Friday we decided it was time to leave Key West and head north (or more accurately, east at this point in the Keys). The anchorage where we had been for almost a week was quite rolly from passing wakes and wide open to winds from the north. It was already uncomfortable from time to time and 30k north wind was predicted for this weekend. I didn't want to stick around to see what that would feel like.
You can't always trust the wind forecasts, although we have found http://windfinder.com to be the most accurate of the sites we routinely check. On Friday they were calling for light to moderate wind from the southeast which would make for a reasonable sail for us up the Keys. As we turned around the west end of Key West we were met with rough seas and 20-25k winds on our nose. Kentris was bucking the waves and taking water over the bows. Callie and I were not very happy campers. As Tom raced around closing the hatches we had left open thinking things would be fairly tame, I tried to keep the boat on course. Finally around the island and heading east, things calmed down just a bit and we got the sails up with a reef in the main. At least the wind was in the forecasted direction so we were able to sail.
Eventually the wind moderated and the sea became less rowdy but we managed to average 7 knots even with the reefed main, and never had to turn the engines on until we were ready to come in the channel to Boot Key Harbor. An unusual sailing day for us. We did, however, hook another of the thousands of crabpots we had to negotiate along the way. Tom had cut the pot loose when we first caught it but there was still line wrapped around the prop, so we stopped briefly when we got to the channel so that Tom could cut that line off and we could use that engine. Now we are happily hanging on a mooring ball and ready to do some exploring around Marathon.
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