Cruising Plans: Final Preparations & Weather

Departure is planned for 6:00 AM on Tuesday, November 4 and, weather permitting, we still plan a six day non-stop 1217 NM run to Stewart.  Below is the plan that I published in the October 15 article "Cruising Plans: South to Sarasota."  I'll discuss weather later in the article.

FROM	TO	MILES	CUM	MARINA	WATER	HOURS	CUM	DAYS
Hingham	Virginia Beach	447	447	Long Bay Point	Coastal	53.9	53.9	2.2
Virginia Bck	Beaufort	191	638	Beaufort Dcks	Coastal	23.0	76.9	1.0
Beaufort, NC	Charleston	212	850	Charleston	Coastal	25.5	102.4	1.1
Charleston	Stuart	367	1217	Sunrise Bay	Coastal	44.2	146.7	1.8
Stuart	Fort Meyers	117	1334	TBD	ICW	14.1		2.0
Fort Meyers	Sarasota	70	1404	Marina Jack	ICW/Coastal	8.4		1.0
								9 days

The following details our final preparations:

Food Plan: Cruising the Great Loop (2010-2012) and the run north from Stewart to Hingham this spring and, for that matter, all of our previous cruising on Lake Michigan involved stops at marinas every night.  Not much consideration for food on board as we would seek out restaurants most nights. Cruising non stop for 6 days changes this dynamic.  Now the question is number of days of food and groceries for a crew of three and whether we intend to cook underway.

Cooking underway is problematic.  Clean-up alone would begin to tax our water supply (300 gallons) and cooking underway especially in any kind of seas increases injury risk as hot pots and pans slide around.  To eliminate these problems we decided on frozen meals for dinners and paper plates.

Trader Joe's to the rescue. They have a nice variety of frozen dinners and I have been sampling them in preparation for the trip.  The key here is storage.  Fortunately we have a fairly good size freezer and can easily store frozen dinners for 9 days. Augmenting our frozen dinners will be fresh vegetables for salads.

Breakfasts require limited freezer storage.  The menu here will include yogurt, bagels with cream cheese, capers, tomatoes and nova lox; dry cereals with fruit and, if conditions allow, hot oatmeal. Lunch will consist of Deli sandwiches with a variety of meats and cheese.

Fuel: We topped off our tanks on Monday at Mystic Fuels in Charlestown Massachusetts (just north of Boston).  We journeyed their to take advantage of their $3.51 diesel price.  We took on 591 gallons and saved approximately $480 as compared to prices at close by marinas (which were charging $4.30).  I still do not understand why some marinas choose not to be competitive. The trip to Charlestown used less than 20 gallons, which at $3.50/gal translated into a cost of $70. We still saved $410 and got a lovely cruise to Boston Harbor on a perfectly clear day.  We are presently sitting on 1291 gallons (10 below full).

Bottom Cleaning: This was accomplished on Wednesday, which was also a beautiful day. Unfortunately our marina prohibits divers from cleaning the bottom at the dock.  This required us to motor out one mile and anchor off Grape Island.  The good news is by cleaning within one week of departure we will be moving with a clean bottom.  Stuff grows aggressively at our location and a dirty bottom can easily shave off 2 knots of our speed.  Two knots times 150 hours translates into 300 nautical miles or more than an extra day of travel, and about 300 gallons or $1050 of additional expense.  The bottom cleaning costs $375.  Even a loss of one knot translates into 150 extra miles and 150 gallons ($525).

Thermal Night Vision Installation: This project started last Thursday when the installers ran wires from the hardtop to the Garmin 7215 multifunction screens in the pilothouse. The installation of the Raymarine T353 system was completed on Friday morning.  The system is amazing.  At night from my slip I saw ducks in the water 10 feet in front of the boat, the channel leading out of the harbor, the first red nun buoy in the channel and the entire marina.  The image appears as a black and white negative and is amazingly clear.  You can see ripples on the water and I even have visibility to the sides and stern.

Thermal image of the marina at 7:30 PM on Friday

Pilot House controls

Side Note: Notice the Raymarine T353 JCU controller next to the Glendenning engine controls. Heretofore that was an open space.  I guess it was just waiting for me to complete the boat's electronics package. 

Raymarine T353 controller (JCU)

Needless to say it's been a busy week.  The good news is the boat is ready to go!

Now to the weather.

Good thing we are not leaving today and for that matter tomorrow (Saturday) through Monday. NOAA is predicting storm warnings along the entire east coast with gale warning over the route between the Cape Cod Canal and Norfolk.  Purple on the NOAA weather chart below indicates storm warnings while pink indicates a gale warning with the potential of winds in excess of 34 knots (39 MPH) to 47 knots (54 MPH).   The charcoal stuff in the middle indicates a freeze warning.  .

Notice the low pressure area off of Virginia and the low over western PA with the trailing cold front.

Weather at 5:00 PM EDT  on Friday
Heavy snow is forecasted in the western Carolinas

The next six forecast maps below show the weather getting worse (actually real bad) and then improving as high pressure moves in.  By Tuesday we should have a weather window that could last at least 3 days, time enough for us to reach the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area.

Saturday evening.  A powerful low is forming off Pennsylvania
The forecast is for north winds 30 to 40 knots with gusts to 50.  Seas 16 to 21 feet.  Visibility 1 to 3 NM

Sunday evening.  The lows merge off New England.  Note the isobars close together
The Boston area is in for a Northeaster with gale winds
Seas of 13 to 18 feet are forecasted for Massachusetts Bay

Monday evening. The powerful low pressure deepens area moves further north.
I expect winds to shift to the northwest and still blow hard (gusts to 30 knots)

Tuesday night.  High pressure dominates the coast from Cape Cod to Florida.
This is a weather window

Wednesday night.  High pressure moves north east as a cold front approaches

Thursday night.  A low forms east of Pennsylvania with a low pressure trough along the coast down to Hatteras

To help us understand weather marine weather predictions for our route to Stuart I have prepared the chart below.  It lists the NOAA marine forecast zones for every 100 miles of our route.  Traveling at 8.6 knots we make about 100 miles every 12 hours.  Using this chart you can quickly go to the applicable AM or PM zone.

Below the link to the marine forecast zones.  Click on the desired area and then click again to zoom into the zone.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/usamz.htm

Day	Begin	Leg	Cum	End	NOAA Zone #	General Location
1	AM	100	100	Block Island	231, 234, 236	Cape Cod Bay, Buzzards Bay, RI Sound
1	PM	100	200	Long Beach	350, 353, 355	Long Island Waters
2	AM	100	300	Cape May	450-453	NJ Coastal Waters
2	PM	100	400	Temperanceville	650, 652, 654	MD Waters
3	AM	100	500	Kitty Hawk, NC	150, 152	Virgina Beach to Cape Hatteras
3	PM	100	600	Beaufort	154, 156, 158	Cape Hatteras to Beaufort
4	AM	100	700	Cape Fear	250, 252	Cape Fear
4	PM	100	800	Georgetown	254, 265	SC Coastal Waters
5	AM	100	900	Savannah	352	GA Coastal Waters
5	PM	100	1000	Fernadina Beach	450, 452	GA & N. Florida Coastal Waters
6	AM	100	1100	Daytona Beach	454, 550	FL Coastal Waters north of Cape Canaveral
6	PM	100	1200	Stuart	552, 555	FL Coastal Waters south of Cape Canaveral

NOAA only goes out for six days.  Hence, right now we have marine forecasts through Wednesday. Below I have listed the forecasts for the first two days of our trip.  Based on available data we have a weather window through Wednesday evening that would enable us to cruise to Cape May.  By tomorrow we will be able to "see" further out.

Explanatory Note: In the chart below I list the forecast, when possible, for the period before, during and after our transition of the area.  This enables me to see the trend.  Is the weather improving or worsening.  Neeless to say I prefer the latter.

CAPE COD BAY

MON NIGHT  NW WINDS 15 TO 20 KT...DIMINISHING TO 5 TO 10 KT  AFTER MIDNIGHT. GUSTS UP TO 25 KT. SEAS 2 TO 3 FT.  >>>TUE  SW WINDS 5 TO 10 KT. SEAS 1 FOOT OR LESS.  

TUE NIGHT  SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KT. SEAS  AROUND 2 FT

BUZZARDS BAY

>>>TUE  SW WINDS 5 TO 10 KT. SEAS AROUND 2 FT.  

TUE NIGHT  SW WINDS AROUND 10 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KT. SEAS  2 TO 3 FT.  

WED  SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KT. SEAS AROUND  2 FT.

RHODE ISLAND SOUND:

>>>TUE NIGHT  SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KT. SEAS  2 TO 4 FT.  

WED  SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KT. SEAS 2 TO  4 FT.  

WED NIGHT  SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 20 KT. SEAS  2 TO 3 FT.

LONG ISLAND WATERS:

TUE  SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 2 TO 3 FT.  

>>>WED  SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT.  

NEW JERSEY COASTAL WATERS

WED  SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT.

Stay tuned for updates.  Right now we are a go for 6:00 AM on Tuesday Morning.

Written by Les.