Hurricane Dorkian, as we have come to call it, has necessitated a change in our cruising plans for this winter. We have lost a week of boat preparation so are now looking at leaving before the end of the month vice the middle.

Barb and I have been discussing it and have decided that the first leg will remain the same - a five day jump from Shelburne to the mouth of the Chesapeake, but then instead of continuing on outside the Bahamas towards the Eastern Caribbean, we will head up to Annapolis for the boat show before heading on south.

Of course much of this will depend upon the weather but the big thing beyond our former way of cruising will be the offshore jumps to take full advantage of the available weather windows. My big concern is that those spots that I had looked upon as hurricane holes have been proven to be powerless in the face of the sort of storms that we seem to be getting more of as the years roll by. Cat 5 storms seem to be becoming more common these days, don’t they?