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Barnegat been a little snotty this year. Just ask my wife. She is still mad at me for pushing through it one day. But the ocean was flat so why not.

I hate when you have to try and reach the wave before it breaks.

I thought boating was supposed to be fun...
So, probably, all this shouting is their interpretation of enjoyment, certainly not fear! lol!

Yannis

You have to know your limits. Pushing through a sloppy inlet is one thing, trying to get thru 8-foot breakers is another. If Barnegat is breaking all the way across and the Northway as we call is not in good shape, I just turn around and spend the day on the hook enjoying the day.

I am too old to push it anymore. When I was young, I was more daring. But when it comes to going through an inlet, unless it's an emergency there is always tomorrow.

But I will say, I find going in on a bad day is easier than going out on a bad day.

There is yet a more frightening inlet in France which not only is much narrower than this one here, but it also has shallows and scattered rocks...a nautical version of the Russian roulette, with more than one bullets in the barrel...

No thank you!!

We have an area like that just around the corner from me, a few miles out of the west end of the cape cod canal there is a stony dike which runs for several miles and controls errosion and the current of the canal. This area is at the head of of Buzzards Bay and regularly in the afternoon Buzzards bay acts like a big SW wind funnel running up the bay and it generates a tight set of 3-4' waves, if the tide is running west the 5kt outflow of the Cape Cod Canal meets the tight chop, there can build a nasty set of standing waves. If one is in the canal, one can avoid the worst of it by staying at the edge of the main current flow which is in 15-20' but at the end of the dike there is a ledge to the outside so you have to go into the main current and it can be downright nasty for @200 yds.

I've gotten used to it and just slow down to 5kts and take it on the chin. The Bertram's big wide bow resists stuffing into the waves, even still we tend to take water over the bow but it usually doesn't make it into my open deck. I'm glad that the area isn't like this all the time as it needs several conditions to come together to get nasty.

chart #9 if it doens't link well
https://www.charts.noaa.gov/BookletChar ... tChart.pdf

What makes Barnegat so bad is the shoaling. Most of us never follow the channel out the inlet. Once we clear the north jetty we turn north and move into deeper water. This year we only had 6 feet of water on the outer bar, so going down the middle was testy especially with a swell hitting the beach and an outgoing tide.

The other issue with Barnegat for those not familiar with it, is the fact that the last several hundred feet of the North Jetty is submerged. Every summer someone decides to try and go over it. Never ends well.

sounds like fun on a waverunner, on a boat with people aboard, not so much.

Latest soundings from my closest inlet:

https://eft.usace.army.mil/saw-nav/INLE ... _Inlet.pdf

It's been filling in over the last couple of years (after dredging). Pucker factor this year, for me, was off the scale. I spent the 45 mins to run down to Masonboro Inlet which is managed with jetties (and yet there is still sea life!)

2 dredges are out there now working the inlet and channels. They should be finished by March. Cost is north of $23 million...repeat every few years. crazy.

Cam

You know what is even crazier, they have to take the sand offshore to dump.

They just went through a bunch of BS down here to convince the EPA to allow them to use it for beach replenishment for one of the beaches.

Better on the beach then spend all that money to run it offshore. Then they just go and steal from the all the good lumps for fishing to rebuild the beaches.

Tony Meola wrote: ↑Dec 14th, '23, 22:01 Better on the beach then spend all that money to run it offshore. Then they just go and steal from all the good lumps for fishing to rebuild the beaches.

Sounds like the government working at its best. Like paving a road before it gets dug up for a sewer project.

Carl wrote: ↑Dec 15th, '23, 08:18 Sounds like the government working at its best. Like paving a road before it gets dug up for a sewer project.

LOL

They just paved about 5 miles of road near me. Then about a month later they had to cut it open around the manhole's to raise them. LOL Brilliant just brilliant.

Tony, raising the manholes after a road improvement is normal. It cannot be done during the laying of the new tarmac.
However, digging right after a new layer for sewage, or electricity, or internet...well, we do it too!
I guess all govts behave the same because its not their money, its our money...

I asked a friend who does the paving why didn’t they wait till after the sewer project to pave, or they didn’t know about the sewer project. His answer was simple, they knew about the sewer project, but paving was on the schedule.

Yannis

I have seen manholes raised around here before they paved the street. They know what level they are raising the street too. A survey or two would tell them how high to make them.

Carl

On the Schedule. If I said that at work, I would have been gone for not coordinating and costing the company extra money.

Tony Meola wrote: ↑Dec 16th, '23, 21:17 Carl

On the Schedule. If I said that at work, I would have been gone for not coordinating and costing the company extra money.

But when working for a Utility that paves it is job security. They are in essence creating more work for themselves while hitting their goals, staying on schedule and being within budget.

LIke the Post Office. I get it now. LOL

Tony Meola wrote: ↑Dec 14th, '23, 22:01 Cam

You know what is even crazier, they have to take the sand offshore to dump.

They just went through a bunch of BS down here to convince the EPA to allow them to use it for beach replenishment for one of the beaches.

Better on the beach then spend all that money to run it offshore. Then they just go and steal from the all the good lumps for fishing to rebuild the beaches.

Dredging inlets down here is tied to beach "nourishment" programs that are linked to named storms. That's how they secure federal dollars, when available. The dredge spoils are piped onto the beach...long pipes. It works, but I think the situation could be improved, i.e. cost less over time, with jetties or groins to control the sand flow a bit. Of course that's always an environmental catastrophe when proposed. Ironically, Wrightsville beach used to be half the size it is now and had another inlet in the middle. What we now know as Wrightsville was created by the hands and dollars of man working big equipment. Of course most of the residents probably don't realize this fact as they gaze into the ocean from their $10M beach houses! There is a small museum there that has very interesting photos of what this place was like not so long ago. It's worth a stop if you are in town.

Cam

It is amazing how they can change the landscape when provided with the funds.

Sand flows like water up and down the shore. Problem is when you put up a groin one side builds up and the other side gets starved.