Miami to St. Pete

[denverd0n]

Considering buying a boat that's located in Miami. Will be sailing it home to St. Pete. Anyone want to give me a guess as to how many days I should allow?

I'm thinking Biscayne Bay to Card Sound, inside the Keys to about Long Key, take a right turn and head up the coast toward Egmont Key.

[imagine2frolic]

Depends on what kind of boat you will be sailing, and weather? I have left Miami, and made it to my slip in 42 hours. An approximate distance of 450 miles. Then again I usually make Gun Cay in 6 hours, but have taken as long as 17 hours. That was one miserable sail......i2f

[forsailbyowner]

Our usual route for that trip would be 1st night Rodriguez Key, Boot Key,Shark river, Marco Island, Boca Grande,Venice free dock then Egmont. This is only daysailing with no overnighters. Fastest trip was 26 hrs keys to egmont hauling butt on a beam reach. I've done this route dozens of times. Going up before boot key requires draft of less than 4'.

[denverd0n]

Well, I'm actually considering three different boats, but all of them are located in Miami. First choice is a Moody 346--hull speed about 7 kts. Other choices are a Watkins 36 or a Morgan OI 36--hull speed for both about 7.25 kts. Draft for the Moody is 3.75' (bilge keels), for the others about 4.5'.

[Hurricane Harry]

A sailor arriwes when he can.

Good Luck/ Harry

[imagine2frolic]

HARRY,

Words to sail by.........i2f

[unknown1]

We just did the trip last april in our endeavour 43. From No Name harbor on Key Biscayne we took Hawk channel and motored to Marathon. That was day one. We anchored just to the west of Boot Key. It was a good anchorage. The next day we motored/sailed to Indian Key in the 10,000 islands. Again a good anchorage. So that's day two. Day three we sailed/motored to San Carlos bay found a place to anchor and spent the night. Day four we motored up the intercoastal to Sarasota and anchored downtown. Day 5 we motored up the intercoastal till it comes out just west of the Skyway bridge, then we sailed to where we have a slip in St. Pete, the Harborage Marina. Since the boat was new to us we took our time and didn't push it.

[Hurricane Harry]

Yep frolic how many times havent we sailed in great winds for long, singing I be there soon, and suddenly no wind a few miles from land.
Its all about the weather.

sailing can be soo hard, one can go close to mental, but out again we go/ Harry

[S/V Janis II]

I would encourage you to sail down Hawk Channel instead of inside. We took Channel 5 east of Long Key, as you mentioned, and headed north via the Yachtsman Channel. I remember seeing birds walking on either side of the channel, so pay attention. We drew 4.5 and had no problem.