[C320-list] Wintering in Norfolk.

[Jeff Smith]

Pat,

Our boat name is Sailmates. A few things for the cruise:

1. If you are coming North to South in the Bay, Fishing Bay marina in Deltaville is nice and tucked away. Make sure you follow the navigation bouys, though, as it can be a bit tricky. The marina has a car you can use to go to town and resupply. Be careful on the western side of the Bay coming South of Deltaville. There is an area called Wolf Trap and it is easy to get yourself into shallow water quickly.

2. Cape Charles city marina is easily accessible, but the other marina is difficult and fraught with grounding peril. If you go to Cape Charles, Brown Dog ice cream is tasty.

3. Depending on when you arrive, at LIttle Creek you may need to check in with the Navy patrol boat on 16 to get permission to transit, even on the civilian side of the harbor. I am not sure when this change will be implemented.

4. Right outside of Old Point Comfort Marina there is a nice cove for anchoring, if you do not want to pay a slip fee. Phoebus is easily walkable from this cove, and you could dinghy under the bridge and not pay any access fees.

5. You can also anchor close to downtown Hampton, and then utilize the city docks. Bluewater marina is expensive and only accepts boats over 40', as I recall.

6. If you go towards down town Norfolk, Tidewater is a nice place to stay.

7. It is helpful to have your charts or chartplotter handy. The Hampton Bar is marked, but the Willoughby Bay Bar is not. If you stay just outside the channel, you are fine. But the Willoughby Bay Bar can sneak up on you, and it is in water that looks much deeper than it is.

Give us a shout when you get in the area. 

Cheers,

Jeff
'94, #121



Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
  Original Message  
From: Pat Tormey
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2018 11:56 AM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Reply To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Wintering in Norfolk.

Thanks Jeff,
I’ll give a shout when I’m in the neighborhood. What you boat name?
As a young sailor I was stationed at a Small Boat Unit in Little Creek (long time ago).. Looking forward to re-visiting


Pat Tormey 

From: Jeff Smith
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2018 9:57 AM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Wintering in Norfolk.

Pat,

We keep our boat in Norfolk. We are at Old Point Comfort Marina, which is located on Fort Monroe (now turned over to the local authorities). I just launched my boat from Cobb's boatyard in Little Creek in August, so I can speak to that area, as well. We have only owned our boat for a few years, but I can give you some information about the Hampton Roads area. The only caveat is that we actually live 3.5 hours away; our boat is our weekend retreat. 

Happy to answer any questions provide information as appropriate. We have only sailed north to Deltaville, VA, as of now, and to the Eastern Shore (Cape Charles, VA). So our cruising radius is from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to Deltaville, or the lower portion of the Bay.

Cheers,

Jeff, 1994, #121

On 9/15/18, 9:48 AM, "C320-list on behalf of Pat Tormey" <c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com on behalf of ptormey at 4square.net> wrote:

Anybody in the Norfolk VA area?

In the first weather window here in Newport RI after Sept 21th I’m taking a slow trip to Norfolk hoping to find a slip for the winter on the Navy Base.

The plan is to sail thru LI Sound and down the NJ Shore til Atlantic City or Cape May. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of overnighting opportunity along that shore OR Delaware shore for that matter. Weather permitting I may have to that that as a clean shot off shore.

So I’m looking for some local knowledge. I’m not in any hurry so I’ll likely be swapping crew time to time along the way.

Anybody along the Jersy shore? Delaware? Lower Chesapeake? Especially Norfolk/Little Creek?


Thanks

Pat Tormey
Blue Skies
#1037
Newport RI