We made it across the Gulf from Apalachicola Bay to Tarpon Springs with nine other boats on Friday night.

Rough, long crossing and a big gulp (28 hours straight, 176 miles) in a boat with no autopilot.  But crew and boat behaved admirably.  Bilge pumps ran some at first until seams that hadn’t seen water since Lake Michigan started to swell.

Here’s my report on the crossing to Looper Weather Guru Tom Conrad:

You have probably heard from other fleet members, but we left EP earlier (1:30 pm) due to speed.
Very tough 1st hour (4-footers), better until about 5 (but still the occasional gut wrencher), then bumpy but bearable until it flattened out at 4 am.
BUT — clear starry skies, warm enough to sleep in the cockpit for those with mal de mer (John), NO FOG. These factors really helped.
On rumbh line from EP, saw first stone crab pots at 32 sm out in 40+ feet of water.  Are those little suckers really worth that kind of energy to get to them?  I mean, all you eat is the claws.
Thanks so much for your help.  Give me a card  to do this crossing again exactly as it was, and I would take it.
Memsahib
Lots of dolphins leaping about.  I had heard they respond to singing and a woman’s voice, but not having a woman handy, decided to whistle some up about 4 am when the weather got better.  For some reason only known to my psyche, the first song that came to mind was Dean Martin’s “Memories Are Made of This.”  That seemed to keep them around, so I hit them with Dino’s “‘At’s Amore,”  then “Marshmallow World in the Winter” my favorite Martin tune.  Having exhausted my Dean Martin repetroire, I went to “Oh, My Papa,” whereupon one leaped up and said, “That’s Jerry Vail, stupid, we’re leaving.”
Or at least, I think he did.  Long nights at sea can lead to hallucinations.
Sparta and John on watch just after daylight.

Sparta and John on watch just after daylight.

If one of those bastards would jump just a little closer, I would catch it and kill it and eat it.

If one of those bastards would jump just a little closer, I would catch it and kill it and eat it.

Hour 28, pulling into Tarpon Springs

Hour 28, pulling into Tarpon Springs.  Rough enough going out through the pass into the Gulf that I fell off my Ikea bar stool/driving seat twice!

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