Well the new gas tank for the dinghy got here on Thursday, so equipment-wise we’re ready to go again. But our weather window closed. Bud thought we could perhaps make it straight from here to Clearwater if we ran full out. He left it up to me and I checked all the weather maps. I told him there were three things I didn’t like about it.

First, I don’t like the idea of running from a front. I’d rather go out as a front passes and have some rough water in the beginning if I can expect it to settle and stay that way. If the front moved faster than expected we’d get caught, because we’d already be going as fast as we could, with engine or sails.

Second, although the wind is supposed to drop during the night, it also gets variable and then sets up in another direction. That means a lot of sail trimming in the night. Not a big deal with light winds and smooth seas, but not fun. Especially if you have a hard time getting the sails set so they’re effective. And I wouldn’t want to take the sails down and put them up again at night, if that was necessary.

Finally, leaving from here it’s a 194 nm trip. If we take the time to move the boat to Carrabelle (which we can reach via the GCICW) the open water trip is about 150 nm. So unless overnight the predictions changed and the front slowed down I voted to stay. I am a wimp, I know. Bud just wants me to have a good experience sailing at night, for once.

Anyway, I woke up early and Bud was up looking at the computer. He said the front seemed to be moving a bit faster, now. So we are here until it looks like there’s another window on the way. Then we’ll move to Carrabelle and get ready to go. It doesn’t look like it will be before Thanksgiving, but we have no timetable, and this spot is nice, so we’re content. So friends and family who are worrying about us, relax. We’re fine and we’ll be careful. Destin was a stern reminder of the precautions you must take when sailing and it’s a lesson learned.

I did get the safety netting installed as you can see from the photo. We now let Matey loose on the deck so long as we’re around. It took a bit of figuring to get it on right at the gates and the slanted rail at the bow, but mostly it was just tedious. I didn’t mind, but it involved a lot of squatting, kneeling and sitting on the deck and such activities are a bit harder at almost 66.