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Monday Morning: Today we had the motors on all day. Normally it was both engines to move the boat at a steady 5.8 knots. I didn’t push hard, arrival time didn’t require it. Except for about 2 hours before we reached Nassau there was little to no wind and 2′ seas in our face. When the wind picked up it was South enough to give us some sail power. We hit 7 knots several times, the blows were intermittent so I left one engine running to keep the boatspeed up while it slacked. Once we got close to the harbor entrance the sails came down and we motored in comfortably.

We anchored out on the North side of the harbor, past the twin bridges going to Atlantis, past Hurricane Hole marina where the harbor widens a bit. Given the late hours we have been keeping, we decided to run the AC all night, we went to bed early and got up late, a well deserved rest. Today our goal is to find a Batelco office and get Bahamian service on one of our phones. After that we can decide where we want to wait out the rest of the week as an approaching Norther will provide us with rain and high winds.

We are here though… here in the heart of the Bahamas. It’s only 35 miles to the top of the Exumas so for all intents and purposes we have accomplished the transit from Florida, now it’s time to slow down and enjoy. Nassau isn’t our favorite hang out, but we did enjoy the memories of past trips as we came in yesterday. We went by the Ashram where Erin took her Yoga training. We will probably go to the straw market and hit the highlights here in Nassau before it rains. The approaching weather is due in about midnight.

There are several high end properties for sale here in the harbor. I wonder what’s causing the trend? It might be like our lake property, mostly older people buy vacation homes, then when the owners can no longer use the property they sell it. Holiday locations probably change hands every few years here like they do around our lake home in Texas.

Linda just about has our breakfast made so I’ll wrap this up. The water taxis and dolphin adventure excursion boats have begun their constant treks thru the harbor. The march has begun and will last until dark….. that’s why we love Nassau…. not.

6PM: I went to Batelco, twice…. the first time I got my phone hooked up on Batelco service, the next time I got Linda’s Ipad on a data plan so we can pick up the internet wherever there is a Batelco tower for $30/mo. Pretty sweet actually. Most marinas charge $5 a day for internet, one dollar is much better and we don’t have to be in a marina.

SYL is in a comfy slip at the Nassau Yacht Haven. It’s $2 a foot here, not bad, thats $66 a night. Atlantis across the way gets $250 a night. unless your over 45′, then it goes up. We will stay here tonight and tomorrow night while the weather blows thru then stage out for a Thursday trip across the Yellow Banks to the Exumas. I met another couple today that intends to head out for the Exumas Thursday.  Maybe we can hook up and go together.

Linda threw down another excellent dinner. We just finished and Linda jumped on the net, I have a word file I’m typing in. We will upload it when we get a chance. Today it got hot! Luckily Mark and Julie made us a sun fly, I put upthe starboard side section and it made a nice difference in the cabin. Before dark I’ll add a couple spring lines in case it gets as bad as we hear it might be tonight. Linda is smiling over there looking at facebook and reconnecting with the virtual world. I guess I better get those extra lines on before it get’s dark.

Sea Yawl Later !! Rusty

Sunday (I know it’s Sunday because we have to be in phone range on Monday so Linda can talk to Erin, they have an appointment) If all goes well SYL will be in Nassau this evening by 6:45. Currently we are motoring directly into the prevailing SE wind, thankfully it’s 10 knots or less so it’s only a bit choppy. I can hold 5.5 to 5.9 knots at 3/4 throttle. Any faster and all it does is burn gas and hit the oncoming waves harder. I can go 6.5+ easily, but with an arrival time well before dark, no need to burn the gas or push any harder.

According to the charts I’m in 800 ft. of water, by 4PM i’ll be in waters over 2000′ deep. I have the big fishing rod out trolling but this water is probably too deep to expect any fish to bite, but you never know….. Generally 90 to 110′ is the best fishing depth. I found the lures I was looking for at Target in Key Largo of all places. I have heard anything with pink feathers works well and I found them at Target. Billy Baits Bomber is also a good one, I got a few at West Marine, the fellow that told me about them in 2010 likes blue, so I got a couple in that color as well as the pink I like.

Today (Sunday) as we leave the banks and cross to Nasssau conditions are not as choppy and confused as they were during the gulf stream crossing Friday night, but almost as high. Generally waves are probably less than 2 ft. It’s hard to describe the “purple” color the water gets when its abyssmal and the sun is bright trying it’s best to penetrate the deepness of it. Without sand or a bottom to refelect off of, to make the water baby blue… it’s like a concentrated baby blue… I know that doesn’t make sense… like I said it’s hard to describe.

I took a bit of a nap earlier after the all nighter Friday night (Key Largo to Bimini) and a couple good naps on Saturday, I think I’m a little behind on my sleep. Linda took over from 9PM to 11:30 Sunday when we stopped for the night. Linda is down in the bed right now (Mid morning Sunday). She does best below decks when it’s choppy like this. We have been pushing pretty hard to make it to Nassau.

We didn’t leave Bimini until noon Saturday, so we sailed late. With nothing to hit or run over, it was easy to drift along trusting radar and visual sighting during the night run. It’s about 8 hours from the NW channel light to Nassau and we had stopped just before midnight leaving only a couple hours of the banks to cross this morning. Today will be a full day getting to Nassau. I figured it up, on a day like today we will probably burn $60 dollars worth of gas. At least I hope gas isn’t over $6.00 a gallon in the Bahamas

We arrive at Nassau with daylight to spare.  Rusty wants to anchor out, I prefer taking a slip because there is so much debris in the harbor.  Rusty found a nice spot and we anchored for the night.

Sea Yawl Later!!

Tonight (Saturday Night) we will probably anchor at about 10PM in the open water. Tomorrow is supposed to be a mirror image of today so we should sleep comfotably. The GPS shows a 2:30AM arrival at the NW channel light (the other side of the banks) From there it’s another 15 miles to Chubbs marina, or about 45 to Nassau. As long as we are somewhere to hide from a Monday night blow, life is good. I expect that to be Nassau.

When you leave Bimini you enter the Bahama Banks.  This is a large expanse of water that ranges from 10 to 20 feet but most of it is around 12 feet.  Rusty and I put the cooler on the front and just sat there watching the bottom.  This was another 10%er.  Great sail.  Life is good!!

Man you really do forget what this water is like…. imagine swimming pool water at it’s best and you’ll be close. It’s times like this were I wish I could teleport all my friends onboard to see this water. The stern wakes make a refelction on the bottom that looks like a line of light going out from each stern at 30 degrees. I can see the reflection of my wakes on the bottom 40 yards away from the boat (that’s a reflection on the bottom) how cool is that? Like I said OMG.

Sea Yawl Later!!

OMG… we opted to not stay in Bimini tonight, but to cross the Great Bahama Banks right away.. what a great decision. We have found nearly perfect weather to enjoy the banks to their maximum, what a gift. Almost no wind, flat water… I went up on the bow and counted 10 starfish on the bottom in as many minutes.

If we had spent even one full day in Bimini, it would mean we would not been able to move the rest of the week. As it is, the sun is bright, there are almost no waves…. I have my throttles set on 50/60% making 5.5 knots….. We are travelling with a decent size group of boats in sight, no communication but visually available. I guess 5 or 6 boats chose the same time frame to cross the banks. So far it looks like I’m the least hurried to get across… half of those I can see have passed me. Today is one of those days that you can see your stern wakes fade away far behind the boat. Normally the waves blend immediately with the windblown chop, but not this time. Today SYL is making her own waves.

In Bimini I put 5 gallons in each tank, it filled them both back up. That’s from Islamorada. Most of the burn was running one engine, going to two periodically during the night. It’s 2PM, I just ate and took a shower to get the night’s salt water off me. My intent was to go directly to bed…. but I can’t lay down and miss this water! I’m sure I’ll have to sleep sometime but just not right now!

Tonight (Saturday Night) we will probably anchor at about 10PM in the open water. Tomorrow is supposed to be a mirror image of today so we should sleep comfotably. The GPS shows a 2:30AM arrival at the NW channel light (the other side of the banks) From there it’s another 15 miles to Chubbs marina, or about 45 to Nassau. As long as we are somewhere to hide from a Monday night blow, life is good. I expect that to be Nassau.

Man you really do forget what this water is like…. imagine swimming pool water at it’s best and you’ll be close. It’s times like this were I wish I could teleport all my friends onboard to see this water. The stern wakes make a refelction on the bottom that looks like a line of light going out from each stern at 30 degrees. I can see the reflection of my wakes on the bottom 40 yards away from the boat (that’s a reflection on the bottom) how cool is that? Like I said OMG.

Sea Yawl Later!!

Rusty returned the rental car and we left Giberts around 5:30pm…right on schedule.  We had been looking at Passageweather for several days and decided that we would leave Gilberts and make our way to Angelfish Creek and do a night crossing.  Rusty has always preferred night crossing especially when crossing to Bimini.  We knew it was not going to be the best of conditions but thought it would be ok……well….

It was not the worst of times nor was it the best of times……we did our homework, checked with passage weather, listen to Chris Parker and decided we would jump off into the Gulf Stream Friday night. It was not scarey but it WAS uncomfortable and I had to fight off getting seasick because we were beating into the waves. The waves were only 1ft to 2 ft but they were choppy and the intervals were short. In this situation I am of no help to Rusty.

We had not been out of the Angelfish Creek Cut for very long and we heard a large aircraft flying low over us.  Rusty said it sound like “a C 1 30 Coastguard airplane.  We didn’t think too much about it.  About 11:00pm we had a light beam shining on us intermittently and it was starting to make us nervous.  This is the first time we have crossed without a gun or two and I can tell you now it will be our last.  We didn’t know who or what was following us but someone was definitely following us.  Then the U.S. Coastguard with beams shining on us approached and said they wanted to board us.  Now it is choppy and rough and they had some trouble getting lined up with us.  But board us they did.  They wanted to see our boat papers, passports and inspected our boat.  Before they boarded they asked questions about how many people were on board, whose boat it was and other things that they could verify once they were on board.  It was scary and intimidating and I told them just that.  I asked why we were boarded, I mean this is 11:00pm and in rough seas.  They said “they said they must patrol this American border.  I am thinking, “Do we look like terrorist” ( I didn’t say this).  They mentioned drugs and I did say rather incredulously, “You think we are druggies?”.  Two came on board and one went down both hulls and looked around.  They checked that we had flares and our horn which were prominently displayed.  They asked if we had a VHF radio when they were standing less than a foot from the radio and they were having to yell to talk over the radio that was on.  Then they said they were checking for, “our safety”, I thought “Yeah Right and I am Kim Kardashian”.   We think the airplane that flew over us sent the Coastguard boat.  We just don’t know why.  None of the answers we were given made any sense.  I do appreciate that these guys are out there and it does make me feel safer knowing they are around but for some reason we get targeted all to often.  We have been boarded by customs twice, two years running.  You would think if we were drug runners we would choose a vessel that went more than 6 knots.  I can tell you this….it is intimidating.  But when I think of the Kaufman family that was just rescued at sea by such brave men I just say, “Oh well, I am glad they are around”.

That boarding episode got us off course and meant that we had to beat back into the waves for an additional 1 1/2 hours.  Finally I just went to bed. Rusty says he did fine but I know it had to be hard to be at the wheel all night.

We arrived at Bimini at 6:30am. We anchored out on the North side, ate, rested, flew the quarantine flag and anchored up to go to customs. I am on the boat while Rusty deals with customs. Only the skipper is allowed off the boat until we are checked in. We have already been to one office, got paper work which I completed and now Rusty has moved SYL to go to another office.

Onto the more pleasant things. It does not matter how many times I see this water, but it still takes your breath away when you see it again for the first time in a while. Bimini has changed… a lot! It is good for the locals I am sure and for that I am glad. You can see the new prosperity everywhere. New docks, new buildings, many new boats (local) on the water, multi million dollar sports fishing boat lots more homes in good condition and freshly painted. There is a huge cargo ship offshore waiting to bring their goods in and I have seen several barges filled with building materials.  A large cruise boat was anchored off shore and large ferries capable of transporting several hundred people were bring people into the new resort.   

Sea Yawl Later!!

When we left Islamorada this morning the plan was to go to the Abacos.  I even posted on Women Who Sail asking for information.  The response was overwhelming.  I got so excited about the wealth of information that I was getting.  I started looking in the guide books and planning our itinerary.  We have friends who live in Ft Lauderdale and have been to the Abacos so we contacted them about the best way to approach Abacos  from Florida.  Long story short that if we go to Abacos and then want to go South it will not be fun sailing south.  I think we have decided to leave Abacos for a time when that is all we want to do.

We are docked at Gilbert’s Resort for the night.  This photo was taken with Rusty’s phone.  It did not transfer well but the sunset here was beautiful.  One of the things that I never tire of are the beautiful sunsets on the water.

Here is a picture of two car’s in Gilbert’s parking lot.  Can you guess which one is our rental?  Hint: our rental cost us $39.00.

We will get errands run tomorrow to K-Mart, West Marine and Publix. We should cross the Gulf Stream early Saturday morning heading to Bimini.  Back to our original plan.

Rusty here:  Yeah.. plans change literally with the weather.  Going SE into prevailing SE winds for hundreds of miles doesn’t make sense.  So we probably won’t go to the Abaco’s early in the trip.  Big decisions huh?  So far we have avoided any really big weather / waves and hope to do so for a while longer.  If we decide to head out of Bimini after a day or two… we might have to “rodeo” a bit.. but I seriously doubt if we choose to do that.  I suspect we will be in Bimini until we get near flat water……..

SYL !!  Rusty

I feel like I’m getting back to my old self.,….. more relaxed, building my core strength by “working on the boat”… the sun is filling my eyes and tanning my legs again.  It’s in the mid 70’s here so shorts and tee shirts are the suit of choice.  No more go to work in the dark and come home in the dark with a coat on….  It’s pretty nice to see the sun all day!

Spending time just me and Linda…  especially on our boat together…  Kind’a nice.  As we get the boat organized like we want we are definitely getting into the “groove”  I shaved last night for the first time since we left for Florida, not for the look of it or the need…. just because I didn’t like how it felt when I sleep.  A short beard bothered me so shaving was the solution, not the rule.

Where I sit right now…. the sun is two hours away from painting me a personal picture that few will see.  Islamorada is gearing up for a big night.  Lorelei’s beach bar and grille will soon be playing live music and since we are 200 yards from shore the concert will be free.  I went ashore earlier to pick up a couple tee shirts to mark the event.  Of the 30 boats anchored here…… 10 to 12 are inhabited.  The rest are either delinquent strays that have long since been forgotten, or some guys home that he goes to when he gets thrown off whoevers couch he currently sleeps on.  There are lots of 25 to 27′ “homes away from home” here.  Much of Florida is either derelict boats or million dollar motorcraft.

On the other side of the coin… This morning a 1/2 a million dollar lagoon power cat left for points North.  We sit a good days journey thru the mangrove bays from Miami.  There are half a dozen nice motor trawlers in the harbor and one  other sailing cat.  A 38′ Leopard came in the anchorage about noon, he took up residence behind and to our port.  It’s an older boat…. you can still see the “Moorings 38” sticker on it.  The Moorings is a bareboat charter company that designed their own layouts and contracted with Robertson Caine to make all their boats.  Second to a Seawind…. Linda and I like the 38′ model a lot.  She’s a long legged very able sailboat with a nice layout.  I sailed next to “Texas Two Step” on the way to Long Island a couple years ago and she goes like the wind!  Not only is the arrangement nice, it’s a good sailing boat.  That means a lot to me.

I can hear a round motored airplane overhead……..  In Florida you see Stearmans and all sorts of interesting WWII vintage airplanes flying around.  By round motored I mean the engine is a radial design where the cylinders are in a circular arrangement around a central drive shaft.  Florida is the home to many advertisement aviation operations.  They pull banners saying “Eat at Joes” or whatever your willing to pay for.. whatever you want to say to the millions of tourists that cover Florida’s state payroll.  WWII planes make a special sound that instantly make old guys like me look…. so they probably demand more money than a Lycoming powered late model.  The “band” just struck up at Lorelei’s, it’s usually one guy on a guitar singing all the popular 70’s & 80’s beach songs.  Tonight is no different.

We are about one hour from Conch horn blowing time.  I heard one or two horns last night.  It’s customary in the Bahamas for every boat to have and blow a conch horn at sunset.  Georgetown probably has the most I have ever heard…… maybe 15 or 20 horns all blowing at once to mark the days end.  Tonight I have mine all warmed up and ready.  I’ll join the horn section for the first time this year…. but it won’t be the last.  I found the conch I made my horn from in the Berry islands where Linda and I went for our Honeymoon.  When we sailed to the Bahamas for our honeymoon we rented a Seawind 1000, the boat we eventually bought…. Ten years later we returned on our own boat and I equipped it with the proper instrument from the proper place.  Life is good.

Sea Yawl Later !!

I have been trying to get the boat in order since we boarded her on Friday.  I am very frustrated at the moment and a large part of my frustration is just situational.  As I have said before trying to provision and clean is difficult.  However, I keep finding little “surprises”.  This morning when I started cleaning at 4:00 am I found a cabinet that was full of damp/wet clothes.  Now this cabinet has NEVER been anything but dry as a bone.  During the crossing from Corpus the forward hatch on that side was not closed properly and that side of the boat took on a lot of water.  I’m sure that’s what got everything in the port hull wet.  When we boarded you really couldn’t tell except for a slight musty smell, most of it had been cleaned, but we are still fighting the smell and probably will be for a while.  Lysol and Fabreeze are our new best friend.  We both have developed a bit of a cough.

Rusty here:  Right now the sun is beaming into the open hatches, I changed plugs in the dink so it idles like a champ, I bought some 1″ wide webbing to repair the mainsail attachment points.  I bought 2 new boat bumpers so we will have enough again, I lost the rubber welting that pads the bottom of the Dinghy motor cowling long ago, and today I found a good replacement here in Islamorada at Caribe boat sales so the hood fits nicely again.  I need a new shifter cable for the port engine.. they have it here at Carribe… but it’s so expensive I may wait until I can get to a West Marine… How scary is that… waiting to find a West Marine because it’s cheaper!

Man I think I found a new trick….  I haven’t filled the generator in days!  Using a special cap with a quick connect on it and a squeeze bulb fuel hose, I figured out I can stuff the open hose into to a 5 gallon can of gas sitting on the back seats and it will siphon into the generator as it needs fuel.  This will be extraordinarily awesome when it gets hot and we run the AC all night.  No more 3AM get ups to refill the generator.

I totally reorganized the “garage” today.  Everything has it’s place, it’s all clean and the water that gathers in the hulls on big wave passages is all sponged out.  Tomorrow I want to bring the watermaker to life…. flush it out / change the primary filter and make sure it’s A OK.

I suspect tomorrow morning we will pull up the Manson, go in and buy fuel here in Islamorada, top off the water tank and head to Key Largo 18 miles away.  I just ordered a new battery for my handheld VHF at West Marine in Largo, the cable that’s $64 here in Islamorada is $45 at West Marine.  Our final shopping in the US will be via taxi in Largo then it’s just sailing North a few miles to stage in Angelfish Creek for a Friday night gulfstream crossing to Bimini.

The only thing left to do here in Islomarda is dingy into the local beer joint (Lorelei’s) and buy me and my daughter a tee shirt.  It’s 4PM here on the east coast….. I think I’ll get that done now and settle in for the night.

Sea Yawl Later !!   Rusty

We are approaching Islamorada, Fla.  Yesterday was a great sail to Little Shark River.  We got our anchor down around 5:30pm.  We met a lovely couple from Niceville, Florida that had been gone since November and were on their way home.  They told us that they had gotten an ipad and bought a sim card from Balco for $14.99.  They were able to get internet pretty much everywhere.  I have an ipad but I am not sure if it has a sim card.  He also said that most smart phones can take a sim card.  That would be sweet, especially after todays drama.

We did not have a cell signal all day yesterday and didn’t get a signal until around 11:00 am, at which time I got a frantic message from my daughter Erin.  She is pregnant with her first baby and my first grandchild so she is a little hormonal.  She had an OB appointment and has a few issues and really needed to talk to her mom.  When she couldn’t reach us she then went to, “something bad” has happened.  She was in tears by the time I was able to talk to her.  She told me I needed to tell her if I was going to be out of reach.  Then I had to explain that I didn’t KNOW I was going to lose cell service…………bless her heart…………..she really wants me close but she will NEED me more in that last tri-mester and when that baby gets here.  I wish I could clone myself sometimes.

Sunset last night at Little Shark River.

Today we were able to sail more than we expected with an East wind, but the day eventually included a lot of motoring.  The southern Florida Bay it was like a minefield, there were crab pots everywhere in the channel.  There were times you just could not miss them.  Once we had two on one rudder and one on the other.   The problem was, the buoys might have six or seven foot of line floating beside it so if you barely miss the float.. you got the line anyway.  It really is a hazard.  I think if Rusty had had a machete on board he would have started cutting lines.

The weather has been beautiful, we are currently (5:15PM) anchoring in the mooring field in Islamorada.  Tomorrow Rusty has a list of parts he needs from the Caribe Marina here in Islamorada.  It’s a great place, you can pull right up to their fuel docks, take on water and shop for marine parts all at the same time.  He also plans on listening to Chris Parker to see when a good weather window will open up for a Gulf Crossing.  Other than the crab pots it was a good day, not much broke, and what did break was cheap.

The new mainsail is fantastic, unfortunately it was installed with very light 5/8″ wide strapping so one connection has completely failed, and the others are suspect.  Hopefully the marine shop has some heavier strapping.  Rusty really enjoyed playing with his new sail the past couple days.  He talks about how tunable it is compared to the old cruising sail.  So far our top speed has been 11.9 knots.  Monday the waves and winds allowed a bit of surfing so Rusty was smiling and I was down below in the bed sleeping thru it.  We have been seeing a lot of 8 knot speeds, some 6’s and some 9’s.  The peaks we talk about are when the stars align and Rusty hand steers down the right wave face just as the wind pipes up.  He has been a happy boy!

Under sail.  This photo does not due the water justice.  It was soooo pretty.  You forget how green and clear the water is and this is nothing compared to the Exumas!

We had salmon croquettes and oven roasted onions and potatoes for dinner.  Rusty smiled and thanked me a lot so I guess he liked it.  I’m a crab cake snob and didn’t like the patty as much as Rusty, but I’m glad he enjoyed the dinner because we have several cakes to reheat.  Our boat stores probably rival a caIrnival cruise ship.  One thing I like to do is satisfy my hubby in the food department.  I can’t sail but I can cook!

I am having to relearn how to post photo’s.  Hopefully I will improve with practice…………..you get the idea!!

Sea Yawl Later!!

Linda

The last couple of days have been a bit trying.  Cleaning and provisioning at the same time is the pits.  Yesterday morning Rusty went to the grocery to get our produce while I continued to put things away.  Finally Saturday night you could see that the salon did indeed have a floor.  Yesterday we decided to get off the mooring ball and anchor near the bridge to stage to leave…..we had not been there a hour and the bottom fell out of the sky……lighting, gale force winds and heavy rain.  We were not confident in our hook up so rather than worry all night we went back to the mooring ball.

Today is Sunday and it has been a beautiful day.  There was a small crafts advisory out until 1:oopm.  We went back and forth about whether to leave………I was mostly back and Rusty was forth.  Eventually we decided to stick our nose out and see.  We have always said that in all our sailing those truly special days where everything is right happens about 1o% of the time.  Today was one of those days.  But I am head of myself.  First we had to find a place to buy a money order for the $300.00 speeding ticket Rusty got.  Then we started out Manzantas Pass and all $%@ broke loose.  Rusty and I put up the main sail and something was wrong really wrong.  Turns out the back was reefed in but the front was not.  This violently lifted the back of the boom which would not have been too bad except the main sheet pulled out because there was not a knot at the end.  Rusty quickly put the auto-pilot on and it went crazy.  Now we are in the pass with all the other Sunday boaters.  Rusty maneuvered us off to the side and dropped the anchor.  People were yelling at us that the back was reefed………Yeah, Yeah we know!!  Rusty was able to get the sail unreefed, rerun the main sheet tying a knot in the end and then he changed the settings on the autopilot and Wahhhh Laaaaa……….Nirvana !!

We had heard that a group of sailors were going to leave at 10:30pm for Marco.

Rusty here:  We couldn’t leave until 12:30pm so we had Naples as our destination which is 15 miles closer than Marco.  I knew when we came out the cut we might be rocking a bit until we got set up on our downwind run.  SYL quickly took a nice set at 170 degrees true.  Winds were 15-18 knots just starboard of the stern.  Once I got the auto-pilot readjusted it held the course like a dream.  Rudder gain was set on 6 so the boat swung wildly for every adjustment.  I set it to 3 and even with the starboard quarter seas “Otto” was happy again.  This was my first opportunity to sail with the new main.  The headboard has a forward and an aft attachment point for the halyard.  I choose the aft halyard point knowing we would be in a downwind run all day.  That cupped the top of the sail rather than letting it blow off.  Also, I was able to check out my new 3 to 1 outhaul, letting it all the way out made a significant shape difference to the bottom of the sail.   Playing with sail shape and traveler position made tons of difference.  I found it much more reactive than my old main.  In short, I really like the new main sail. We stayed in the 8 knot range and peaked out at 10.8 knots.

With that boat speed the GPS showed a 5:30pm arrival at Marco.  I opted to hand steer most of the way not because “Otto” couldn’t handle it but there is a lot of speed to be had by working the wheel as the 4-6 ft waves approach from the rear.  I didn’t have quite enough wind to stay at wave speed but we had some pretty good 8-9 knot runs.  We arrived at Marco at 5:30pm.  As I entered the pass, Linda cook dinner and had it on the table right as I was setting the hook.  All in all it has been a glorious day.  Our first day back on SYL was indeed one of those 10%ers.

Sea Yawl Later!!