One other stray thought, pay attention to the
weather forecasts and late season hurricanes. I know, most will scoff, but have a look at Kate in 1985 (I had an up close personal look from the inside on the
deck of a sailboat). She reached
hurricane intensity in the southern
Bahamas on Nov. 16 and peak intensity (Category III) on Nov. 20 between
Key West and
Cuba. Not wanting to be a scaremonger, Kate was the latest
hurricane to ever make landfall in the US, just a reminder that even this late in the year we can be on the tail end of the season.
Sea surface anomaly
charts for the
current period show the northern Caribbean/tropical Atlantic as being 2-3 degrees warmer than typical, which is similar to the conditions that spawned Kate. Not a meteorologist, and don't pretend to be one, just think people headed down this
route ought to have eyes open and pay attention to signs of abnormal activity.
Hurricane Kate (1985) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
As for the Providence Channel
route, we had a reasonable trip. Got out in the middle of the Stream, made some northing, then were able to hold port tack close-hauled through most of the
passage. As others have said here, what's wrong with a little upwind
work? Not everyone's cup of tea, which is why I don't give it a wholehearted recommendation, but I'd do it again if the
weather looked right. On the other hand, lots of nice places to stop in the
Bahamas if you have time and want to break up the trip a little.