I sailed from the Bahamas four days ago to avoid Hanna, this morning I'm sailing north to Palm Beach on her remaining winds. I'm three miles off Miami cut in 25 kts from the west, hugging the coast to be in the lee of the main land. I was going to go out in the Golf Stream to take advantage of it's 3 kt northerly flow but it looks pretty ruff out there.
It's amazing to think that Hanna is probably 600 miles away from Miami and I'm sailing 8/9 kts on her wind.
Ike:
The computer tracks for Ike yesterday morning had me feeling almost comfortable running south and west, to Key West and perhaps beyond. While sailing down the bay towards Key Largo, I received the latest weather up date in which, the NHC expanded the danger cone to include the entire state of Florida, the Bahamas and most of Cuba. No place to run was my first thought, a thought that was hard to adjust to given my history of sailing away from the danger zone. No place to run, is to me, a chilling concept.
I stopped the boat and anchored near Elliot Key, I checked every weather source available, one forecaster after another. Weather bloggers, even the not so great weather channel, NHC and many more. I was kidding myself, I was looking for a forecaster that would give me what I wanted, an escape route, a way out, a place to sail to that was safe from the powerful wind that's surely on it's way; there is no way out.
Ten or so hours later, I accepted the concept of no where to run, I started to think thoughts like; the media always show boats mangled in marinas, it wouldn't be very interesting to show boats and marinas that did well in storms. In fact most boats that are properly made ready, do make it through. Anyway, I had to work on my attitude, get some positive thoughts going, go through the drill in my head, the long check list of items to make Stray Cat as safe as I can before I leave her to go to a place of personal safety.
Captain Mike ward and I have been talking about this storm for days, going over plans, his and mine. Mike drives very large luxury motor yachts, he knows I run from storms, he also knows exactly how to tie up a boat for a storm. Mike has a private dock on a inland cannel available to him, that I may use. Mike also has spare large dock lines, fenders and a big ass anchor I can use. So with Mike's help and Sandi his first mate, chef, and overall admiral, I'll enjoy expert knowledge, help, friendship and the very best food.
More later,
Mark
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