[C320-list] Heart-Miller Island Cut

[Warren Updike]

Indeed.  We were just through Kent Narrows two weeks ago and the temp buoy is still there. In fact, it is very close to the red.  We went through at half-tide in the am so not much traffic on a rainy morn.  However, those who preceded us the on Sat, said that while they had no trouble finding 5 ft. there was a backup of boats due to one with a deeper draft and a power boat on the ground off the channel.  So, be guided accordingly. Seems what Kent Narrows needs is some sort of barrier to block the silting.   
Same goes for West side of Knapp Narrows. The temp buoy is so close to the red there is only room for one boat. One piece of advice I heard was to favor the red: if close enough to the red to reach and deposit your card, that's about right. And, the East side is none too deep at low tide.

Warren & Pattie Updike
1994 C320 #62 "Warr De Mar"

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Thompson [mailto:surprise at thompson87.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 03, 2013 7:08 PM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Heart-Miller Island Cut

I was talking about the North channel into Kent Narrows when I made that comment, not Hart-Miller cut. Looking at the latest (May 2013) edition of the relevant chart you can see that the "temporary" buoy (G "3") on the north channel is shown OUTSIDE the former dredged channel and fixed markers. The old G "3" is the new R "4" and its former partner (the old R "4" across the old channel) is now listed as W "A." The controlling depth is listed as 3 feet in the channel as of May 2012. I sure hope they dredge it soon as it is a very long sail around Kent Island to reach St. Michaels or the Wye River from points north otherwise.

See http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/12272.shtml for the online chart with details of Kent Narrows. You need to zoom in to the top part of the inset in the lower right corner to see the buoy in question.

BTW, the latest chart (dated Oct 2012) of the Hart-Miller Cut reports
7.5 feet as of 2010.  See
http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/12278.shtml.



On 7/3/2013 4:22 PM, Warren Updike wrote:
> Last year??  I'm not aware that there was a temp buoy there.  Yes, the cut does get thin outside the channel.  It's my belief that a 5 ft. keel shouldn't have a problem staying in the channel.
> I tend to favor the red going through.
> In a strong wind, check your track by sighting a line between buoys. It's easy to be blown to the side and still think you are in the channel.
>
> Warren & Pattie Updike
> 1994 C320 #62 "Warr De Mar"
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Thompson [mailto:surprise at thompson87.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 2013 9:26 PM
> To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] Heart-Miller Island Cut
>
> So you had plenty of water in the main channel? When I went through last year you had to take a detour outside the fixed markers on the north side to go around a temporary buoy and although I didn't bump I thought I couldn't have more than 6 inches under the keel. Reports were that in the main channel there was less than 4 ft at that point. Have they dredged recently?
>
>
> On 7/2/2013 1:20 PM, Jerry Taylor wrote:
>> Hi Scott,
>>
>> I went through Kent Narrows a couple of weeks ago and had plenty of 
>> water on the North side.  The tide had been flooding for about an 
>> hour and had to put the pedal to the medal to get under the bridge!  
>> Piper draws 4'4".  Hope this helps.  Knapps Narrows was not fun on a 
>> dead low tide, but made it without grounding and minimal tide under 
>> the bridge.
>>
>> Jerry
>> Piper - 1128
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Scott Thompson
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 2013 9:50 AM
>> To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
>> Subject: Re: [C320-list] Heart-Miller Island Cut
>>
>> Bruce, if you get the answer some other way, please let the rest of 
>> us Chesapeake sailors know. I've wondered about that cut for some 
>> time and have never tried it, except on my parent's boat in the 
>> 1980's. But Hart-Miller was much smaller then before they started 
>> dumping dredge spoils there, and my parent's boat only drew 3.5 feet 
>> with the board up and had no instruments to measure the actual depth. 
>> My chart suggests it can't be done today, but perhaps that is wrong.
>>
>> On a related note, have any Chesapeake sailors taken their boat 
>> through Kent Narrows this year? I've wondered if it is still possible 
>> given all of the shoaling in the north channel recently. Running 
>> aground with the wing keel and a lot of powerboat traffic is no fun.
>>
>> Scott Thompson
>> Surprise, #653
>>
>> On 7/1/2013 6:41 AM, Bruce wrote:
>>> To any of you sailors familiar with the area...Can a 320 navigate 
>>> through the cut? We anchored at HMI Saturday night but we went 
>>> around the North side and came down. With hull #719 and a wing keel 
>>> I believe our draft is 4'10" I've even though there hundreds of 
>>> times on other boats but I know how that channel can fill in, I 
>>> don't want to find out the hard way.
>>>
>>> Bruce Hunter
>>> Nauti Time #719
>>
>>
>> -----
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>
>