The Crossing

Well, we are safely across and at the Tarpon Springs Yacht Club.  The best thing I can say about this crossing is that it is over after only (read with a facetious tone) 33 hours.  The winds were not what were forecast.  We left Apalachicola with the promise of winds that would push us at a comfortable (relatively speaking) angle of heel with minimal waves.  We had the minimal waves, thank God, but the wind was not so cooperative.  The forecast was for Northeast shifting to North winds at 10-15 knots diminishing to 5-10 knots.  Mmmm, we're thinking, a nice broad to beam reach and maybe even a chance to break out the spinnaker, "How ideal".  Reality was an east wind shifting to the Northeast after about 24 hours.  For the nonsailor that means we leaned over a lot even though we headed in a direction we didn't want to go just to make forward progress.  If we had headed straight into the wind we would have had to power through the waves and spend a lot of our cruising kitty on fuel.  Besides being an unplanned expense, it would have been uncomfortable even with minimal seas.  Since we are on vacation, comfort is an important consideration!  Anyway, the wind did eventually shift about 24 hours into the trip and we were able to slowly making our way back to the rhumb line (most direct line of navigation).  We finally made it back to where we were supposed to be about 10 miles from the outer mark so we added about 40 nautical miles to our trip or more.  The other disappointment of the trip was the total cloud layer.  One of the best things about crossing is the number of stars.  Also, this time was to be at new moon so the sky was going to be extra spectacular.  It was, of course, on the other side of the clouds.  As David said,"It was darker than the inside of a cow."  I'm not sure how he know this but then again, I don't think I want to know.  His grandpa Tye did have a dairy farm so who knows....  One positive thing (besides arriving safe and sound) was the phosphorescence.  Living creatures in the salt water give off this chemical when disturbed.  A sailboat passing by qualifies as a disturbance and it does create a beautiful bit of wave art along the way.  Unfortunately, this beauty does not really adequately make up for the rest.  For the younger or more simple reader, that means it was very pretty but not pretty enough for the rest of the yucky conditions!  To be sure, dawn was a welcome sight.  The weather remained, as it still does, overcast.  We came up the Anclote River and happily tied up at one of our favorite clubs, Tarpon Springs YC.  Friendly members came out and helped us tie up and get settled.  We returned the favor by heading to their bar for a sunset toddy and some of the best burgers around. Not quite as good as our own club's burgers, but close!  We then slept for many hours!