Charlotte Harbor to Cape Sable / Keys

[maijipo]

Thx guys....so much information.

Too bad I am not in the Marina on Monday...needs to take a Monday off ! . Will try to find some feedback anyway.

Concerning the sleep I am not too worry for a such small trip in time. Would probably becomes a more pressing issue for longer pasages but not for 30 hours. As someone is saying, I am probably not going to sleep during the night anyway.

Radar is a bit out of my budget for this boat. Since we are only able to sail during the week-end, I don't really have a great use of it. Maybe for the next one in a few years if we can accommodate work and live on board. Working on it !

To a previous post, I am always counting 4 kts speed as average. So far it has been relatively accurate. Of course the boat go faster, but can be slower as well . Really not a big fan of the noisy diesel engine at all. We always try to sail as much as we can. I found the Tartan very flexible in term of wind conditions so far. a 10-15 kts wind would be perfect but we will do with what we have

And at the end “Its the not the Destination, It's the journey.”

I am sharing your posts with the whole crew (wife and my son) and all very excited. This is not our first "long cruise". We have been renting boats in different places for 1 to 3 weeks, but always manage to do mostly day sailing (late and early arrivals). Some renting company does not allow night sailing neither. So all new for us and looking forward ! A few weeks left and we will be on our way. Next week, I am installing solar panels to increase our power autonomy. We have very little energy needs except for the electric engine of the dinghy.

Some of the posts were as well mentioning a start from Fort Myers Beach or Sanibel. That was our intention. Actually Sanibel has as well a south-west anchorage possible by calm condition. If not the East of course. We have been down to Saint James a few time so we know the area.

Next coming week-end will be dedicated to more sailing and preparing the boat.

Chris

[Cadence]

Just watch the weather forecast. The near shore Gulf is like a shallow lake, they kick up fast.