SABA off to The Keys and beyond

Ahoy Mates

After several weeks of preparing SABA,  we left our second home at the Vinoy Marina in St. Petersburg on Thursday for the Abacos in the Bahamas. As you know, we planned on shoving off at 0700, but one of our air conditioning systems decided to surprise us with a need for unscheduled maintenance. Luckily, Sean and Kevin of Tampa Bay Yacht Management answered our distress call and after some troubleshooting got us up and running in no time. There must be air conditioning in Bobamala!

We cast off the lines at 1000 under a partly sunny sky and 10 – 15 knots of wind from the WSW . Our goal was to make up some time because of the delay and that we did. We unfurled the mainsail, but reefed it due to the increasing wind and kept the engine on make over 7 knots. We were under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge at 1140 and out of Tampa Bay and in the Gulf of Mexico heading south by 1300. The winds varied from 17 to 20 knots with gusts up to 25. The 3 to 6 foot seas were confused with lots of whitecaps and occasionally we were slammed with larger waves. Beaufort terms this a Force 5 or “Fresh Breeze”. Since we’re traveling south toward Boca Grande it was a quartering sea but the bit of wallowing was better than slamming against the waves. The autopilot held a steady course, but I imagine a few of you mates may have lost breakfast over the side.

As the day and evening wore on conditions moderated and we were treated to a colorful sunset and a spectacular motorsail under a full moon. Lovely! Robin and I are used to running overnight by doing 3 hour watches. Robin uses an iPod loaded with audiobooks while checking course, speed, navigational hazards and the occasional boat. She has help from two chart plotters, radar, and an AIS receiver (Automatic Identification System) which all vessels over 300 tons must use. The safety factor of knowing the name, description, course, speed and prediction of collision is wonderful. As for me, I just sit there and pretend I know what the hell I am doing.

On a trip like this, navigation is critical, so we use electronic chart plotters, like the GPS in your car, paper charts and guidebooks. The course isn’t marked with buoys every few miles like it is on the Intracoastal or “Powerboat River”. In any case, after running for about 50 miles without seeing a buoy, we picked up a few markers north of Marathon in the Keys and made our way through a five mile channel and passed under the 7 mile bridge. We arrived at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon at 1830 on Saturday, that’s 218 miles in 32.5 hours averaging 6.7 knots, not bad for a 24,000 pound piece of plastic with two sails and a 40 horse power Yanmar.

We chilled out on Sunday and got some needed rest, listened to the Cruisers Net on VHF channel 68, which is like a boaters chatroom. We found out we’re in for a show tonight at 8:30pm (2030) as the Space Shuttle travels overhead.

As always, we checked the weather through the national weather service, buoy reports and several weather apps and got some interesting news. Due to weather forecasts our Float Plan has changed. Take it from me and countless others, crossing the Gulfstream in a north wind can be nasty. The waves get high and steep and make for some unpleasantry. The forecast for the crossing on Sunday from Ft. Lauderdale to the West End of Grand Bahama is not great. We are looking at 17-22 knots of wind from the ENE with 6 – 8 foot seas. Guess who is staying in Marathon till Wednesday when the wind shifts to the East and moderates to 8 to 12 knots with 2 – 3 foot seas.

We are planning a diversion to Key West….

Fair winds and following seas,

Captain Bobby