Ultimate Doublecross of the Delaware Bay 2008
William G. McArthur

    This year's bay crossing is an over and back trip scheduled for Thursday, September 11. We are launching from the the beach at my house at around 6:30 AM. The trip is halfway over at the public beach at Prime Hook Beach in Delaware at around 5 hours later after a paddle of 19 miles. The trip will resume an hour after arrival and travel back to my beach, arriving at around 5 hours later. All distances in this description are in statute miles (as opposed to nautical miles).

   The outgoing current moves at a direction of 159 degrees magnetic. We will travel from NJ to DE with a constant compass heading of 253 degrees magnetic to account for some southward drift. The incoming current moves at a direction of 339 degrees magnetic. We will travel from DE to NJ with a constant compass heading of 72 to account for some northward drift. The Delaware Bay Shipping Channel begins at Brown Shoal light. We plan to cross the channel when it is approximately 1/5 of a mile wide. It will take us about 3 minutes to cross the channel. This is about the time that it takes a ship to travel a mile.

   A support vehicle will meet us at Prime Hook Beach with cold water and other support items, including straps for tying kayaks on top, if necessary.    

   Here are the important locations from the map above:

Waypoint BillBeach: N39.01029 W74.95181 (My beach at 2691 Bay Drive, Villas, NJ)

This is the launching and final landing place.

Waypoint ChanGreen: N38.92405 W75.10014 (Lit green buoy)

Delaware side of channel, near Brown Shoal.

Waypoint ChanRed: N38.94018 W75.10477 (Lit red buoy)

New Jersey side of channel, 1.1 miles north of ChanGreen.

Waypoint BrownShoal: N38.92181 W75.09979 (Brown Shoal Light)

This is the beginning of the shipping channel going to Philadelphia.

Waypoint PrimeHookBeach: N38.85590 W75.24261 (Beach at the end of the access road to Prime Hook Beach)

This beach has a small parking area. It is 19 miles by road from the ferry terminal in Lewes, DE. The road route to the beach is to follow Route 1 north from Lewes, passing the sign to Prime Hook Refuge (do NOT turn there), turning right at the sign for Prime Hook Beach. Follow Prime Hook Road to the beach, making one more right turn at another sign to Prime Hook Beach.

WGM 08/25/2008