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I'm trying to find a non-ocean route for a 23' sailboat to go from NY Harbour to Richmond VA without having to take an open-ocean route.
In truth, the journey actually starts in Montreal Canada, coming down from Sorel through the Hudson River.
While I can easily get to the NY Harbor, and from there, I can almost make it to Trenton NJ (through the Raritan River), I cant seem to get all the way to Trenton and (eventually) the Delaware River - where I can then go past Philly, through the canal and into the Chesapeake Bay down (eventually) to Richmond.
Short of a land-hump through Trenton, does anyone know of anything I may have missed?
There is a Raritan canal, but it looks to now be a national park and closed to navigation.
You'd be much better off taking the ICW, in my opinion. I don't know much about inland waterways, but the Delaware near Trenton doesn't look to be the best environment for a sailboat - rocks and fast currents are pretty common.
Coming from NY Harbor, sail 15-20 miles in the ocean to Manasquan Inlet and from there you can take the ICW down to Virginia without ever traversing the ocean again. You'll take the Manasquan River through the Point Pleasant Canal into Barnegat Bay, which is the northern terminus of the ICW in NJ. From there, take it down Barnegat Bay through Ocean County, then into Atlantic and Cape May counties before taking the Cape May Canal into Delaware Bay.
Verando-Dan is correct. There is no way around the 23 miles from Sandy Hook to Manasquan inlet. Manasquan is a big easy inlet, no problems there. If you get half way & things aren't looking good you can duck in Shark River inlet. Barnagat Bay is lots of real THIN water, so you can expect to bump bottom a couple of times. When you leave to head south you should get going as early as you can as there is usually soth breeze coming right up the shore in the afternoons (makes it slower going for sailboats).
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