Cruise with fellow Salty Dawgs and experience offshore sailing in the Atlantic.  Sail 450 nautical miles from Hampton, VA, counter-clockwise around the DelMarVa Peninsula over the course of a week.  The Salty Dawg DelMarVa Rally is the perfect opportunity to gain experience sailing overnight in the ocean, in the company of other Salty Dawg boats and with experienced shoreside staff support. This experience can be used as a stepping stone to our longer offshore rallies, such as the Bermuda Rally, or the Caribbean Rally, or the East Coast Rally.

The DelMarVa Rally is designed to provide open ocean cruising, overnight passage experience, required planning for entering a port from the Atlantic with tides and ocean swell, planning for entering the Delaware Bay while taking into account the tides and currents, and motoring through the C&D Canal.  Salty Dawgs provide local knowledge at pre-departure briefings to assist in both your passage planning and your cruising plan.  The Rally gets participants to Annapolis, MD, the heart of the Chesapeake's sailing capital, as safely as possible, while minimizing challenging overnight navigation up the Delaware or through the C&D Canal.

The climate in June can be summarized as warm and a little damp.  June is typically the 3rd warmest month of the year around the DelMarVa peninsula.  Daytime maximum temperatures average around a comfortable 83°F, while at night 61°F is normal.  The month of June experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 47% throughout the month.  The chance of a wet day over the course of June is gradually increasing, starting the month at 36%and ending it at 39%.  For our Hampton departure June 1, sunrise is 5:47 AM and sunset at 8:19 PM. The moon will rise as with its last quarter at 3:05 AM. Departure from Cape May, NJ June 4 brings a sunrise at 5:34 AM and a sunset at 8:21 PM. During our trip, day lengths are no shorter than 14 hours 43 minutes.  The entire period is in daylight saving time.  The chance that a given day will be muggy is very rapidly increasing, rising from 36% to 69% over the course of June.  The average hourly wind speed is gradually decreasing, from 9.4 miles per hour to 8.6 miles per hour.  Winds in the Atlantic will be stronger.

Rally participants will travel in company, maintaining VHF radio contact where possible.  Faster vessels may pull ahead, maintaining VHF contact amongst themselves.  Captains' briefings will cover offshore hazards such as tug boat traffic in the Atlantic; fishing boat traffic; routines for passing vessels and communications; likely large ship traffic areas (especially in the Delaware); approaches to Cape May and the Delaware Bay; and weather routing strategies.  Fleet Tracking by PredictWind will be provided for those who have a position reporting means.

Salty Dawg Shoreside Coordinators will be accessible via Sat phone, email and cell phone when in range, to answer questions, address issues, or to relay messages from family.

All Captains should plan to chart a course from the Chesapeake to Cape May and are encouraged to travel at least 10 NM from land.  Entry and exit into and out of Cape May should be done at slack high tide.  Entry into the Delaware Bay should be done at slack tide.  Entry into the C&D Canal should be done considering the changing current, to use the westbound current to speed progress through the canal.

Once the official rally has ended, you will have ample opportunity to visit various Chesapeake towns, villages, and bays with your new boating friends.  Picturesque anchorages and harbors are easy day hops away.