Coastal sailing

[Capt Dave]

I would like to sail my DSII off or at least in the harbors of the New Hampshire / Maine coast and would like to know the opinions of this forum. Where would you advise me to launch and sail, any conserns regarding currents or large vessel traffic that could cause dangerous wakes? Great Bay in Dover looks inviting but what about currents and tidal conditions?

Please advise.

[persephone]

Hi Dave,

I have sailed in Great Bay and Rye harbor.
The first question I have for you is do you plan to employ a motor?
The tidal flow in Great bay is significant and it will dictate where and when you sail. You can launch from the Dover point landing and sail away from Portsmouth with little problem regardless of tide. If you launch farther upriver (Great Bay Marina for example) you will need a motor. The current is enough that you won't be able to go against (or even through) it, perhaps even with the size motor likely to be used in a DS.
Rye harbor was crowded, it costs something to get in and for a sailboat was challenging to get in and out of the anchorage itself.

[Capt Dave]

I have 4hp Evenrude and extra fuel that I will have with me when sailing these waters.

The only launch site at Dover Point that I am aware of is on the the NE side of route 4; are there any others and can I get under the bridge with the mast raised or will I have to wait and step the mast after motoring under the bridge?

[persephone]

There is a ramp at Great Bay Marina

http://www.greatbaymarine.com/index.php

Look here for info on navigating Portsmouth Harbor and Great Bay

http://www.pointseast.com/template.shtml?id=EEAFEVppZpOumHWzkT&style=story

The bridges at Dover point have 46 feet of clearance, so unless you've put a big stick in your DS I think you;ll be fine.

Have fun.

[algonquin]

It will be challenging but its been done before so if you are physically up to the task have fun. My only additional advice to what has already been discussed is to carry a quality portable marine radio (in addition to a cell phone BTW) that has a waterproof covering in the event you turtle your DS. Brad

[seandwyer]

I wish I could do something like this easily! the coast is sort of far away - but the comment about the motor possibly not being powerful enough has me thinking.....how powerful does it need to be? I am considering taking my boat on the Ohio river in wider pools on low traffic days. Is the thought that a 3.3 HP might not be able to push the boat back up stream? I heard anything over 4 HP was overkill and wouldn't add anything to the power or speed because of the shape or design of the boat. What's the consensus? I have heard about guys in scary circumstances where the tide is moving too forcefully and they can't move against it in similar types of boats. Has anyone read The Biggest Boat I Could Afford? It's this guy from New Zeeland who bought Frank Die's old Wayfarer and sailed it up the east coast from the keys to NYC (where he quit and the book sort of in tremendous anticlimactic fashion quits as well). He has a few accounts of coming out of river mouths into bays when the tide was moving and not being able to fight against the current. I think he was using a 3.5 HP.

[GreenLake]

It all depends on the currents. Off the Canadian West coast, for example, are tidal races with currents up to 20knts, if I remember reading that correctly.

The hullspeed for a DS is in the 5knts range, so if your current is 4kts, you'd make very slow progress, unless you have a motor that pushes the DS on a plane (not sure I would want to try that ).

Your 3.5-4HP motor should be fine to get you to hullspeed, but then that speed defines the limit of what currents you can overcome. If, in addition, you have strong adverse winds, your top speed could be less than for calm conditions.

Tidal currents have the nice feature that they reverse direction at predictable times - whereas upriver, the river currents don't. So, if you get stuck, it might be feasible to wait out a tide, but on a river?