Travelling the Intracoastal Waterway
17 September 2025 · 52 min · 905 views
What this video covers
Frank Mummert, a captain at the Maryland School of Sailing and Seamanship, describes 16 southbound and northbound ICW transits aboard Rockhopper, a Morgan 45 ketch, drawing on those passages to cover navigation, route planning, and practical seamanship for the full run from mile marker zero to mile marker 1095 in Biscayne Bay.1:24 The ICW is almost entirely motored; sailing is possible only in larger sounds such as Albemarle and Pamlico.1:24 Mummert ran three simultaneous navigation sources: a binnacle chartplotter, the Intracoastal Waterway Chartbook (Norfolk to Miami, 6th edition) for five-mile-ahead planning, and AquaMaps on an iPad loaded with Army Corps of Engineers survey data color-coded by depth.4:41 A MapTech chart kit at the nav table covered roughly 60 miles per page for daily planning.8:45 Crowdsourced depth and anchorage data came from ActiveCaptain and bobicw.blogspot.com, whose operator "Bob 423" publishes GPX tracks updated for shoaling — most recently rerouted around Spooner Creek and Browns Inlet.14:28 ICW buoy markings differ from standard IALA: yellow triangles and squares override the standard red/green meaning, making night travel risky.41:35 Bridge clearance is nominally 65 feet but several bridges measure closer to 64 feet; the Julia Tuttle Bridge near Miami runs 58–60 feet, forcing sailboats with taller rigs to exit at Fort Lauderdale and re-enter at Federal Cut Miami.45:01 Draft of 5 feet works through most of the route; 6 feet is marginal in the shallowest sections.44:13 The trip takes roughly a month traveling only during daylight.30:26 Ocean passages through inlets can skip significant ICW mileage but require at least a day of preparation to secure the boat for offshore conditions.3:21 A towing contract and basic engine, pump, and electrical skills are essential, as boatyards can be 75–100 miles apart.49:54
Boats in this video
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