; the forum certainly works.

Thanks Mr Blueboatman I have been looking around that area and reading the NOAA Coastal Pilot and charts and have realised that there are possibilities here allowing for coming around the top of the Bahamas to steer clear of dangers. As well as drawing 8' 6" she has an air draft of about say water line to coach roof of 6ft and an 'I' measurement of 56ft 3inches + aerial and anemometer stuff so does this look like "ouch watchout". I haven't spent too much time on NOAA as yet so does the height of water provided = LAT or is their no tide to talk of here. We are used to scoring height in a number of meters in the UK and small parts of a meter in the Mediterranean and all based upon LAT. The air clearance is based upon MHWS back home do you use the same?
 
Slightly off-topic: why are you planning to join ARC Europe?

(I have done both ARC and ARC Europe, I would consider doing the ARC again but not the return).
 
I've done the west coast of Florida, Cuba and Bimini in the Bahamas in a boat with 8' draft but with the added convenience of a lift keel. the west coast we never had to lift our keel except going into Ft Myers Beach and that was only because I felt the channel was so narrow I wanted more manouevering room. Key West would have been a problem if we hadn't had a lift keel as would Bimini but probably because we couldn't get decent charts. Cuba was brilliant around Havana within half a mile of the shore our depth sounder was just showing 'deep' and no problems with the Hemmingway Marina. The east coast we tacked towards Palm Beach West, about 3 miles out while going north and had no problems with depth. The rest I will have to leave to others.
 
Hi Kristoria,
Do PM me if you need more specific information. The air heights may be affected +- a couple of feet by wind direction and barometric pressure,the Mosquito lagoon area is virtually tideless.Tides further north are significant.Cape Canaveral is a major (but quite pleasant) port of entry with a couple of large boatyards and a good track record re hurricane security...Melborne to the south is another possibility.
 
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