Return from Fort Jefferson

The wind was forecast to shift to the south or southwest Friday night, which would be favorable for us to sail back to Key West. When I got up at 6:00 to check it looked like the wind had not shifted so we went back to sleep. Around 7:30 it looked like our shift had come so we got ready to leave. We were underway by 8:00, a little late for a 60 plus mile trip. But what the heck? Initially things didn’t look good, with wind and waves right on the nose. We were almost ready to turn back, but then we got a wind angle that allowed a close reach. Not only were we sailing, we were making better speed than the trawler that had followed us out, also heading to Key West.
We were feeling pretty good, especially as the wind lightened enough for us to roll out the entire head sail, and take out both reefs. But (there’s always a but, isn’t there?) before we could finish tidying up the reef lines and main halyard the first line squall hit. We were in 30 plus knot winds with our full sail plan. I won’t bore you with a minute by minute replay, but some of the high lights were:
Driving rain, a tenth of a mile visibility (we didn't even see the big ferry boat that brings all the tourists over to see the fort), thunder, and of course lightening, big waves, confused seas from the new wind.  We didn't even see the big ferry boat that brings all the tourists over to see the fortEventually the wind went behind us, and went light. Too light to sail, with left over waves that made it almost impossible to motor. We were pretty much stuck heading east, and we weren’t even half way back. We sailed as fast and as well as we could, but our speed kept dropping. Eventually the sea flattened out enough, and the wind almost disappeared, so we were able/forced to motor. That ended our streak of having sailed pretty much all the way from Palm Beach.

Our last hurdle was the innumerable lobster buoys. These are 2 or 3 Styrofoam floats attached to a rope and a lobster trap. In daylight you can see to avoid them. After dark, not so well. The problem is motoring over one and having the rope wrap around the prop shaft. The engine stops, and you might damage the prop or shaft - neither being good things. There was almost a full moon so I thought we would be able to see all the floats. Problem is the moon was right ahead of us so it was kind of like driving into the sun with frost on your windshield. Eventually we changed course enough so the moon wasn’t straight ahead, but the lights of Key West were. Sue ended up on the bow with a flashlight for the last hour or so. We were safely anchored by 8:00, and for once it wasn’t windy, and our anchor didn’t drag. Earlier in the day I was remembering the bumper sticker slogan, “A bad day on the water is better than a good day at work.” All I can say is, I’m glad I didn’t have that person’s job! And to think, we do this for recreation.

We are spending the day in Key West so I can take one more trip through my favorite hardware store Monday morning. Then on to Marathon. We plan to be there for Christmas (and dinner) unless another big project materializes. We are also going to meet up the first friend we ever met when we started sailing.  John G is another former Toledoan who now lives in Naples. I’m sure it was the red bathing suit that Sue had in 1980 that first caught John’s eye, or maybe the fact that he conned me into building a cradle for his boat, but since then we’ve shared lots of experiences.