Reviews from Robert Van Patten (5)

  • Anchorage Review for Lake Worth R6

    Reviewed by: Robert Van Patten on Mar 17, 2024
    Vessel Type: Sail
    LOA: 38'
    Draft: 4.5'

    Overall Rating:
    3
    Holding:
    5
    Wind Protection:
    3
    Current Flow:
    3
    Wake Protection:
    1
    Scenic Beauty:
    3
    Ease of Shopping:
    5
    Shore Access:
    5
    Pet Friendly:
    5
    Cell Service:
    4
    WiFi:
    1

    This is a 3 1/2 out of five Anchorage. There's great dinghy access and it's conveniently located. There are a lot of wakes from boats going up and down the channels on both sides of the Anchorage. And there's a lot of junk on the floor of this Anchorage, I pulled up an anchor and I pulled up an anchor rode (about 300 feet of rope), and I ended up getting a rope wrapped around my prop shaft. You almost need to dive your prop shaft after anchoring here just to ensure there's nothing wrapped around it. I would use this again, but I will dive on my prop shaft before I leave out.

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  • Anchorage Review for Titusville R30

    Reviewed by: Robert Van Patten on Mar 17, 2024
    Vessel Type: Sail
    LOA: 38'
    Draft: 4.5'

    Overall Rating:
    4
    Holding:
    4
    Wind Protection:
    3
    Current Flow:
    5
    Wake Protection:
    3
    Scenic Beauty:
    2
    Ease of Shopping:
    3
    Shore Access:
    5
    Pet Friendly:
    5
    Cell Service:
    5
    WiFi:
    1

    This is a sweet little Anchorage. There is no current flow that I can tell, holding is good. There's no real traffic noise coming from the bridge. There is a bar under the bridge that plays pretty good music from late afternoon to early evening. Can't really hear them once I get inside the boat. There doesn't seem to be any current flow that I could tell. Only saw one wake on a Saturday afternoon so I'd say wake protection is pretty good. Holding is really good too. I don't have a dog and I didn't need to go to shore, but the two sailboats next to me did have dogs and they said getting the shore to let their dog do their business was really easy. This anchorage is pretty small and could only fit three sailboats. There is another sailboat and another powerboat that anchored just a little bit further out. I'll use this again if I ever come this way.

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  • Anchorage Review for Little Shark River

    Reviewed by: Robert Van Patten on Feb 1, 2024
    Vessel Type: Sail
    LOA: 38'
    Draft: 4.5'

    Overall Rating:
    3
    Holding:
    4
    Wind Protection:
    5
    Current Flow:
    2
    Wake Protection:
    5
    Scenic Beauty:
    4
    Ease of Shopping:
    1
    Shore Access:
    1
    Pet Friendly:
    1
    Cell Service:
    2
    WiFi:
    1

    This Anchorage is an anchor minefield! There's something on the bottom that's hard, very hard, could be rocks, could be concrete, could be coral, could be a submerged building, but whatever it is, it's hard. My anchor set immediately and violently, and then all night long as my boat moved around the chain scraped over whatever it was, and made a heckuva noise inside the boat.
    In the morning as we were leaving, we noticed one boat pulled their anchor up and it had a long lost anchor chain from some other boat, which took them quite a while to get off their anchor.
    We read the warnings and stayed away from the areas that were supposed to have Items that could be snagged. Make sure you have a way to get your anchor off should it become snag.
    Two positive things I can say about this Anchorage is that it did protect us from the wind (out of the north) and we did see two manatees very early in the morning.

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  • Anchorage Review for Tarkiln Bay

    Reviewed by: Robert Van Patten on Nov 20, 2023
    Vessel Type: Sail
    LOA: 38'
    Draft: 4.5'

    Overall Rating:
    4
    Holding:
    5
    Wind Protection:
    5
    Current Flow:
    5
    Wake Protection:
    5
    Scenic Beauty:
    3
    Ease of Shopping:
    1
    Shore Access:
    1
    Pet Friendly:
    2
    Cell Service:
    3
    WiFi:
    1

    This is a very undervalued anchorage. It's 10 feet deep, excellent holding,great wind protection from the north the east and the south. The downsides are it's a bit off the beaten path and there's not much shore/shopping access. That said, it's quiet, it's calm and you get to see the Blue Angels fly over every now and then. I don't have a pet so I can't really speak to how pet friendly it is but it does look like you could get to the shore and let a dog run around. I have good cell access and with Starlink, I have a great Internet access. Was going to go to Fort McCree, but noticed many boats anchored outside on my AIS. This turned out to be a great alternative.

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  • Nav Alert comment on CAUTION: Floodgate - magnetic field present

    Comment by: Robert Van Patten on Nov 13, 2023
    Vessel Type: Sail
    LOA: 38'
    Draft: 4.5'

    As of November 11, 2023 the magnetic field is still there!

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