Another day sail

Another day sail

Saturday February 13, 2021

We set out this morning with two possible destinations.  Our decision would be driven by the wind direction once we got out of the harbor.  Option one was to travel along the big ship channel to get outside the reef with the aim of doing some fishing.  Option two was to head toward the lighthouse at Sand Key and potentially cross the Sand Key channel to deeper water and return to Key West via the big ship channel.  Once we were outside the harbor with the sail up, it appeared that the big ship channel would be right into the wind (motor-fest).  So we set off for the lighthouse at Sand Key.  While the wind was south south-east, our heading was south west.  We were just about able to sail in the desired direction—pretty tight to the wind.  The presence of some short period waves combined with the direction to make for a slow sail.  To get through the shoals around the lighthouse would require turning into the wind so once we reached the lighthouse we elected to head back.

The sail back was a broad reach with the true wind behind the beam.  The wave action was no longer a problem.  Our speed was much greater until we needed to turn northward to enter the harbor.  The area of the harbor is tricky—there is a lot of current (maybe multiple currents meet here), there is a lot of boat traffic and a fair amount of chop.  We got our sail down and motored north to look at the anchorage.  We think we might need to know where to anchor once our time on the dock is over.  (It all depends on the weather.) Then we motored back to the marina.  The initial attempt at docking didn’t go smoothly. The less said about that the better, in my opinion.  The second attempt went smoothly. All told we were out for about three hours so it seemed like a pretty reasonable day sail.

I’m cooking dinner tonight—baked stuffed butternut squash.  That’s the idea any way.  There seems to be some problem with getting the squash to cook enough to scoop out some of the “flesh” to mix with the stuffing part.  The stuffing is rice, chestnuts, dried cranberries, sun-dried tomatoes and onions and garlic (of course).  The recipe calls for fresh sage and I’m fresh out of it.  Using some dried sage, thyme and a bit of rosemary.  It could be awful! But, by the time it gets cooked we might be willing to eat almost anything!  

Gloria

24 42.220 N, 81 06.131 W

This sailboat, anchored to the east of Key West is "M5". She was built in 2004 at an estimated cost of $50 million and then refitted in 2013. At 255 feet long she is the largest single mast sailing vessel ever built. Her mast clearance is 290 feet and she has a lifting keel which allows the draft to be reduced from 33 1/2 feet to 12 1/2 feet. "M5" was originally owned by Joseph Vittoria (Chairman and CEO of Avis) and was available for charter at a cost of $420,000 per week. She is now owned by a Texas oil tycoon called Rodney Lewis.

Gloria's stuffed butternut squash was amazing!