Everglades to Long Key

Day 15: Monday, March 7, 2016

Our new friend, Keith's, Balboa 26RK hull number 3

The weather forecast for today predicts winds of between 15 and 20 knots for this region but the forecast for the remainder of the week gets significantly worse so we have decided to head out for Long Key in the string of Keys off of south Florida.  I assumed that these winds would not cause us much grief as we traveled down the west side of Florida but I assume that it will be quite bumpy as we head out across the open waters of Florida Bay.  Interestingly however, much to our surprise, when the sun arose, the waters in our bay were perfectly calm. 

We did another quickie breakfast of Cheerios and oatmeal, raised the mainsail in the quiet of our cove and headed out at about 6:45.  Out in the open Gulf, there was a nice, probably 7 to 8 mph breeze from the northeast so with the motor running and the sail wide out to the port side of the boat be began a fast ride down the coast.

Area in our mooring area where me motored yesterday - Low Tide

We started out moving at over 5 knots and as we traveled south, the wind began to pick up and swing to the east so that by the time we got near the south end of Cape Sable, we were smoking along at over 7 knots.  For a sailor, it was really exhilarating.   Before we hit the open waters off of the Cape, we dropped the main and were able to still make over 5 knots.  The water chop was light and the ride was really pleasant.

Smoken along at 5 plus knots

Upon passing the south end of the Cape, we picked up the full force of the 20 knot winds that had
been predicted.  The fetch, the distance that wind can travel unobstructed over the water, is probably 50 miles, so, the waves have a long way to build.  The wave heights were averaging about 4 feet with occasional 5-6 footers.  When we would drop into one of the large troughs, the nose would sometimes dip into the other side sending a salty spray flying back over the boat.  Although it was rough, the boat handled it all very well.  I have great confidence in this boat.  She is very solidly built and is designed with a high bow that handles large waves easily.  The boat continued to make 5 knots most of the time. We did get wet and salty.  Not long into the crossing, we both had on our “Frogg Toggs” rain gear.  

As we were traveling, we began to enter fields of lobster buoys that are to recreational boater as exploding mines are to military vessels.  The waters here are quite shallow and the lobstermen drop numerous traps through the area.  Each of these traps has a polypropylene rope tied to it with a round float attached to the end.  In some cases, they will drop a trap in say 8 feet of water and had a 30 foot rope on it.  When we see one of these floats, we would give it a wide birth but we were not able to see the rope. 

The first one that we hit, I heard the prop chunk the float and when I looked back, I saw that we were dragging about 40 feet of rope that had entangled the propeller.  The boat had slowed down to about 1 knot.  The seas were rough enough that I was not interested in getting into the dinghy and freeing the line.  So, I raised the motor out of the water, put it in gear and watched the prop flail the line until it finally cut it off.  With the motor back in the water, I found that the boat would only make 3 knots with the motor running at full power.  A piece of line was caught between the lower unit and the prop.  I decided that we would just have to live with 3 knots.  The next one we hit caught on the keel and no form of maneuvering release the line.  I finally used a boat hook, pulled it up and cut it off.  The other end was still attached and finally after more maneuvering, it came free.  The third one, we caught hung on the motor but did not get into the prop and finally slid off.

The fourth one we hit, killed the motor!  I had no choice but to pull the dinghy up behind the boat, get in and unfoul the prop.  I finally had to loosen the prop to completely free it.  The wind was still blowing strongly and we were on a fast track to Mexico.  I got back into the boat, hit the starter button and nothing!  I had this happen several years ago and I know that there is a 20 amp fuse that blows in these situations.  I carry a lot of fuses but I couldn’t believe that I didn’t have that one.  Long story short, I found that the prongs of a fork shaped wire connector would just fit into the fuse socket so I made the proverbial “penny behind the fuse” repair and we were soon on our way again.  We had blown at least a mile and a half downwind during the ordeal. 

Our original ETA at Long Key was about 2:00 and we finally arrived at a bit after 4:00.  The wind was still howling when we dropped anchor in a bay on the lee side of Long Key.  At first our large Rockna anchor drug for about 200 feet.  As we were drifting, I quickly got out our smaller backup Danforth anchor and dropped it as well.  The Danforth caught and between the two, we felt comfortable that we would not drift.  We also have an alarm on our GPS/Chartplotter that will warn us if we drag.

As I was battening down the hatches, my first mate supplied me with a cool beer and some nice cheddar cheese.  She then prepared a nice spaghetti and meatball dinner.  I must admit, I was a bit wasted and not from the beer.  It promises to be a rocking noisy night.