GETTING STARTED ON OUR SUMMER CRUISE May 2014

Our start to the summer cruise was delayed 2 days by the repair of the broken main halyard, which eventually required a visit by professional riggers, when the furler jammed. We left on May 17, 2014 for a windy day trip to Marathon. In fact, our first three days of the trip involved winds of 20 knots, reefed sails and fast sailing. We sailed from Boca Chica with Luke and Jan on board Sand castle, the plan being to sit tight in Marathon for a few days until the winds settled sufficiently to move on to the west coast of Florida. As expected, winds increased from the 20s to the 30s and we stayed comfortably in Boot Key Harbor. While there, we found friends George and Karen aboard Sunseeker, also preparing to wait for better weather. They joined us for dinner and music two nights at Dockside Restaurant, where all the old sailors seemed to hang out...us among them. Two days of waiting found winds dropping to the high teens and low twenties from the east. Since we planned to be sheltered from east winds by anchoring along the west coast of Florida, we opted to head for our first anchorage off Little Shark River on May 20th.