Topic: Anyone sailing south this year or next??

[Jeff.]

Darryl and laurie,
My wife and I have just crossed back into florida from a winter in the bahamas. I may be able to shed some light.
We arrived in Bimini on Jan 8 and departed the Abacos on April 13.
Overall the weather considerably improved throughout the trip, as it happens each year as spring arrives.
The trouble is that during the winter months cold fronts from the north bring strong clocking winds down to the bahamas. In Jan these occur about twice a week or so and by March maybe every 10 days, these are approximate figures based only on memory.
Often these bring winds gusting over 30 knots for several days and you must find all around protection as the winds swing around the compass.
The real effect is that in Jan you are spending more time on the boat bouncing or ashore and in April or later you have more fair days for dinghy exploring and swimming and such.
I would generalize and say in the early part of the season you see more boats from up north because they have to make the trek back up before hurricane season starts, which takes time, whereas cruisers from florida by can hop over in April spend three months there and get back home before the hurricanes.

That post got way longer than I anticipated. Oh well hope it helps.
Jeff

[Lake Simcoe]

Hi Jeff

Thanks for the comments.. Laurie and I have been following your guys adventure and have really enjoyed your posts l am sure it's been both amazing and difficult at times.
All the best and safe travels on the way home.

Darryl and Laurie

[Jeff.]

We are glad you're enjoying following along.
That might be the best concise description of this sort of trip. It definitely has its ups and downs.
If it was easy everyone would do it. Which is part of the appeal, it's certainly worth the effort.

Jeff

[SailorGuy]

 Hi Holdech, sorry for my long absence from the discussion boards! Well that mention I made of maybe meeting a girl and that would be the only thing to possibly derail my plans to head south on my A32.... well next month we get married and that ring she has on her finger in the picture is where my new rigging and dodger fund was spent. If there was ever a reason to not Venture off down into the Caribbean, she is it! It's a well worth trade off.  Sadly, I'm not quite sure if she could do any serious long distance cruising. She loves to sail but got terribly sea sick when I tried to cross lake Erie to Port Stanley, Ontario a month ago.

[SailorTim]

SailorGuy,

#1 Congratulations!   

#2 She is a real cutie!

#3 What REALLY caught my eye are your cockpit speakers.  Did you mount those or a previous owner?  I think that is a great placement.  A PO mounted mine close to the companionway hatch near the floor.  They are out of the way, but not the best for projecting sound.

#4 Congrats, again.  If you ever make it as far as Lake St Clair let me know.  If I travel from Grosse Pointe, I tend to go north rather than south.

Tim

[SailorGuy]

SailorTim, thank you! She is quite the catch!

As for the cockpit speakers, they were there prior to me owning the boat. They sound fantastic where they are at. Unfortunately, the port speaker blew out last year and I'm having a difficult time finding a replacement. That size speaker really isn't made anymore, 5.5 in oh, and most of the new speakers out now or 6 to 6.5 in ( at least the good quality ones are that size, there are some cheaper ones like poly-planar that make smaller speakers). I'll probably end up installing 6.5 in speakers in their place, but I don't think it will look as nearly nice as what is there now. The previous owner installed another set of speakers in the salon area in the forwardmost storage cabinet (with the wicker front), and it really sounds great.

 If all goes according my plan, I'm hoping to make it to the West End of the lake sometime in late August for a couple weeks of sailing and might even make it up into Lake St. Clair