Well Seadaddler is finally in her home port slip at Burnt Store Marina.
It was a great trip over from Fort Pierce to west coast and into Charlotte Harbor,we could not have ask for better weather the whole time except for yesterdays cold and windy conditions,thank goodness we got into Burnt Store at about 1:00 PM and only had to deal with the 25 kts of wind for a few hours,it was a rough ride heading north past FT Myers and up into Boca Grand Pass.
The trip down from Fort Pierce into the lowers keys was so much better,we always had good wind in our favor and was able to make good time sailing all the way down to the Five mile Bridge where we started heading north up along the west coast with not much wind,we motored the whole trip up the west coast over night.
Fort Pierce,Monday Jan 26,left 7:00 am out the inlet and motor sailed in very light winds 2 ft seas down to Lake Worth and arrived at around 4:00 pm ,anchored inside Lake Worth for the night,had a very nice dinner and watched a DVD, it was a very good anchorage.
Lake Worth,Tuesday left 7:00 am out the inlet with 10 to 15kts and 2 to 3 ft seas,nice sailing averaged 6.5 kts down to No Name Harbor,arrived just after dark and anchored just outside the cove for the night,you do need to have a good chart plotter to go into the anchorage from the channel into the
anchorage in the dark,there is a part that does not have a lighted channel.
Wednesday morning left around 7:00 am and headed down to Rodriguez Key in nice good 10 to 15 kts wind and got to Rodrigez Key anchorage about 3:00,very good holding and did get to do some swimming in cool water but was very warm and hot so it felt good.
More and more boats started also coming into anchor all around us all afternoon,we got out the BBQ for some nice steak and cold beverages.
Thursday morning got up 5:00 am and were off 5:30 and started sailing down to 5 mile channel bridge which we went under at abut 10:00 am,the top of the mast looked so close to the 65 ft bridge with my 55 ft plus mast.
We motored up through the area following markers very carefully as we motored until we got into more deeper water.
I decided to motor all the way towards Ft Myers over night and arrived outside into the early morning than decided to continue motoring around captiva Island by passing Ft Myersl.
We started hitting some fog at Ft Myers up to Boca Grand but cleared with day light and that's when the wind started hitting us out of the north so much so we lost some cruising speed,as we got half way between Ft Myers and Boca Grand pass the wind was at 25 plus and seas were 4 ft so I had to slow our speed down to around 3 kts,we did get beat up pretty bad trying to get to Boca Grand and the inlet did trow us around pretty as we entered into it and Charlotte Harbor until we got into Burnt Store Marina around 1:00 pm.
It was a great trip and my inexperienced crew learned a lot,they started out not knowing much about sail boats and cruising long distance and over night
and anchoring but they were great in listening to my experience and one of my crew who never boated was ready to do anything before I even asked.
My crew was very good and made everything go with out any problems,my Hunter 36 did everything very well and the C-80 got us in and out of all conditions.
I now look forward to sailing more of the east coast of Florida and will make trips back over to the Keys,Marathon,Key West,Dry Tortugas.
Nick
It was a great trip over from Fort Pierce to west coast and into Charlotte Harbor,we could not have ask for better weather the whole time except for yesterdays cold and windy conditions,thank goodness we got into Burnt Store at about 1:00 PM and only had to deal with the 25 kts of wind for a few hours,it was a rough ride heading north past FT Myers and up into Boca Grand Pass.
The trip down from Fort Pierce into the lowers keys was so much better,we always had good wind in our favor and was able to make good time sailing all the way down to the Five mile Bridge where we started heading north up along the west coast with not much wind,we motored the whole trip up the west coast over night.
Fort Pierce,Monday Jan 26,left 7:00 am out the inlet and motor sailed in very light winds 2 ft seas down to Lake Worth and arrived at around 4:00 pm ,anchored inside Lake Worth for the night,had a very nice dinner and watched a DVD, it was a very good anchorage.
Lake Worth,Tuesday left 7:00 am out the inlet with 10 to 15kts and 2 to 3 ft seas,nice sailing averaged 6.5 kts down to No Name Harbor,arrived just after dark and anchored just outside the cove for the night,you do need to have a good chart plotter to go into the anchorage from the channel into the
anchorage in the dark,there is a part that does not have a lighted channel.
Wednesday morning left around 7:00 am and headed down to Rodriguez Key in nice good 10 to 15 kts wind and got to Rodrigez Key anchorage about 3:00,very good holding and did get to do some swimming in cool water but was very warm and hot so it felt good.
More and more boats started also coming into anchor all around us all afternoon,we got out the BBQ for some nice steak and cold beverages.
Thursday morning got up 5:00 am and were off 5:30 and started sailing down to 5 mile channel bridge which we went under at abut 10:00 am,the top of the mast looked so close to the 65 ft bridge with my 55 ft plus mast.
We motored up through the area following markers very carefully as we motored until we got into more deeper water.
I decided to motor all the way towards Ft Myers over night and arrived outside into the early morning than decided to continue motoring around captiva Island by passing Ft Myersl.
We started hitting some fog at Ft Myers up to Boca Grand but cleared with day light and that's when the wind started hitting us out of the north so much so we lost some cruising speed,as we got half way between Ft Myers and Boca Grand pass the wind was at 25 plus and seas were 4 ft so I had to slow our speed down to around 3 kts,we did get beat up pretty bad trying to get to Boca Grand and the inlet did trow us around pretty as we entered into it and Charlotte Harbor until we got into Burnt Store Marina around 1:00 pm.
It was a great trip and my inexperienced crew learned a lot,they started out not knowing much about sail boats and cruising long distance and over night
and anchoring but they were great in listening to my experience and one of my crew who never boated was ready to do anything before I even asked.
My crew was very good and made everything go with out any problems,my Hunter 36 did everything very well and the C-80 got us in and out of all conditions.
I now look forward to sailing more of the east coast of Florida and will make trips back over to the Keys,Marathon,Key West,Dry Tortugas.
Nick
We had a couple of other storms this week that must have missed you(I am in New Port Richey). I thought of you week before last when I was riding my bike on Boca Grande island. Had dinner that evening at The Fisheries in Placida.