On August 29th, once we were convinced that Gustav was tracking away from FL and forecast to proceed into the Gulf we departed Coconut Grove heading south to the Keys. With 20+ knot northeast winds we flew down the ICW on the western side of the Keys. Late in the afternoon I checked the NOAA broadcast and learned that we were heading into a Tropical Storm Warning area. We abruptly dropped sails and slowed down to assess the updated forecasts. While attempting to figure out our next steps, two Morgan OI 41 passed us going south. We radioed them to query their plans for riding out the weather. They were BSA Sea Base boats and were returning to the Boy Scout Base on Lower Matacumbe to ride out the storms. With the promise of a safe anchorage we followed them south and west to Lower Matacumbe. The small anchorage just outside of the BSA Sea Base was as promised, a safe harbor in which ride out the fringes of Gustav's fury.
Tucked away in the harbor on two anchors we rode out 6 to 7 hours of 30+ knot winds on the night of August 30th. All in all we were lucky that Gustav stayed far enough to the west that we avoided any damaging winds and surge.
By Sept. 1 the Gulf waters were calm enough for us to make the leap from the Keys to Indian Key Pass. The Gulf was churned up and retained the color of weak coffee (see image above). Strong northeast winds allowed us to cover 75NM sailing close hauled and average 5.5 knots. For over half of the day we used our auto pilot. The image included is of Anne adjusting the wind vane on the auto pilot.