[Rhodes22-list] Ed, Bob, Art, Julia, Bud - Sailing Locales

[TN Rhodey]

Bud,

I think this is the area my Uncle sails out of. He lives in Cocoa (not Cocoa 
Beach) right on the ICW. Isn't Melbourne near there. My Aunt and Uncle love 
the area. Stores, library, shops, marinas....all within walking distance.

The sailing is quite nice and you can get outside pretty quick if you want 
to. The part of the ICW has very little tide fluctuation due to small locks. 
We saw Manatee and dolphins. This is also a great area for watching shuttle 
launchings by boat.

>From what I remember it wasn't real deep but a R22 would do well.

Wally


>From: Bud <budconnor at earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Ed, Bob, Art, Julia, Bud - Sailing Locales
>Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 22:17:50 -0500
>
>Dave,
>  the ICW is at least a mile wide here, and is typically deep (8'-12') and 
>is a great place to sail anything in
>our class.  I occasionally crew on a Lindbergh '28 (at times we've had 7 
>people on the rail!) and we have no
>trouble maneuvering around the course.  Take a quick look on mapquest and 
>you will see wide water
>from Scottsmoor down to Stuart which is over a 100 miles, with Melbourne in 
>the middle.  You will be
>suprised how wide and un-crowded this area is.  If you want to see a narrow 
>ICW, take a look at Daytona
>on mapquest.  If I lived in Daytona I would have taken up motorcycles 
>instead of sailing. Oh, if you use
>GoogleEarth, you can see just how sparsely populated the water really is.
>
>-Bud
>
>
>
>DCLewis1 at aol.com wrote:
>
>>Ed,  We intend to look @ Hartwell and Keowee.  I’m sure Rummy  would 
>>welcome another Rhodes on his lake.  At a minimum, it’s someone else  he 
>>could beat - easily.   Maybe he'd feel better about it if we  arrived with 
>>a bottle of Mt Gay, or is it jar of Ben Gay?
>>
>>Regarding Sen Russell, you’re right, I’d forgotten.  Regarding Strom,  
>>I’m sure he did work hard for, and represent, his constituents, he was  
>>re-elected many times.
>>
>>Art,  Regarding Lanier, the Corps advertises 7.5M visitors/yr.   Wow!
>>
>>Julia,   I think you’re right, Hudson and Dunedin have survived  on our 
>>list. To out knowledge, available marinas in that part of the world  are 
>>at Tarpon Springs, we checked at Dunedin and Tarpon Springs, I don’t 
>>think  Hudson is directly on the water.  We were told that marinas in the 
>>area  have been converted to waterfront condos or are wildly 
>>oversubscribed because of  the conversion of so many other marinas to 
>>waterfront condos.  As I recall,  the guy running the Dunedin marina said 
>>it would take at least 2 years for a 22'  sailboat to get a slip in their 
>>marina - if the boat were 30'  or over he  projected a 4+ year wait - and 
>>we’d have to be residents of Dunedin to even be  put on the list.  There 
>>are slips available at Tarpon Springs.  One  issue with that entire  area 
>>is the water is shallow water.  We were  told by a marina operator @ 
>>Tarpon Springs that if you sailed a mile off shore,  the depth would 
>>increase by about a foot - you could walk home if something  happened to 
>>the boat.  The charts show a very extended shelf in that part  of the 
>>world.  The mean depth around Dunedin is about 2 feet, as I recall  (could 
>>be wrong about the 2', but it’s shallow).   So thin water is an  issue 
>>in that part of Fla - but it is warm, so it’s still on the list.
>>
>>BobF,  Thanks for your post, I checked back and saw Tom’s subsequent  
>>post.  It explains everything we saw.  But his 2 posts also identify a  
>>substantial problem: marina’s are out, at least for the near term,  
>>because  the Florida EPA won’t let them dredge, ramps are not great, so 
>>Tom recommends a  waterfront or canal back home.  Tom reports they start 
>>at about $1.2M - and  we all know they can be blown or washed away by the 
>>next big storm.   Actually, when we were there we saw several canal backed 
>>homes that were in the  $700Ks, but they were older (I’d guess ‘50s) 
>>and pretty small - PG/PC has been  around for a while and the part near 
>>the water likely developed first.  So  its getting problematic given 
>>PG/PCs storm history, boating infrastructure  (or lack of infrastructure), 
>>and very near term development.
>>
>>I’d thought PG/PC might be a good place for the snowbird trick, just get 
>>a  condo/townhouse and rent a slip - limit hurricane risk by limiting  
>>investment. The problem is no slips, few ramps, and a tremendous amount of 
>>  development that’s going to exacerbate the need for slips and ramps 
>>(as I recall  there are at least 3 high rise condos going in on PG Isles 
>>in a relatively small  area just outside the park entrance no direct water 
>>access with any of  them - and that’s only one place in PG).  I’m 
>>starting to think that  making PG/PC work could be a challenge.
>>
>>Bud, Thanks for suggesting Melbourne.  Can you really sail that part  of 
>>the ICW?  Except as the ICW transects various sounds, the parts of the  
>>ICW I’ve seen on the east coast have been relatively narrow.  I 
>>concluded  sailing the ICW entails some sailing and a lot of motoring 
>>unless the wind  cooperates.  I have no experience sailing the ICW, am I 
>>wrong?
>>
>>Also, I can report that in the Palm Coast area, and possibly other areas ( 
>>  i.e. Southport NC), developers have negotiated cut-outs from the ICW 
>>where  they
>>’ve built marinas for a hundred or so boats at a site.  I can see real  
>>traffic jams developing in those areas when the multitude of local 
>>recreational  boaters take to the relatively confined ICW ditch.  Does 
>>Melbourne have  that problem?   I’m ambivalent about recreational 
>>sailing in the ICW,  as opposed to using it as a passage from point A to 
>>point B, do people sail  22' boats recreationally in the ICW (this comment 
>>applies only to  “the big  ditch” part of the ICW not the sounds, 
>>river mouths, behind keys,  etc)?
>>
>>Our next trek is pseudo-local,  Kilmarnock VA, Washington NC via Edenton 
>>(try to check on our boat), and New  Bern NC (again).  This is our 3rd 
>>trip to New Bern, it  has a lot  going for it (Neuse River & Pamlico 
>>Sound),  but it can get cold.   Not as cold as Northern Va, but a lot 
>>colder than Fla.  Later this year it’ll be the lakes trek.
>>
>>Thanks again to everyone for your input.  Your local knowledge is  really 
>>helpful.
>>
>>Dave
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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