This week hasn't been much better except that at least I am back home on the Glass Slipper! It's also made me realize that I need to reevaluate my cruising plan - and start my round the world trip sooner rather than later. My new goal is to be able quit this job and set out on my round the world adventure within 6 to 8 months.
Now for some good news! I had the most wonderful time last weekend! I arrived back from Longboat Key late Friday evening. We got everything sea ready on Saturday morning, took a little run to the store, and then got underway around noon. The wind was blowing fiercely in the anchorage and it was very choppy - but it was also coming from onshore so we figured it wouldn't be too bad for our coastal run. It was forecast to be 20 knots with gusts to 35. Way too much for our little Glass Slipper but just about perfect for the heavy, sea-worthy Perservance. We motored out the channel, scooted under the bridge and soon had the sails up. We had a double reefed main and a yankee for a headsail. We were heeled over a bit - but not too much. It was quite the ride. The seas were only 3 feet with an occasional 4 but we were taking them on the beam. The totally cool thing is that we were able to sail on that same tack (or close to it) all afternoon, through the night and into the next morning - about 70 miles in all. We took turns with watches and I'll admit I had a pretty hard time sleeping with all that up and down motion. It was like trying to sleep on a roller coaster ride. We were just about flying through the waves. Thankfully none of us got sea sick. Coleen seemed to have a good time and kept busy.
I enjoyed my time on watch mostly staying tucked under the dodger as it was quite chilly with all that wind. Also, being in that much wind for hours on end gets a little weary. I kept thinking about how miserable we would have been on the Glass Slipper since she doesn't have a dodger. I would have been totally soaked.
I took a lot of video and will try to get it uploaded over the weekend. The last part of our voyage was the approach into Ft Myers Beach which was dead into the wind. We took down the sails and fired up the motor - yet still could only power through at 2.5 knot against the seas. It took a very long time to go those last 10 miles!
We're planning to get underway tomorrow afternoon and make our way down to Everglades City over the weekend - with an overnight stop in Naples and possibly Marcos Island. So far the weather looks promising.