Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
My wife and I are new to both the Magothy river and Cat 25 ownership. Anyone in the area that would be willing to maybe meet up and give us a 101 on the river and/or our boat? She's sailed her whole life so using the boat for its intended purpose isn't the issue. There are just many little questions we'd love to bounce of either a Catalina 25 owner of someone very familiar with navigating the Magothy.
I can't help you with local knowledge of the Magothy, but have lots of experience sailing, racing and maintaining a C25, and would be happy to help. I race all around the area and on the Patapsco River every Wednesday.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
Love the Magothy! Nice and wide with room to mess around, quick access to the bay and of course the famous Dobbins Island hangout. Im local and grew up sailing the Magothy. Im one river down now with my C25 on the Severn but frequently sail up the Magothy to hang out. Let me know if there's anything specifically I can help with. Watch for shoals near the marks. Most of them have tended to shift out past the marks pretty well. I was sailing up there last summer by Green #8 or 9 and was about 20ft on the correct side of the mark and ran aground.
Gotta love swing keels, right Steve?
Ps Steve, spoke with Steve B. and got the scoop. Glad everyone and the boat made it off. Ill see you Saturday.
Captain Rob & Admiral Alyson "David Buoy"-1985 C25 SK/SR #5053
Ps Steve, spoke with Steve B. and got the scoop. Glad everyone and the boat made it off.
At the risk of hijacking the topic,
Dave Bristle Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired), Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
One quick point on the Magothy: at red light 10 we always see boats passing north of the mark. Including sailboats much larger than ours. Is that shoal not actually as shallow as the charts list? Steve M: I may reach out to you one day to meet up and discuss the cat. Our was somewhat redone and there are just little things that seem weird to me. Like our manual bilge and electric bilge running through the same line.
JohnP - John Peyman had or still has a CAT25 docked on the Magothy River. If you check the archive postings using the "Search" engine of this Forum, you will see some of his past postings. However, he has not been active on this Forum for quite some time, perhaps dating back to 2012/2013. John and I sailed together both on my boat on the Potomac River and on his on the Magothy River. I recall he turned over the tiller to me on a return trip back to the Magothy and there were quite a number of crab pots located on the south side just before the entrance to the river that I had to navigate around sort of like the poles in a ski slalom. The other thing to be very careful is in regards to the ship channel. Those ships travel very fast and come onto you quite quickly and you do not want to be anywhere near if any of those ships are in sight. The ship channel is marked by two very bright lights that , I guess, are in the Baltimore Harbor location. When the upper light and lower lights are aligned one on top of the other, then you are in the ship channel.
I have not been on the Forum much lately, but I still sail Gypsy out of Ferry Point Marina on the Magothy River. I would be happy to go out on your boat and try to give you what we call "local knowledge" of the sailing venue.
Rob (DavidBuoy) is correct that the water at the Green Can #9 is very skinny - Maybe about 2 feet deep at the can or just past on the east side! Same with the Red Can #12. I've tested the charts on my GPS by running aground or skimming the mud with my fin keel in a few places. The charts are quite accurate, and if you know the tide and where you are on the chart, it's a very friendly place to sail.
Last week I took the Gypsy from the Magothy River down to gunkhole on the Rhode River on the western shore of the Bay and then across to the Choptank River on the eastern shore and Brewer's Marina in the town of Oxford. It's fun sailing to new places on this big bay, and the Magothy River is one of the nicest spots to start from!
Where is your boat located on the river? There are dozens of creeks, probably more than 20 marinas, and hundreds of private docks.
Shoot me an email by clicking on my "JohnP" link. Perhaps we can get together to answer some of your questions.
JohnP 1978 C25 SR/FK "Gypsy" Mill Creek off the Magothy River, Chesapeake Bay Port Captain, northern Chesapeake Bay
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.