Sucker Punch (Monday, March 19)

We left Key West around 0800 and set sail for Newfound Harbor! As soon as we got past the cruise ships and rounded the island it hit us: 20+ knots on the nose. Luckily Scott had a double reef in the main and we planned to sail with the little jib to get the most point out of the boat. Waves were pretty large in the shipping channel. Scott and I would definitely argue that we crashed into some 6-7 foot standing waves. They receded in size a bit once we got further into Hawk Channel, but still pretty variable and around 4-5 feet. We were expecting something resembling ocean waves, not hugely oversized Lake St. Clair chop.

My bibs saw the sun for the first time this trip. I was getting soaked and the sun wasn't warming me up fast enough. Scott lasted all day in just his swim trunks (and a lifejacket; I called for lifeys when we reefed the main). It would have been a sail of a lifetime if we were headed in any other direction than the one we were going in. The sun was shining and the water was an amazing blue. I keep hoping to capture on camera the colors that we see, but I think the polarization of our sunglasses create the most vivid colors for our memories alone.

We had a lot of ocean company, while still in the shipping channel, we had two big fishing boats blow by us. We also saw a big coast guard boat. Later in the day we were passed by two big Beneteaus (Bene-slows), both chugging, plowing, and motoring through the waves. They didn't look anymore comfortable than us.


The majority of the morning we discussed turning around and heading back to Key West. My mom and grandparents were headed down for the day,but unfortunately it was after we had planned to leave. We decided we didn't want to give up the headway that we had already made. After zig-zagging upwind for 35NM, we made it up the keys to Saddlebunch Harbor. Saddlebunch is only 15NM from Key West. This stop is about halfway from Key West to our initially planned Newfound Harbor destination. The beat had us zigzagging nearly 20 extra NM. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, our VMG was less than optimal. Lesson learned: a double reef in the main means tacking angles are an extra 20 degrees apart.

We tucked into a corner and anchored. Later in the afternoon we took the kayak for an exploration trip so we could check out the shallow spots around us. The water is pretty clear here and the depths are all over the place. We are currently right on the edge of very shallow water and about 80 ft from the mangroves. Excellent protection from the angry winds on the Hawk Channel.

We've discovered that the tidal currents are very quick when they change. The boat tugs on the port anchor and then within seconds tugs on the starboard anchor. The current is so strong that the water just boils around the hulls. We find it really interested watch how the boat is affected by both the wind and varying currents at it lays at anchor.  It is surprisingly unpredictable. It really seems to change by the minute. After we anchored, I saw a huge fish come up to the surface and decided I wouldn't be going swimming here. Later in the evening we were joined in the harbor by a Gemini105Mc that had ducked into the anchorage to get away from the feisty weather.

We are hoping to get an early start tomorrow morning. We plan to sail up the the keys another 15NM and arrive in Newfound Harbor, but we'll see which way the wind blows us.

Waiting for the breeze to calm,
Lauren & Scott