Oregon Inlet

I misread what you wrote. Thought you were running outside round Hatteras and coming in Oregon to head for Coinjock. Good warning you gave. I don't run those inlets, for good reason as you point out.

He is some interesting on the fate of the inlet.

Latest on Dredging for Oregon Inlet, Pamlico Sound, Outer Banks, NC | Cruiser's Net

Forget that. I wouldn't go in that inlet with anything more than a 17' Boston Whaler!!!!!!!!!

The inlet is back in use now by the big boats, through the center span.
Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, Pirate's Cove Marina and the USCG are good sources for the latest info. If paranoid, wait and follow the locals out/in. Good to have some oomph power wise, and avoid peak current especially the ebb.

What a mess, they are going to enforce that you cannot navigate through other spans because the center span is shoaled over. Yet they don't dredge the center span so that it is navigable.

The other issue is the depth at the inlet. It sounds like it's going to be a tough road to tow for all of the boats and charter boats that use Oregon inlet for their livelihood. As well as all of the tourists that charter them.

That video shows them going through about 8 spans south of the main opening, One thing I learned early in my boating life is that people tend to drop things like shopping carts off in those areas, not to mention anything that might collect there naturally. Those spans look to be about 15' wide (with no fendering), and then you need to run broadside to the bridge and the current mere feet from the bridge. Could you imagine catching something in your prop during that transit? That's serious pucker power. I'm curious if that inlet is technically closed to navigation or open. I caught this statement on Sea Tow's page: "Meanwhile, she said, Chairman Bob Woodard has appealed for help from Gov. Pat McCrory after the Board of Commissioners was told Monday night that Oregon Inlet is essentially closed due to shoaling. The grim assessment was was delivered by Jim Tobin, chairman of the Oregon Inlet Task Force Advisory Committee."
I'd consider running that inlet irresponsible to any but a local. Certainly the half day saved is not worth the risk. I'd hate to face the insurance company's question 'Why were you there?' in the event of a mishap.

Interesting statements from the fishing fleet. Between one boat will go out and radio back where the deep water is that day (wonder how their charterers and their insurance companies will feel about that with an inlet deemed closed to navigation), and the threat to blockade the court house "If we don't work they don't work".

I really hate to read stuff like this, cause it's like real people and families being hurt badly. To those of us recreating, we can live with it. The bridge is on it's death bed and even if they started now that will take years. There's a lot of old, dilapidated infrastructure. Inlets just a part of it.

That's a REAL tough one as there are lots of charter boats out of Oregon inlet. The decision to go or not go is a tough one that many will take risks to feed their families.

Nice avatar Capt. J.
Commercial fishermen risk their lives all the time. Goes with the job. But here we're talking about risking the lives of ignorant people just looking for a fun day of fishing. How would you feel about your family chartering a bus that failed inspection and was ordered off the road? There's no decision. Closed to navigation means you don't bring paying passengers through. Period. Besides, their families won't be eating so well after "A buffer zone of 100 yards on either side of the Bonner Bridge will be enforced, she said, with fines for violators of $32,500."

The most knowledgeable people of exactly where the deep water is located in a shifting channel tends to be the people that are transiting the area daily- not the authorities who have the ability to restrict or close the channel, IMPO.

http://outerbanksvoice.com/2015/04/...-eased-enough-to-allow-charter-boats-passage/

True, but the responsibility lies with the authorities. If a transporter, a recreational boater or a commercial vessel coming down the coast comes through and gets nailed, or worse a vessel takes out the bridge, it won't be the charter captains the lawyers will be coming after.

Why do you always speak of lawyers, lawyers, lawyers?

In my opinion, they should dredge the channel like they are supposed to in order to keep it navigable instead of worrying about who they're going to fine for taking their boat out of the marina they have always taken it out of. The channel didn't shift and such overnight. There are a lot of people that would be financially hurt if Oregan inlet is no longer navigable, from Captains trying to feed their families, to marina's and everything in between. Basically, an entire industry of which they have very few there.

Because lawyers and tragedies go hand in hand.
For the government to allocate funds to dredge this inlet (or to pay judgments for mishaps there) is welfare for that fishing fleet, paid for with my tax dollars. Everybody talks about cutting the budget until the cut comes from their pocket. Inlets open and inlets close, and this one has wanted to close for a long time. When the government is flush more gets done than when it's running trillions in the red. and these days it's the latter. Budget cuts need to be made and they can't all come from the poor. I don't know many if any that would find the closing of Oregon inlet more than a slight inconvenience, if any at all, other than a bunch of guys who own boats that can move elsewhere. In 30 years running the coast I've never found the need nor the desire to go through that inlet.

NO, you are entirely wrong. Marine fuel is taxed solely for the purpose of keeping the waterways maintained. The local government is not using the marine fuel tax for maintaining the waterways. They are using it for non marine based activities and that is the reason that Oregon inlet is not being dredged. Do you know the amount of fuel that gets sold in that inlet alone per year and how much tax is derived from it? In my property taxes a year, I am paying to have Hillsboro Inlet dredged, yet my house is not even on the water. I'm sure NC is doing the same thing up there in addition to the marine fuel.

Oregon inlet is very important to NC. There are A LOT of charter boats that go out of Oregon inlet that take the tourists out fishing. There are A LOT of people that drive to Oregon inlet from all over NC just to go fishing on a charter SF. Their wives and kids enjoy the beach while the guys go fishing. As well as what the fishing tournaments bring in, every hotel,marina,restaurant, etc. is full during each tournament. Take that away and the entire outerbanks area there has nothing to offer in tourism. So it will have a huge economic effect to that area

Ah, now we hit it. Close it now as Nycap doesn't need it. That is unless you're saying we should stop all dredging along the ICW. Are you saying that? Because it's no longer largely commercial. I guess most secondary roads go next as commercial uses major highways.

Slight inconvenience? To uproot thousands of people and move them where? "A bunch of guys who own boats?" One day you're showing such passion for the little guy and then another showing an attitude of "they don't count." And every discussion turns to politics and/or lawyers. Great you've managed to turn this one into both.

You say something about the poor, but then say, essentially, the fishermen don't matter. Are you under some illusion they're wealthy? These are poor people trying to make a living. The outer banks of NC is certainly not a home of the rich and famous, but just poor and middle class trying to survive.

Never said it's the rich and famous. I'm saying that a lot of us are paying for something only a very small group uses. (Maybe the charter fleet and the businesses at the inlet should fund the dredging since they're the only ones to benefit from it. ) I'm saying that if we have tons of money to throw around dredge it. But right now our roads and bridges are crumbling, our veterans and poor are having their very means of survival cut, and our entire congress is screaming that we must cut the deficit. Cuts have to be made and this seems like an easy choice. These boats could do their business just as easily from Beaufort or Norfolk. Should we be throwing our money at every little inlet down the whole coast? I can think of a dozen that you can't get much more than a kayak through. Should we cut them all 14' deep and 200' wide? Are you willing to pay for it?