Inside or Outside?

Last April, my wife, Marjorie, and I decided to take our Tartan 4100, Meri, north to Maryland from her winter home in Hobe Sound, Florida. This in turn meant deciding whether to stay in the “Ditch” for the duration or go offshore part of the way. Although we had both been small-boat sailors since childhood, we’d been relatively new to larger boats before purchasing our Tartan. I’d also had her delivered to Florida the previous fall, so this would be our first Intracoastal Waterway passage.

has an air draft of 63ft 4in and her keel draws 5ft 4in, so going all the way on the ICW was certainly an option. We’d also made two crossings to the Bahamas and back that winter, which meant we