Another Beautiful Sail (Saturday, March 17)

Coasting down waves and making 14.4 knots look leisurely. Made for a quick ride into Key West. 

We had another awesome sail this morning. It started off pretty light out and we did some motor sailing out of the Kemp Channel. When we knew we were good for at least 7 knots, we put up the screacher and shut down the engine. The breeze was building although probably only around 10 mph for the first few hours of the sail. Out farther from land the waves really started to build up, and being that the boat is so darn light all you have to do is turn her bow down and she’ll surf. Once the breeze piped up to about 15mph, it was definitely easier to get her up on the waves though. We saw 8-12knots of boat speed but the closer we got to Key West the windier it got! The rollers shrank in size but the gusts were still present. We ended the day rolling into Key West with 14.4 knots as our top speed. It was a really fun ride. I can’t wait to get the “calmer” video up, it still looks like it was a wild ride.

Although we have not seen any dolphins thus far, we have had plenty of ocean life action. I have caught numerous crab traps, majority of them were painted black, for who knows what reason. We have seen the largest fish EVER in the Key West Bight Marina as soon as we pulled in. The tarpon swimming around in this harbor are big enough to make you never want to go in the water again. Absolutely zero exaggeration, I’ve seen fish as big as Scott, that’s six feet of shadow beneath you. While the fish won’t give you the time of day while you’re in the water (my dad fly fishes for them every chance he gets) they are extremely intimidating in size.

Oh, Happy St. Patrick’s day, Key West! Scott and I have had no concept of time since we got on the boat, but we were gently reminded of St. Patrick’s day with all the tourists buzzing around the island dressed like leprechauns. But really, a sea of green and of all kinds. Old people and college spring breakers. After we tied up and got settled, we took a stroll down the board walk. We found dinner at a grocery store and then walked to Mallory Square to watch the sunset. It was pretty cloudy so we decided to head back to the boat to eat and save the sunset celebration for tomorrow. 

Not catching crabs on Duval street,
Lauren & Scott