A Tale of Two Chemists: Mind the gap

Mind the gap

Tuesday January 5, 2021

The expression is from the London Underground. At each stop, after the voice on the speaker tells you the location, you are advised to ‘mind the gap.’ I think of it in a different context that relates to the colder days. To my way of thinking, it’s important to make sure that there is no gap in the clothing at the small of your back. Today was fairly chilly in the morning with a strong northerly wind. I had on plenty of layers and took care to tuck my T-shirt into my long underwear and then tuck my fleece into my trousers. I did have a little gap appear at the junction of my socks and long johns. Must try harder with my gap minding.

We departed the anchorage at Lake Worth and got our mainsail hoisted on the way to the inlet (or outlet as we were thinking of it). Once we had run the engine long enough to cool the fridge, we rolled out the genoa and started to sail. According to our paddle-wheel knot meter we were doing about 6.5 knots. Sadly, the GPS told a different story, over the ground we were making only 5 knots—indicating strong adverse current. We stuck with it for about an hour at which point our GPS speed was about 4 knots. The engine was fired up again and we carried on with motor and sail. Over the course of the late morning and early afternoon the wind continued to diminish. Over the entire passage we were surprised by just how strong the northerly current was (1-2 knots). Obviously the Gulf Stream runs very strongly up the coast of Florida, but the west "wall" is at least 10 miles off the coast and we were a mile or two out. We noticed other boats moving quite close to shore to try and minimize the effects.

Just about 2pm we were headed for the Port Everglades inlet (Fort Lauderdale) when I realized that an enormous vessel was headed out of the inlet. Mike casually stated that it would be long gone before we got there. In the end, we did have to slow down... We took the opportunity to turn to the north and drop the mainsail. Immediately after the inlet, to the north, is a bascule bridge with restricted openings. We were doing circles with “Moonshine” a Hylas 54 from Sakonnet, RI. Both vessels got the 2:30 pm opening and carried on a bit further north up the ICW to confront the real challenge! Our intended anchorage was in an area called Lake Sylvia—it might better be called Lake Shallow. The description of the way to get into it is like something out of a spy thriller—“hug the east wall until the west wall drops away (meaning what?) then cross the channel to avoid the shoal. Anchor in 8-9 feet where space permits.“ We came in at the mid point of the tide (3.1 ft tidal range) and saw 7.2 feet. I do believe we will avoid leaving at dead low.

Gloria

26 06.327 N, 80 06.685 W