A lot of times conditions could not be better when we make the decision of go/ no go. It is not until later on that conditions deteriorate quickly. My advice would be to consider the weather forecast and within its limits anticipate the worst case scenario that could be faced and then decide whether the boat and crew are well equipped to handle the scenario or not. If the answer is yes, go but keep listening for updates. We were on our approach into Tampa Bay one time coming from Key West and I got a phone call from a friend in Tampa inquiring about our position and advising that a real strong thunderstorm warnings were in effect in the Bay and moving towards the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. We had the bridge in sight and even though we had spotted the storm clouds we had failed to gauge the strength of the advancing storm. In light of the storm clouds not checking the weather upon approach was a mistake. We dropped canvas, turn on the engine, tightened the boat and slowed our progress towards the bridge and 15 minutes latter got hit by a wall of rain, lightning, 45 knot winds and zero visibility. It lasted a little over half an hour as it passed over us. If not for our friend's call we would probably had been surprised with our sails up in the confined waters close to the bridge. Even as we had still close to 4 hours to go we had dropped our guard as soon as we entered the approach to the Bay and had stopped monitoring the weather. Lesson learned.
