I suggest you "take a nibble before you take a bite." Instead of departing to sea from harbor "X", make a coastal day sail to harbor "Y" and depart from there. This gives you a chance to exercise all systems to be sure they are working and you have not forgotten anything.
For example on our annual migration North to
New England we depart from Fort Pierce,
Florida and sail and
motor to St. Augustine which is about 30 or 36 hours North. If there is something that we find needs fixing, adjusting or needs to be purchased we can lay-over there a day or two before starting the "big hop" of 435 miles to Cape Fear,
North Carolina.
We will always have found something we have forgotten or needs to be replaced: Double "A"
batteries, new spark
plug for the
dinghy motor, extra
propane tanks for the rail mounted
grill, spare thermostat for the
engine, once a new mizzen
halyard 'cause the old one was frayed. With the hundreds of individual elements that make up a
cruising sailboat I'm never surprised that something is worn out or forgotten. St. Augustine is, in any case, an excellent harbor for cruisers with lots of
marine related shops and facilities. The same can be said for any harbor on the
east coast of
Florida with a class "A" inlet.
The point is: take a "shake-down"
cruise to a harbor with a lots of
marine services before you make your big hop.
My two cents.
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