Day 119, November 28th, 2009
All fired up we left at 7:00 a.m. I'd dug out the survival suits just incase it was cold on the open water but didn't actually use them in the end. With two fleece jackets and my all weather gear and my fleece hat I was lovely and warm. Even John put on his fleece jacket and all weather gear too!
It took a couple of hours just to get out of Carrabelle, over to Dog Island and through the cut onto the Gulf. It was a little choppy but nothing too uncomfortable. We'd put the main up as soon as we left the marina. As soon as we set our course of 123 degrees to R2 en route to Tarpon Springs, there was a beautiful NE wind and we were able to pull out the jib and make great headway. We left the motor running in order to get some miles behind us and were making great speed, anything between 6.5 and 7.2 knots. We started off on auto helm but had to hand steer for about four hours as auto was over steering. John even reckoned he was feeling a bit queesy at one point. John had put the bread maker on first thing, so that we could have a hunk of fresh bread with a chili later in the day. The breadmaker was sitting on the Nav. table on the high side. It seemed a bit precarious there for the three hours - I half expected it to go flying off onto the floor but all went well and it stayed put. By the time the bread was done, the water had settled some and we both enjoyed a hunk of a sandwich for lunch. As usual we took turns at the helm, and turns having a snooze down below. The time passed quickly.
Sue and Paul came along behind us and we were in pretty regular contact by VHF. This was their first overnighter and it was a great time to do it under excellent conditions.
Sunset was around 6:00 p.m. but there was a big moon so we had really quite good visibility.
The chili was good at suppertime, followed by a hot chocolate. The evening was quiet and uneventful. We both really love being out on the water, out of site of land, in the quiet.
All fired up we left at 7:00 a.m. I'd dug out the survival suits just incase it was cold on the open water but didn't actually use them in the end. With two fleece jackets and my all weather gear and my fleece hat I was lovely and warm. Even John put on his fleece jacket and all weather gear too!
It took a couple of hours just to get out of Carrabelle, over to Dog Island and through the cut onto the Gulf. It was a little choppy but nothing too uncomfortable. We'd put the main up as soon as we left the marina. As soon as we set our course of 123 degrees to R2 en route to Tarpon Springs, there was a beautiful NE wind and we were able to pull out the jib and make great headway. We left the motor running in order to get some miles behind us and were making great speed, anything between 6.5 and 7.2 knots. We started off on auto helm but had to hand steer for about four hours as auto was over steering. John even reckoned he was feeling a bit queesy at one point. John had put the bread maker on first thing, so that we could have a hunk of fresh bread with a chili later in the day. The breadmaker was sitting on the Nav. table on the high side. It seemed a bit precarious there for the three hours - I half expected it to go flying off onto the floor but all went well and it stayed put. By the time the bread was done, the water had settled some and we both enjoyed a hunk of a sandwich for lunch. As usual we took turns at the helm, and turns having a snooze down below. The time passed quickly.
Sue and Paul came along behind us and we were in pretty regular contact by VHF. This was their first overnighter and it was a great time to do it under excellent conditions.
Sunset was around 6:00 p.m. but there was a big moon so we had really quite good visibility.
The chili was good at suppertime, followed by a hot chocolate. The evening was quiet and uneventful. We both really love being out on the water, out of site of land, in the quiet.
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