Voyage to Florida, the final leg 11/30/2009

To ensure that I did not sleep through my intended departure, I left the inverter on to power my alarm clock. I awoke in the night and arose to check the battery levels as without sun for the solar panel and no breeze for the wind generator I did not have reason to suspect a problem but felt it prudent. The time was 1:30am and as long as I was already up I decided to begin my day. I started the motor, made coffee and awakened my electronics. The moon was nearly full, high in the sky and with no cloud cover I was able to see my shadow on deck with surprizingly good light. Once the anchor was retrieved I made my way through the entrance to my anchorage, back to the sea and on my way by 2:00am.

Traveling at night alone I relied on my electronic friends. "Radar" and I came to an agreement that he would maintain a watch zone of 6 nautical miles to permit me to cat nap should I elect to do so. I would need all that Knot-A-Lot could provide to make best speed for the 130 miles I will transit today so I unfurled the headsail and raised the main in the still of the night before I was to experience the breezes the sun will bring later. I retired to the cabin with my coffee periodically checking for traffic with "Radar". There were few intrusions into our guard zone, mostly fishing boats working the bank west of the Berry Islands. As fate would have it my course was well off the path of the east/west freighter traffic north of me. This would not have been the case if the alternative routing prevailed as originally intended.

The sun and I greeted a wonderful day with 1 - 3' seas from my aft starboard quarter and 5 knots of breeze from the south on my beam. I am hoping for more wind as the morning progresses.

The winds did build as suspected during the morning to a steady 10 - 15 knots by late morning. I added the staysail to my propulsion package and now had all that the boat had to offer contibuting to speeds of 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 knots over the ground as I entered the "River".

The GPS makes arrival calculations based on the distance remaining and current speed. The favorable seas, winds and my northwesterly track across the Gulf Stream all contributed to favorable velocity made good to my destination. I should have but did not anticipate the impact of the numerous eddy currents in and around the stream that slowed the boat to less than six knots over ground at times and speeds approaching 9 knots at others with no apparent change in the trim of the boat. None the less my speeds were better that those that I used to decide this run today.

With about 10 nautical miles remaining the sun retired from my company over the West Palm Beach shore having shared what was to be one of the most relaxing sails across the Gulf Stream any voyager could ever experience. The only incident was a condition common to sailing vessels, that being the tendancy of the boom and my head to compete for the same physical space. I arrived at Riviera Beach Marina at 9:00pm using the current of the intracoastal to lend assisstance to my docking alone, a tad weary. Once fastened to the dock I went to the Tiki bar for a rum, the journey over.....for now...................................