After our late start today we weren't sure how far we'd make it. If we decided to go as far as Titusville, we wanted to reach the one lift bridge we would pass right about 5 o'clock. It closes from 3:30 to 5 because of the traffic returning home from the Kennedy Space Center. The marina in Titusville is an hour past the bridge, so if we got to the bridge by 5 we'd be able to make it to the marina at a reasonable hour.

We were also watching the weather. It was cloudy as we traveled, but the forecast was for afternoon thunderstorms, some of which could be severe. We were still only willing to run the boat at about 1800 RPM because the prop felt good at that engine speed. Happily, the boat was making about 6.5 knots at 1800 RPM, a reasonable speed.

As we approached Cocoa, the last marina before we committed to the long run to Titusville, I went down and checked the weather report on the computer. The worst thunderstorms were behind us, and the further north we went, the less severe the threat from lightning. We were making good time and getting to the bridge by 5 was very doable. We decided to go on.

We continued to make good time and watch the clouds. Now it looked like we would get to the bridge too early. We wanted to slow down, but not too soon, because we were still trying to get north of the storms. We kept our speed steady and watched a rainstorm cross behind us by just a couple of miles. Finally, when we were about 8 miles from the bridge we slowed down. It was about quarter to three, there was no way we'd get to the bridge before 3:30, so we needed to go slow enough to get there not much before 5. The skies around us were mostly clear. Bud shut the engine speed down to idle. We slowed to about 3.5 knots. There was a sailboat in front of us that maintained his speed. A boat came out of the Canaveral Canal behind us. We called him on the radio to see if he had the same bridge restriction information and told him we were going to be idling up to not reach the bridge too soon. He had the same information and said he hadn't thought of it, but it was a good idea to slow down, so he followed us. We finally got to the bridge about 20 minutes early. The first boat was in front of the bridge motoring back and forth as slowly as he could. The wind had picked up, so Bud turned the boat sideways in the channel and idled into the wind, then put it in neutral and let the wind push us back to the west, then idled forward again, etc. It was a long 20 minutes, we were glad we hadn't been doing that for over an hour, like the first boat.

As 5 o'clock approached so did some new clouds. Finally the bridge opened, we went through and we went back to our speed of about 6.5 knots. We watched a storm approach Titusville from the southwest as we approached from the south. Was the storm, traveling northeast, going to pass to the north? Were we going to get to the marina before the storm? There was enough wind to pull out the jib, but we would have had to pass the boat in front of us, as we were making the same speed they were flying a jib, with just the engine. We decided just to keep behind them for the 7 miles or so we had to go. Unfortunately, they also turned into the marina, so we had to really idle down as there was only one guy working at the marina and he had to help dock both boats. It isn't a place that's easy to come in on your own. You need to get stern lines around pilings as you turn into the slip, and the finger docks don't quite come out as far as the gates in our life lines. I got the starboard stern line around the piling and handed it to Bud so he could hold the boat back. The marina guy and another helpful fellow did make it there to take our bow and spring lines and we got tied off. They left, Bud and I finished the lines and got the electric cord plugged in and the center piece put back in between the bimini and the dodger just before the edge of the storm hit. Most of it had gone north of us, but we got a few minutes of hard rain. I was able to stick my head out of the nice, dry boat and capture this photo of the rain pouring down.

Later in the evening another thunderstorm came by. There was a lot of lightning with it, and a lot of wind. I turned on the instruments and saw a gust to 43 knots (about 47 mph) and for about a half an hour the wind was between 20 and 35 knots. I was glad to be safely tucked away for that one. I did put the computer and iPad back in the oven until it passed.

Today, both our timing and our luck held, and the longest day on the ICW is behind us. We made it 74 miles and both the engine and the prop seem to be doing okay.