Hello everyone!

A very, very busy day!

A strong northern front (from Canada) is moving south with the result that the traditional easterly trade winds will spin clockwise, and create a unique weather window for sailing east across the Florida Gulf Stream.

We leave tomorrow at high tide (3:30pm) with the sailplan to cruise south to West Palm Beach during the night, and at about midnight turn left and sail 60 nautical miles over to the Bahamas. The sail south should last ~ 8 hours, and then another 12 hours offshore to the islands. If things go well we'll keep sailing until ~ 4pm when we should be able to find some protection from the incoming northern winds.

Louise has been cooking lamb stew all afternoon, with another pot for the clam chowder on the go. At least we'll be eating well during the adventure.

We spent the day stuffing food, etc. onto the boat, rebuilding the electric motors on both toilets c/w joker valves, running the A/C to ensure that it works, filling the water tanks, gas tanks, diesel tanks, spare part bucket, etc.

Tonight we're off to a fabulous dinner at a local restaurant. Louise deserves a night out!

Bye bye Florida..... let the games begin.........

glen

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Another 5 hours of cleaning and organizing, last minute solar panel repairs, close all the thru-hull valves, and lift the boat up 4" to remove all of the supports, and then repaint the bottom where the supports were.

Off to the market to pick up more food supplies while the paint dries, and then back to boat to drop it in the water.

The inboard engine started immediately, and I backup down a long narrow channel (not easy when you cannot see the rudder) and drive around to a nice spot on the dock.

Connect to shore power and shore water, and we start to test things to ensure everything works. So far so good.

Tomorrow should reveal any problems.

The marina bill was so large it exceeds my Visa limit (which is $20K).

So it goes.............

A few days of charging batteries and flushing water tanks, and then we're off into the deep blue ocean....

glen
ps. the photo shows the new solar panels on top of the bimini

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Another busy couple of days.

All sails are installed and ready to go.

All running lines are installed and tested.

Solar panels are fully installed and working.

Canvas is all in place.

The anchor chain has been checked and marked with tabs.

We found a great secure place to store the Mini for the winter nearby.

Louise made a wonderful dinner with local seafood.

The scheduled launch of the boat is at high-tide tomorrow.

I wonder if the diesel engine will start?

We hope to check everything carefully and then start offshore asap.

We also put in an offer on a house nearby.... such is life!

I should have some great photos of the boat in the water tomorrow.

bye for now!

glen

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