Departing Marathon heading North - The Storm!

 We left Marathon on Saturday, April 30. We had a good forecast and after checking the buoy reports, all looked good to head north. The plan was to come out of Boot Key Harbor and asses the wind strength and angle and determine if we could go out side and head directly to the Gulfstream or turn up Hawk's channel and sail in the protection of the reef. Hawk's Channel is a narrow piece of water that runs along the south shore of the Florida Keys. This is protected by sections of reef that reduce the ocean swell. There are breaks in the reef that allow a boat to get out to the open ocean.

Sunrise over Boot Key Harbor on April 30

Our neighbor, Stefan on Kokomo. We are ready to leave the calm waters of the harbor.

As we rounded the land of Boot Key, we had a wind angle and swell that told me that we needed to head up Hawks Channel. We were able to get enough angle to sail under full sails with about 15 knots of wind. We were having a nice sail and moving along nicely at about 6 knots. 

Sailing along Hawk's channel. It was not smooth, but we did get some protection from the ocean swell. 

At about 3 pm, I decided it was time to head out into open water. We had a good break in the reef and this would allow us to make it to the Gulfstream by dark. I had never experienced the stream before and would much rather see something new in the light of day. As we crossed the reef the water was an amazing color. We could see the contrast of the deep blue of the open ocean beyond. I had to start the motor to make the angle to get through the reef. 

The turquoise blue of the reef with the deep blue of the open ocean beyond. 

I wanted to get some sea room from the reef, so I kept the motor on as we tried to make some angle out to open water. We had to reach a point called "the elbow" which is where we can turn north and join with the stream. 

This is an image of the track of our trip. You can see the slight deviation to the east at Metecumbe Key. That is where we left the protection of the reef. 

After getting out into open water we started seeing our speeds picking up. We could sail at very tight angles to the wind and still go over 8 knots. It was amazing and fun. We were under full sails and then the sun went down around 8:30 pm. All was good at that point.

Our first sunset at sea. We were going faster than we had ever gone. The seas were about 4 feet and on our starboard bow, which made for a rough ride, but all was good.

Around 10 pm we started seeing lightning to our north. I was intermittently able to get weather and radar and it looked like the storms were going to stay west of us. I have radar on the boat and I turned it on and watched. About midnight we saw our first cell on radar. It was small and when we went through it we had some light rain and no wind.

About 1 am, I saw a bigger cell on radar. It was right in front of us, but it did not look any more intense than the earlier one. I decided to furl the genoa to be conservative. That reduces our sail area by almost 50%. We slowed from 9 knots to around 7 knots. We were on a starboard tack. That means we have wind coming over the starboard (right from the helm) side of the boat at about 15 knots. At about 1:30 the cell hit us. I was a bit shocked when it hit with a huge gust of wind that we estimate was over 40 knots. When I looked at the wind meter after we had regained control it was still blowing 35 and that had come down significantly. The crazy thing is the wind came from the port side. That means the sails slammed from one side to the other. The boat healed way over and things went flying. Kim was hunkered down in the companionway and released the mainsheet. That flattened the boat out and I was able to start the engine and try to power through it. I am not going to lie and tell you that we were calm. For about 30 minutes it was very hectic and there was a lot of yelling to be heard. Kim was much calmer than I was. The good news about the radar was that I could see the outline of the cell, I knew if I motored due north, we could get out of it. The rain was intense. Oh yeah, did I mention it was pitch black? It seemed to last forever, but in reality it was about an hour. The last half hour was not as bad because I had full control and I saw what I needed to do. Near the end the wind died to nothing. Yep, 0 knots. We still had waves and driving rain, but the lack of wind made it easier to deal with. Then it was over...

It wasn't long before we could see stars and the lights of Miami. We were only about 13 miles off of Miami. I thought we were further, but I went back and checked. The rest of the night was spent watching the AIS for large ships. We saw about 20 including a number of cruise ships. One passed only about 2 miles from us. We made sure we were plenty clear. I even got about an hour of sleep later in the night. 

The sunrise was a welcome sight. It is so much better when you can see the coming waves. 

Our first sunrise on this trip. We traveled about 150 miles in the first 24 hours. 

 All was going well, except I was pretty tired and the expected wind and swell shift to the SW was not happening. At about 9 am, the wind picked up to over 20 knots and was more in front of us. OH no, was the forecast wrong? A north wind in the Gulfstream is very bad. That is wind over current and that creates big waves. It was not long before the seas became very rough. SHIFT was doing a great job handling the rough seas, but her crew was not having fun. It was at this point that we were only about 20 miles off of a very good inlet at West Palm Beach. We knew we could turn west and be in a harbor in a few hours. Together we decided that was the right option. As soon as we turned the boat, the ride became more comfortable. We still had the push from the Gulfstream, but now the wind and waves were behind us. The motion was much better and there was no banging up and down as we went through the waves. 

We had no issue going in the inlet except we had an apposing current, so it took a while. I was very happy when we got inside and found a good place to anchor in Lake Worth. 

West Palm Beach inlet handles many large vessels including a ship that transports yachts. 

Happy, but tired skipper. 

Soon after we got the anchor set, I was in the V-berth taking a nap. I slept hard!

After dinner and just after dark, we started hearing loud booms. Kim jumped up and said is that fireworks? Well, yes it was. If you know Kim, you know she LOVES fireworks. It seems that this was a Mayfest celebration in West Palm and they finished it off with a very good fireworks show over the water. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures. 

Our view of West Palm Beach from our anchorage in Lake Worth. 

Well that is about it for this one. In my next entry, I will write about our new plan and where we go from here. I also shot some video updates during the trip, which I will post to my YouTube channel and post a link in the blog. I hope you like them and Thanks for reading!