# sailing from Connecticut to Norfolk



## satenig (Jul 12, 2009)

My husband and I just purchased a 34' Jeanneau. We were planning on sailing south in November, but after reading all the threads we realize we need to leave sooner. He can't leave his employer till mid-November but can take some time off to sail the boat south and fly back. He's wondering how long it will take to get to Norfolk from New London, Ct without any night sailing. Does anyone know?


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## MorganPaul (Sep 16, 2008)

I would say about 14 days.


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## labatt (Jul 31, 2006)

I can tell you that WITH night sailing, we did Norfolk to NYC in two days a few weeks ago. Not doing night sailing will restrict your ability to do the Block Island to Norfolk run, so you'll have the following hops: New London to somewhere, somewhere to City Island (to wait our the Hell Gate current until it's favorable), City Island to either Sandy Hook or Manasquan (Manasquan would be better from a "make it to the next hop" perspective), Manasquan to Atlantic City, Atlantic City to Cape May, Cape May up the Delaware to Delaware City or Chesapeake City, Delaware/Chesapeake City to Annapolis. From Annapolis it would be either an overnight to Norfolk, or two to three days down the Chesapeake. You could also run from Cape May to somewhere on the outside, but I'm not sure where (Ocean City?). There are both anchorages and marinas along the way (although Manasquan will be tough). You are probably talking about at least 10 days given the PERFECT weather, which the closer you get to November the less likely it is to happen.

My recommendation is to get a few people together and then do the two night trip from New York City to Norfolk. It's a pretty easy run along the coast the whole way so there are several opportunities to duck in and it pretty much makes sure you have a long enough weather window. You would need to buy or borrow some safety equipment for the overnight run - jacklines, harnesses and tethers, strobes, etc. - but it would save a huge amount of time.


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## bubb2 (Nov 9, 2002)

If you need help or would like me to move the boat I am available. 40 years sailing experience, 15 years delivery experience. !00 ton USCG Master. References available.


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## wwilson (Jul 7, 2000)

satenig said:


> ...how long it will take to get to Norfolk from New London, Ct without any night sailing. Does anyone know?


We've done that run a couple of times: usually up the NJ coast overnighting at anchor each night then on the homebound leg Block Island to Cape May directly (overnight sail).

I think Paul's estimate of 14 days is prudent - though it could be shortened with longer days. Figuure 40-50 mile days and plan on firing up the diesel as often as not. A 4-time Atlantic Crosser once told me, "the dirty little secret of cruising is that you motor more often than not".

It is ~460-nm to Norfolk via LI Sound, Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay. By the way, I doubt there is good entry for your boat along the DELMARVA unless you go into Ocean City, MD. Without that, the Cape May to Virginia Capes leg is an overnight for almost any s/v! You may have to go up the Delaware and down the Chesapeake if you want to avoid night sailing altogether.

Don't forget to build in some weather lay-days or you will be tempted to push yourself to do something uncomfortable - or worse.

Have a good trip,
Wayne


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## satenig (Jul 12, 2009)

bubba2, i don't know how to reply to you personally.
, but how much would you charge to come along for the trip and if that includes night sailing, how many days do you think?


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## bubb2 (Nov 9, 2002)

satenig said:


> bubba2, i don't know how to reply to you personally.
> , but how much would you charge to come along for the trip and if that includes night sailing, how many days do you think?


My first question, Do you and/or your husband have experience sailing offshore at night? The reason I ask, is you said in your first post "without night sailing." This time of year the nights are long and getting longer. There would be a 4 hour night watch and 4 hour day watch each for a 3 person crew per day. It the weather is good and world is perfect, The trip could be done in 2 days. Plan on 4 days and hope for 3 days.

I can be reached at 914-703-0170.


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## CapnRon47 (Jul 29, 2007)

*New London to Norfolk*

My wife and I did the trip last year when we purchased our first boat in Milford, CT. We broke it up into two legs. The first leg we did earlier in the summer. 
Day 1 - Bridgeport to just before the Throg's Neck Bridge, anchored in Manhasset Bay
Day 2 - Thru East river out of New York Harbor to Sandy Hook, NJ - anchored
Day 3 - Outside NJ from Sandy Hook to Barnagat Bay - anchored

We mostly motored but had some great sailing off the Jersey coast.










Day 4 - Barnagat to Cape May - took a slip for the night
Day 5 - Cape May Canal to Delaware Bay thru Delaware Canal -we could have stopped at Chesapeake City, but it was still early so we continued on to the Sassafras River (this was a long day we got in late at night and ended up tied up to a T-head until we could get our slip). We had planned to keep the boat in the Sassafras until the end of the summer.

We had mixed weather, rain 2 days, sunny the rest. 
In September, after Labor Day, we moved the boat from the Sassafras to North Carolina. The Chesapeake part of the trip to Norfolk went like this:

Day 1 - Sassafras to Rock Hall (34 nm)- our usual late start, we took a slip at Rock Hall because I had intended to have our autopilot installed there, but they were not able to get to it, so we pushed on without it.

Day 2 - Rock Hall to Back Creek just below Annapolis (15 nm) - anchored.

Day 3 - From Back creek to the Solomons - we were having good weather but motoring into a head wind and we did not want to tack back and forth across the bay as we were trying to make time, not knowing exactly how long the trip would take.

Day 4 - We had planned to make Deltaville, but tropical Storm Hanna was coming up the coast and the weather started to deteriorate. We had a rough time crossing the mouth of the Potomac River, the river currents and the wind across the large fetch of the Chesapeake made for very confused water. We ended up ducking into Reedville, just the other side of the Potomac. Very hospitable place even if it is a bit out of the way. We spent 2 restful nights in a Bed and Breakfast in town, while Hanna blew over.

Day 6 - From Reedville to Fisher's Bay - around a 60 mile run.

Day 7 - from Fishers Bay to Norfolk - 47 miles.

We continued on down the ICW but this is where you wanted to stop.

These two trips to this point took us 12 days with a day layover for Tropical Storm Hanna.

cheers,


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## josrulz (Oct 15, 2006)

We just sailed our "new" 1984 Sabre 34 from Essex, CT to Norfolk (and then up to Maryland) in May of this year. We did overnights offshore, and made the whole trip from Essex to Norfolk in 72 hours, including one night at anchor outside Throgs Neck. 

Day 1 - Essex, CT to Throgs Neck (83 miles), spent night at anchor
Day 2 - Through NYC, fuel very early in the morning at Sandy Hook, and continued
Day 3 - Continued offshore
Day 4 - Arrived very early morning in Norfolk.

If you're trying to do no overnights offshore, the tough spot is NY to Cape May, only because there aren't many places to duck into. Delaware Bay can be a bit lean on stopping points too. Though as CapnRon47 pointed out, it can be done. 

My recommendation would be to allow for the full 14 days, so you're not tempted to push harder than you should, resulting in a bad situation. That pressure can really be your undoing. For our 72 hour trip, I allowed 6 days, just in case, and we were doing overnights. You'll probably do it in 6 -7 days, but this gives you flexibility.

If you have any other questions about certain legs of the trip, I'm happy to answer. You can PM me if you want.
-J


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## JimHawkins (Aug 25, 2006)

Why not break it up into pieces? Take a couple days to take the boat down to NYC or NJ, leave it there, and go home. Rest, recuperate, take a shower, enjoy your own bed. Then a week or two later take it down to the Chesapeake, leave it there, and go home again. Then when you're ready, take it the rest of the way. That way you'll ease into your cruising life without the stress of a big difficult trip right off the bat, and you can really enjoy the places along the way.


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## Joesaila (May 19, 2007)

*You can leave in November*

I could not imagine doing that. The cold winds and or snow would be terrible....but. Cruising World has an article this month that suggest people who want to head to Bermuda or the Bahamas 'leave' in November after a front has moved through. Some of the reasoning [while dressing in layers] is that you are sailing to warmer waters and will be there in about 3 days. Norfork is closer and likely easier. Good idea to stop in safe harbors for nights though.


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## josrulz (Oct 15, 2006)

JimHawkins said:


> Why not break it up into pieces? Take a couple days to take the boat down to NYC or NJ, leave it there, and go home. Rest, recuperate, take a shower, enjoy your own bed. Then a week or two later take it down to the Chesapeake, leave it there, and go home again. Then when you're ready, take it the rest of the way. That way you'll ease into your cruising life without the stress of a big difficult trip right off the bat, and you can really enjoy the places along the way.


In some ways, that's actually what we did, so it can be done the way JimHawkins suggests. Norfolk was just our "mid-point". We sailed 3 days there, left the boat for a few days, then came back and sailed her home up the Chesapeake. That second leg we did with anchoring every night, so it was another 3 days. It worked for us for a variety of logistical reasons.


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## Yamsailor (Jun 7, 2006)

You can cut two days off your trip by going from Cape May around the DelMarva and into Norfolk. However, if weather gets nasty there not many holes to duck into until the area near Ocean City Maryland.

I have done Atlantic Highlands, NJ--Cape May, Cape May-Delaware City, Delaware City to Annapolis, Annapolis--Norfolk. Took me 7 (long) days with stops.

New London to Atlantic Highlands should not take you more than two days (with a stop) if you time Hell-Gate, East River, and Verazzano-Narrows currents correctly.

In all--9 days (going the inside route) is possible. Now if you go the outside route (i.e. New London-Montauk-Cape May) You can do it in 8 days.

It takes 30 hours to get from Montauk to Cape May if you take the ocean route and if there is some wind.


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## labatt (Jul 31, 2006)

Joesaila said:


> I could not imagine doing that. The cold winds and or snow would be terrible....


We went from the New London area to Annapolis last mid-November and I couldn't agree with you more. No snow, but the winds were cold and the waves were big. We ended up breaking a lot of stuff on our boat (including our autopilot), but that made it a great shakedown cruise for cruising!


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## chuck5499 (Aug 31, 2003)

I have done it a couple of times and currently headed south - this time we left westbrook ct and went to city island - timed the current at hells gate and left city isl at 0930 and anchored down 0930 in cape may - rested one day and whoops low came in and we are sitting - waiting for the seas to calm down - from here we will go to cheaspeake city (admiral wants to stop there) then to rock hall - from rock hall you can hop over to solomon for an overnight hook then to the backside of deltaville for and night hook then to norfolk - 
just WATCH the weather - we have been sitting in cape may for 5 days and have at least 2-3 more for the seas to calm down before we can get around cape may (with a smaller mast you can get under the bridge and those who can are leaving in a day) 
so this time of year plan on some bad weather but 7 days is very possible 
chuck patty and svsoulmates 
on the hook waiting for a weather window in cape may nj


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## labatt (Jul 31, 2006)

With regards to Annapolis or Rock Hall, if you leave in the morning and go overnight you can get to Norfolk by the next morning. It's a very easy run as long as you give the Potomac a wide berth. Night sailing seems scary when you haven't done it, but it's not too bad once you HAVE done it a few times. It can just be tiring to run watches, and you need to make sure you have the right safety equipment on board (jacklines, tethers, strobes, etc.).


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## chuck5499 (Aug 31, 2003)

you can skip all overnights by running the east river to sandy hook and overnight then up predawn for the run down the coast of nj to cape may - but i must caution - the later you plan the trip the more likely you will have weather issues as the fronts seem to come more often the later in the year - also do not forget that you have a lot less daylight so your days get shorter and thus less miles 
- the big issue is getting from nyc to cape may and assuming you can get under the cape may bridge - 55' - you can make more mileage as the delaware bay is a lot less bumpy than the atlantic or going around the end of cape may 
good luck and DO NOT SET A SCHEDULE 
chuck patty and svsoulmates 
on the hook cape may nj waiting for a weather window (tomorrow we hope)


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## satenig (Jul 12, 2009)

thank you for all the replies. everyone was really helpful.


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## hessie (Oct 23, 2015)

how was the shipping traffic and where did you encounter the most problems what nav aids did you have ,radar, or reflector only or ais 
thanks, looking on doing it in mid November offshore if good weather window or do the long route if i have to singlehand


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

hessie said:


> how was the shipping traffic and where did you encounter the most problems what nav aids did you have ,radar, or reflector only or ais
> thanks, looking on doing it in mid November offshore if good weather window or do the long route if i have to singlehand


Do you realize that this thread started, and ended, in September of 2009?...

Unlikely that you'll get a reply from those that did the trip.

I suggest that you read this blog; Cruising Down the ICW - Fall of 2015 to Titusville, Florida. The publisher has done the ICW from upstate NY to Key West for the past two years, and offers a lot of good (great) insight. He also updates ActiveCaptain along the way.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

Above blog starting on September 17 from Poughkeepise, NY, and stopped in Hampton, VA, on September 30. 

- 13 days.


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## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

Have done this trip this time of year several times starting from R.I. or MA. If you are at the Connecticut/R.I. border may actually be faster going outside L.I. and just do straight shot from there. Yes it will then involve sailing at night but several advantages to doing that or straight down L.I. Sound just stopping to time Hells Gate. Way you go may decide if you will be sailing or motoring. 
First this is a cold passage this time of year and getting colder. The sooner you get it over the happier you will be.
Second the weather windows are not like the summer. If you can string a few good days together jump on it and get it done.
Third most water based services are closed up here or dealing with putting people on the hard. Much more pleasant mid Atlantic on south.
Fourth as regards winds you are going the wrong way so depending on your weather window may end up just motoring as fast as possible to get someplace warmer. Listening to the engine day after day is a downer. 
It is not a hard trip. Biggest issue is going past N.J.given best easy ditch spot after leaving NYC is cape may. Would forget going up Delaware and C&D. Boring unless you have reason to want to see upper Cheasepeake.


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## luv4sailin (Jul 3, 2006)

I've done it three ways.

- Straight past Montauk to Norfolk
- Straight past Montauk to Cape May and then on outside to Norfolk
- Down the Sound stopping along the way and on to Cape May then to Ocean City then Norfolk

The first is the fastest, obviously. The second gets you there reasonably quickly but one get to see delightful Cape May. The third is a lovely cruise that includes the spectacular trip down the East River and out of NY harbor past the Statue of Liberty, a very moving experience. 

Depending on you final destination, there is a fourth option that I also done which is going past Montauk around Hatteras and on the Beaufort.


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