Shoaling in the ICW - Browns Inlet, Masonboro, Snows Cut

Browns Inlet is an active shoaling area. 

Although there has been lots of dredging this summer in the ICW, there are still areas that haven't been touched yet. One famous area is Browns Inlet. The path through for the deepest water is starting to look strange as of 8/20/2018. It's a giant "W" and it's getting more extreme. I've updated the GPX route for the area (see GPX Routes at left) and it's handy since you can't take a direct route through the buoys unless you're close to high tide. Full details are at Waterway Guide Browns Inlet complete with a download link for the GPX Route.

Here you see the Mason Inlet new route as of 8/3/2018. It's more of a swing than before. More detail is at the Waterway Guide page for the hazard. The GPX route for the passage has been revised too.

How's this for a zigzag course. You really need to load the GPX route for the best path, hard to eyeball although I try that in the WG page. This hazard is south of Mason Inlet by Masonboro G137. The entire stretch is shallow. 

Snows Cut is doable but you have to know to take the extreme green side route. Details on the WG page. 

All of these alerts will be available for both browser access and also on the Waterway Guide icons in Aqua Map which I will keep up to date as the season progresses. We know that Lockwoods Folly is due to be dredged in September, let's hope they get done by the time the crowd arrives. 

PYC - Fleetwing Getting Ready

Matthew then

When it comes to getting a boat ready for a season of cruising, there's nothing like a college-age grandkid to help out! Matthew is a senior at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island with a major in architecture. Now he's learning the ins and outs of taking care of a boat but I'm learning a few things too. I usually take a day to wash and wax one side of Fleeting and finish waxing the next day and another day to sand the rust spots on the keel. Matthew did the waxing and sanding all in one day with a double waxing on the box (which prevents the ICW mustache). Nice to be young.

Matthew now

This year I used POR 15 on the keel based on recommendations from club members, a change from my usual Bar Rust 235. We'll see how it performs. I've had a long battle with my cast iron keel, there are always rust spots to tend to. On the other hand, there's a lot of it and there's little danger of it rusting away. It just looks unsightly out of the water but then no one looks at it when I'm sailing except the divers.

All I have left to do is one more coat of POR 15 and then it's on to the bottom paint. I used Pettit Ultima SR-60. which survives well in the Florida warm waters. I used to use Interlux Micron CSC but after a disastrous year in Florida with giant barnacles, I gave up and used the Pettit paint as recommended by my diver. It's has stood up much better than the Interlux paint which I had used for years while cruising in the northeast. It just didn't work down south.

I've used Semco Honeytone since day one on the teak

I plan on launching Fleetwing on 8/28, next Tuesday and we hope to leave even before our usual 9/15. We would really like a leisurely trip south, unlike last year when we had to dodge all the hurricanes. Speaking of which, it's been extremely quiet in the Caribbean. We had heard that the Caribbean water temperatures reached an all-time low this winter and vertical wind shear remains high, both of which suppress hurricanes. We can only hope it continues.

I use Fleetwax, a paste wax applied by hand

                                   I do like that shine!

Active Links Available

For all those who have bought the printed copy, the links are in blue and underlined. As I said before, you can download the eBook for free if you bought the printed copy. All those blue, underlined links are fully active in the eBook. Only 25% of those buying the printed copy have downloaded their free eBook so far.

However, there is another way to access the links. You can go to Links for 2018 Guide and look up the links you are interested in. They are arranged by Guide page number. 

For example, page 53 of the Guide has 10 links for various good provisioning stops. The second link on the page is for RE Mayo Docks. Go down the list of links at "Links for 2018 Guide" until you come to page 53 and you'll see RE Mayo Docks underlined. Click on that link and it will bring up the RE Mayo website which in this case is a Facebook page. 

This technique works for all Guide links which are in blue and underlined. You don't have to look anything up on Google. It's a time-saving way to enjoy the over 200 links in the 2018 ICW Cruising Guide.

Meanwhile, Fleetwing is on the hard getting ready for another season down the ICW. I sanded and stained the teak toe rail on Fleetwing today. Now I have to start on the hull/ I plan to launch Fleetwing on 8/28/2018 so I have my work cut out for me - and it's hot up here now. 

Typical Sherer Family Vacation

We’re almost through our Ocean City, NJ vacation and the tribe is getting restless. With Four grandkids, four parents and us, a fight broke out! Caroline seemed unconcerned but Mike is holding off the attackers!

2018 ICW Cruising Guide by Bob423 Facebook Group

I just started a Facebook group for easier give and take on the 2018 ICW Cruising Guide. It has the creative name of 2018 ICW Cruising Guide by Bob423. Sorry about that, I'll think of something better later, maybe. It will also address questions on the use of Aqua Map as well as any and all questions about the use of the Guide. This is experimental, we'll see how it goes and if there's a demand or not.

I've been down this path a couple of times. I started and own the Beneteau 423 Yahoo Group that now has 1000 members worldwide and found that I had to make it private - meaning that new members had to be approved by me. Whenever I left it open for anyone to join, we would invariably get someone coming in, joining and then posting a dozen ads for various forms of "enhancements." With that background, that's why I have to approve new members. Furthermore, they have to answer a question on why they want to join, again to judge whether they are bots or just want to post ads.

After that preamble, it could be a fun group and a place to ask questions and exchange ideas. We'll see if it works. It's now open for business at 2018 ICW Cruising Guide by Bob423.

By the way, thanks for buying the book, it's doing well.

On an unrelated topic, I completed compiling the links that are in the book and they can be accessed in the ICW Tips section of this blog. They are arranged by book page number for easy reference. Of course, if you bought the book, you can always download the eBook for free. The list of links is a backup to that.