The life of a snowbird.
We arrived in Hingham in early May and within a few weeks had
already chosen November 1st as the target date for returning to Sarasota. Why set
a date so quickly you ask and what about the weather, which as readers know is
the cruising variable beyond our control?
The early selection of the target date is easy to understand. We
need to line up crew for the voyage and our volunteers need to have to have time
to plan their schedules (which includes possible down time for weather).
The weather is always a challenge. We need a good enough
weather window to enable us to optimally cruise from Hingham to Stuart in seven
days and six nights on the North Atlantic Coast.
Explanatory Note: Even with less than perfect weather, we can
still safely make the trip using inland waters, which comprise well over of the 1200 of the 1450 miles to Stuart. However,
each time we “duck in” we increase the length of the trip by increasing the
distance and eliminating night running. Inland
waters north to south: Long Island Sound, Delaware River, Chesapeake Bay, and
the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
Why the hurry you ask? Three simple answers. November
is not exactly prime time for port to port cruising, we have a car to move and
our insurance company does not want us south of Cape Hatteras before November
15. Oh, did I mention the Furry Kid? Kodi refuses to eliminate on the
boat and that would restrict us to day cruising, which combined with the ups
and downs of weather would make for a 30 day trip to cover the distance (about
1,700 statute miles). It would also add needless expense. Add to
that the fact that we would be sleeping in port while the good weather "goes
away" and it's easy to understand our "move the boat" strategy.
Explanatory Note: Our insurance company gives us special dispensation with regard
to crossing Cape Hatteras before November 15 if there are no tropical storms
in our path and we accept a higher (six figure) wind deductible.
Two Hingham Shipyard friends signed on early for the cruise south,
which quickly eliminated challenge #1. Both are experienced boaters.
Skip Roper, a boater from I-dock, and his wife Jan have a 31 foot single
engine Eastern Trawler. Guy Aries has both a boat at the marina and his
captain's license.
Now to the weather. I watch the weather every day and
consider myself a student of weather. I am always calculating whether the
conditions could be used as the seven day weather window we need. Surprisingly,
these windows occur frequently all year. As the time draws near for departure
(approximately10 days out) I start predicting whether the weather will be "good
enough" (waves 3 to 5 foot or better) for the targeted cruising period.
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| Diana, Skip and Jan at the Hingham Yacht Club |
Hello Hurricane Patricia. This remarkable Category 5 hurricane
(i.e., sustained winds over the 155 MPH minimum), the strongest on record (with
gusts to 247 MPH), hit the southwest coast of Mexico on October 23rd, 60 miles
north of Manzanillo and south Porta Vallatra.
It then diminished quickly into a tropical storm (thank you mountains)
and headed northeast through Texas, along the Gulf and then up the Ohio
Valley. It cleared out a lot of weather,
especially in New England where we had seven days of high northeast winds due
to a Bermuda High that stalled a cold front along the coast.
The passage of Patricia’s remnants caused me to move up the
departure date to Saturday, October 31.
Three days earlier, it was clear that starting on Saturday, I had a six
day weather window as high pressure formed on the eastern US with low winds and
calm seas all the way to Stuart. Those conditions were still in place on
Saturday morning.
Written by Les
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| High Pressure dominates the east coast |
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| Siruus wind and waves prediction Dark blue represents calm seas under 2 feet Intensiity changes as colors move from blue to light blue light green, green, etc to red |
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