You're exactly right Rick. If I waited for weather, I'd have run out of beer. On a long passage to he USVI I tried to calculate when the ideal wind direction, wind speed, swell direction and wave height all converged. They didn't. Don't be afraid of the dark. The cataback winds sliding down the mountains in Hispanola after dusk will keep you off the rocks when you're working your way down island.> Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:46:56 -0400> From: farreach@optonline.net> To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Subject: M_Boats: Gulf Stream> > I sailed with Frank Durant across the Gulf Stream on his Flicka last winter. > Our trip was also uneventful until we got to Florida and hit a thunderstorm. > The trip took 18 hours with a nice breeze and moderate seas. We motor > sailed averaging a little over 4 knots. I suspect it would take a while > longer in my M15, but given the right weather I think the boat would handle > it just fine. Some amount of night sailing is necessary and maybe an entire > night if speed is low.> > In my opinion one valuable piece of equipment for this passage is some kind > of self steering setup. We had a Raymarine tiller pilot which broke part > way across so we had to hand steer most of the way. This was not a problem > with two of us to steer, but if I were single handling it would be very > tedious and tiring to hand steer all the time.> > Frank has made the crossing a number of times in many different conditions. > Maybe he'll chime in with a wild story or two.> > Rick> M15 #337 Bluebird > > > _______________________________________________> http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats _________________________________________________________________ Easily publish your photos to your Spaces with Photo Gallery. http://get.live.com/photogallery/overview