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New Message from Ile a Vache February 5th, 2010 Message received from Jean Phelix Joseph on Ile a Vache. OceansWatch Director Donna Lange visited Ile a Vache last year to set up contacts for our Sail Aid to Haiti/Helping Hands project. We were already planning to send OceansWatch member boats there to help this year, the earthquake just made it so much more important to go now and bring food. First boats are departing Key West Feb 10. Please help us fill the second fleet leaving in 4 weeks with food and AID. SV Tranquility and other OceansWatch members are organizing more sponsorship and donations to get the boats there and back safely, docomenting the “SAIL AID TO HAITI” for others to see how’s it’s done and how we can continue with these missions in the future. Negative impact and needs of help for the island’s Western side of Haiti has been severely affected. In Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti almost all the buildings: like national palace, justice palace, IRS national office, churches, schools etc are collapsed. According to Haitian newspapers more than 200000 people are dead. The earthquake hit the island of Ile a vache, but it did not destroy anything, nor killed anybody. It frightened people on the island when it passed; it shook houses, trees, etc. it fell down many people by the dizziness during its passage. True it did not kill people on the island but it has negative impact on Ile a vache. Many people fled away from Port au Prince and are returning to Ile a Vache for sheltering with empty hands; life becomes expensive on the island. A sack of rice of 150kg that cost 22.5U.S $.the price for a sack of rice of 150kg is at 37.5 U.S $ now. Doubtless it is going to be up and up, the fact that we have no authorities to regulate the price, people who have merchandise to sell are trying to make more money without thinking of the others, with that we think that sooner or later if we have no correction on this matter there should be riot of hunger everywhere in Haiti. The city hall of Ile a Vache is doing a census to identify the numbers of Ile a Vache, of victims people who were at Port au Prince, coming in at Ile a Vache forced by the earthquake. This census is for the twenty six large villages on the island.trusted by the local leaders. This work has to be done quickly so that informations must be ready and available in case of humanitarian organizations need. The island of Ile a Vache is an island lack of resources. Its situation is going to be worse according to some people. To explain it, they talk about dependence of the island from the main land. So whatever people on the island need they have to go to Les Cayes. There the basic foods are expensive, people on the island is under black-market from the mainland sales commodities. Ile a Vache knows bad moment because of the earthquake of January 12, 2010. There are many people from IIe a Vache who were at Port au Prince either for study or work who lost their lives. There are families who have lost deadly four (4) members. They are also families on the island who do not have news about members of their families who were at Port au Prince; these people are counted in the list of disappeared people. In a family where there were 5 or 6 persons before the earthquake pass to 7 at 8 after the earthquake, people who come down on the island increase the family. People on the island worry more of the future of the island. We have people on the island who come in with broken legs, broken arms. We have dead persons too. I know a family not living far from me, two of her daughters die. not being able to stay in Port au Prince any longer after the earthquake many people come down in the twenty six large villages of Ile a Vache in numbers from time to time. These people went in Port au Prince for many things. Some went for study, others for work in order to be able to help the others members of their families who are impoverished. Now they return empty hands. There is a family on the island, four members in it dying: a mother, a baby of two yrs, a brother and a cousin when the house where they lived, fell on them we do not find their bodies to bury. This thing saddens so much the rest of this family. It is a case among many cases of dead persons of Ile a Vache people living at Port au Prince People, who die, were a big hope for their family at ile a vache. Because, each times a sister, a brother or someone else called them for a case of sickness, hunger, debt, etc, they always made efforts to send some money, food or a somewhat thing for them. They are in a state of being not able to help themselves and the ones that they are used to help in their needs. Ile a Vache is going to be more victims ahead in a country where things are getting worse and worse. Seen that Ile a Vache is let alone by itself, empty almost of everything, be in help to this island on all the faces are necessary in a dream for hope returns on this island. we need some micro projects to help the farmers, the sales women ,fishing materials, medicine for the sickness people with help of nurses, doctors, medical professional in general to care the patients; school supplies for the children at school when it is reopened, food to help the most needy persons on the island. People who can resist to the negative impact on the earthquake are those who have a parent abroad either in United States, Canada, Europe, and the Antilles that each month send money to them. Details for the numbers of people from Port au Prince come in to the island of Ile a Vache; you will have it as soon as we have the complete result of the census for the city hall of Ile a Vache, even if I can give you a partial result assessed at 3000 people come in to the island. Thanks so much for your determination to help the people of ile a vache. I am broke. All help and aid needed. Yours in Christ, Jean Phelix Joseph Please help OceansWatch deliver food and aid to the small islands and villages of Haiti like Ile a Vache. Make a donation on our web site through PayPal and 100% of the funds you give will buy food and supplies and deliver them directly to the people who need them:
Sail Aid to Haiti – Delivering relief supplies on sailboats.
OceansWatch.org members and sailing vessels from Florida, Eastern US and the Caribbean are working together to establish a network of boats delivering aid to Haiti. We call it Sail Aid to Haiti.
SV Tranquility and Trans Marine will be leading the secound flotilla leaving from south Florida end of Feburary. We are concentrating on the organization of attain Aid and delivering to the coastal communities that need it.
One of the logistical challenges in helping the people of Haiti is that the three main ways of getting relief supplies of food and medicine into the country (by land, air and large ship), all create a bottleneck in Port au Prince, with much of the aid sitting in warehouses or under guard while people are starving. Also, the primary aid distribution centers are in and around Port au Prince, so not enough aid is being delivered to small islands and remote villages, where many refugees have fled to get away from the awful mess in the city. They are cut off and removed from aid and receive very little if any at all. They are hungry and lacking the basic necessities of life: food, shelter and medical care.
Another serious issue is that corruption and inefficiency mean that somewhere between 50 to 90% of every dollar collected for aid to Haiti is wasted and never reaches the people in need. Even from the most honest, established and trusted organizations, overhead, administrative expenses, salaries, marketing, promotion, advertising and shipping eat up a huge percentage of every dollar donated. Greed, corruption, bribery and outright theft by gangs in Haiti siphon off a huge amount more. Food is scarce, medical supplies are scarce, gasoline is selling for $125 a gallon on the black market, and bottled water is selling for $10 a gallon, even if it was donated or purchased with money donated for relief to Haiti.
What can be done? Deliver aid directly to the people in need on sail powered boats. OceansWatch is an all volunteer organization with no salaries, overhead, or administrative costs, all donations we receive go directly on sailboats with volunteer crews delivered to the small islands and coastal fishing villages in Haiti.
Donate to OceansWatch and we promise that every dollar you give will be used to purchase food, medicine and supplies delivered by an all volunteer crew on a wind powered sailboat directly to the people in need on the coast of Haiti.
Please go to www.OceansWatch.org to donate by PayPal or credit card.
It’s taken a little longer than expected to get the second D400 Wind generator up on the starboard side of the stern. Since taking down the Four Winds that self destructed on us a few years back we had always intended to have two wind generators working for our power requirements, now the results are finally in and we can’t say enough about, what a difference it has made. The D400 wind generator manufactured by Eclectic Energy in England and imported by the DC Dynamics Division of Southeast Marine Services in Oregon, features a new a larger tail. Comparing the two generators side by side (older D400 and newer) we can see that the longer tail helps the generator to turn into the wind more effectively. Last night, two generators running side by side, in gusts up to 36 kts. were still quieter than the Kiss Wind Generator behind us and the Air X Generator that we can hear from a couple of boats away here in Boot Key harbor Marathon. Today we saw an average output of 35 amps & peaks of 62 amps in winds of 18-25 and gusts up to 32, Trans Marine Pro is proud to be the authorized East Coast Dealer & Installer for the D400 wind generators, we wouldn’t sell you anything that we wouldn’t use or test on our own vessel SV Tranquility.
Tranquility and crew can now see, yes thats see what we are eating in our saloon. Ocra green marine sent us their new LED interior warm white eco lites that replace any MR light fixture. The LED’s are stlyish and eco friendly providing full brightness and warmth to any cabin onboard.
It has been a long slog south this past couple of months, not that it has been uneventful on board SV Tranquility. After winterizing a clients boat in Glouster Virginia we sailed on the out side south to Titusville Florida arriving on Thanksgiving day and had a burnt pork dinner and were all in bed by 6:30pm. The kids Maya and Fynn have been doing watches with us learning about navigation and constellation’s, checking on the course and keeping an eye on the radar, we have yet to pull out the paper charts for plotting the course but that will happen on the next adventure.We were all delighted to hear the sonic boom of the space shuttle Discovery entering earths atmosphere on November 27th landing directly across from us at Kennedy Space Center, the kids had front row seats as we pulled up space.com so they could hear and watch the landing inside the control room and see the shuttle descending onto the runway, it was way cool! We were helping out our friends Mike and Rana with their boat “Raven” to re step her mast’s and splash her for the season at the Westland Marina in Titusville. The word got out that Cameron for Trans Marine Pro was in the neighbourhood and before we knew it he was doing a complete re-wire on SV “Go Lucky” see the note below of Klaus comments of Cameron’s work ethics -”Dear Cameron, I would like to thank you for the dedication you put into this job. This was truly unique , not seen by me before in my many years of working also in this country.Thanks again, good health to all of your family and a truly happy next year.Klaus”
The Marina was a great place to meet interesting people and it was lovely to be surprised by some old friends that we hadn’t seen in a while. Leighia managed to get some of the fellow cruisers out of bed at 7am for Yoga on the Clam dock, I don’t think the locals had seen anything like it before and were quite taken back by all the stretching and bending that was going on so early in the morning. The time finally came for SV Tranquility and her crew to jump on the weather window that provided the perfect sailing conditions for us to get south to Marathon in the Keys. We had a great sail, winds were 20-25kts out of the NE and the boat was averaging 7.5 SOG our big heavy girl likes those conditions so it was very comfortable, we only had to turn the motor on once outside Miami when the wind died out for a bit, but then as soon as we made the course change she picked up speed again and we had the wind on our bean and the swell behind us, it was truly great it was exciting to be sailing again!
We made it under the telephone wire which is a source of great debate on how high it actually is, it is meant to be 65ft (with the boot key harbor bridge now constantly open) it is the only restriction. our mast has been measured at 67ft, Leighia had go up the mast on our last time here because we were unsure if we would hit the wire. This time we went in at low tide .4 above datum, we didn’t plow through the mud and didn’t touch the wire, so our conclusion is that AT’T telephone company has raised the wire since so many other boats have hit it. Now we think that we only had an extra foot above our wind gear and antennas so take it as you will, we are only writing our experience and don’t take responsibilty for people taking our word on the wire!SV Tranquility is now sitting comfortably on mooring V1 in Boot Key Harbor Marathon and will be here at least untill the Miami Sail Boat show. Trans Marine will be at the show in booth 862 promoting and selling D400 wind generators and Ocra Green Marines LED Nav lights, (and their new interior LED’s) and of course our services as licenced and professional installers for renewable energy and electrical systems. Read the rest of this entry »
Reducing the “Carbon Keel Print” on Oceans through the installation of OGM LED Navigational Lights
Palm Beach Florida November 12th, 2009 – Trans Marine Professionals announced today a new partnership with the leaders in LED marine lighting, “Orca Green Marine”. The Austin, Texas based company and makers of the popular LXTA Tri Anchor LED navigational light, have awarded Trans Marine as their East coast representative. Trans Marine Pro is a family based business who’s mobile workshop, sailing vessel “Tranquility” sails up and down the Atlantic eastern seaboard promoting and installing renewable energy products and systems onboard vessels.
“Orca Green Marine” has revolutionized the LED – “Light Emitting Diode” technology by making high quality LED navigational lights that can stand up to the harsh marine environment that we live and work in”, said Cameron Murray Trans Marine Pro’s Renewable Energy Specialist. “This was a natural partnership for both businesses, which are committed to reducing the impact of carbon emissions in the marine environment, by the promotion of clean green friendly solutions”. At Trans Marine through our own onboard trials of what really works in the salt environment, we have firsthand knowledge of reliable energy systems that will increase the time between the recharging of your battery bank.It’s really is a reality now for anything that floats, the only way that makes real sense in today’s environment is to use LED navigational lights onboard your vessel whether it be for commercial or private. While sailing the waters of the East Coast USA to the Bahamas and Caribbean we too often see the impact that consumer’s choices in boating are having on the world’s oceans and it’s our mission to change that”.
“OGM was founded on the mission of bringing environmentally friendly, energy efficient LED lighting to the marine industry. When it came time to find someone to represent OGM’s products on the East Coast, Leighia and Cameron of Transmarine Pro were definitely the right fit” states Meghan Matthews co-founder and CEO of OGM, “As Renewable Energy Specialists, their commitment to the environment and to providing energy efficient products for their customers is a valuable addition to the OGM team”.
Trans Marine Pro will sailing around South Florida this winter promoting and installing Renewable Energy Systems and Platforms onboard sailing vessels. They will be in Miami for the strictly sail boat show during February 11-15th, 2010 where we will be representing OGM LED Lighting, and D400 Wind Generators. “We will be presenting the new Orca Green LED Lite EcoPacs from OGM” said Leighia Murray the admiral of Trans Marine, “I can see that OGM is continuality reaffirming their commitment to quality LED lighting and how they package them’. When Meghan Matthews OGM’s CEO told me they are about to announce several new products and each of them were to be packaged in boater friendly reusable containers, from stainless steel containers to coolers and lunch bags, I thought wow this is the eco friendly company I want to work with and promote because of their commitment to value and conscious business ethics are much like our own.
To find out where Trans Marine Pro is currently sailing or anchored and a list of OGM LED Lighting visit their website at www.transmarinepro.com/led-lighting.html
Trans Marine Pro has been sailing up and down the Eastern Seaboard for the past 6 years promoting the use of Renewable Energy products by installing Wind Generators, Solar Panels and LED Lighting onboard vessels whose owners are committed to cleaning up their vessels carbon keel print on the world’s oceans. “Being that we are a floating test platform for OGM Navigational LED Lights we know that we can stand beside a product that we use on our own boat SV Tranquility” a custom steel 56ft Bruce Roberts, said Cameron Murray, We are making a conscious effort to be leaders in own children’s future by only selling and installing equipment that minimizes the consumption of energy through the likes of LED lighting while maximizing the capture of energy through Wind Generators and Solar Panels onboard.
Trans Marine is a mobile business sailing from Florida up to the NE and beyond installing and promoting Renewable Energy in the marine environment.
Ok I’m not onto this blogging thing! How long has it been since I last put finger tips to keys and wrote about what we have been up too? No this blogging thing is not for me! I don’t have the disapline to write about our adventures everyday so I think I’ll go back to writing up stories about of adventures and clean seas projects, even though I’m still behind on those too…. Since I last logged on and opened up our website to write about Tranquilities wake through the Atlantic ocean, we have been from St Petesburg in West Florida down through the keys and up to Marathon then over to the Bahamas and through the Exumas to Turks and Caicos then back up to West Palm making our way north to the beautiful city of Charleston SC for 4th of July then Beauford NC to await on weather. We also stopped in at Reedsville VA for a Renewable Energy installation and now have arrived in Oyster bay NY for our summer season of promoting “Go Green with Trans Marine”.
Look for stories about our adventures through our cruising log, Yes I am getting my fingers excited about following up on the past year of stories to be told.
It’s hot today and we are going to the beach and mummy is taking us on a adventure. Since we have been here I met some friends Dakota and Alista and Kaleb, we play at the park and at the city Marina. We found nets in the mangroves and fishing there. I have been learning to start the motor and drive the tender. By Fynn
Somebody was going to fast in the harbor and hit a Turtle that was the size of a manatee and the died and was seen by the beach puffed up and rotten it looked like it would explode, I don’t feel good about the turtle dieing. If the boat had stopped they would save the turtle and take it down the road to the turtle hospital. I was eating corn Friday night for dinner and my teeth were hurting but then I realized that when mummy wiggled my 2 front bottom teeth they were loose. And when we were on the boat Mitzy the cat bit Mummies toe, and thats all I have to say. love maya xox
It’s taken me far too long to get here but since I’ve finally sat down with a cup of green tea in hand, it’s time to recount our past 2 weeks in St Petersburg Florida. We arrived Monday Dec 1st after a 22 hour run up the coast from Ft Myers beach and dropped anchor safely on the south side of the pier, not knowing the area this seemed at good as any and wondered aloud why there weren’t more cruisers here in anticipation of the St Pete boat show.
Over the next couple of days we prep and prepared the boat and ourselves getting all the brochures ready for networking the show, since we didn’t have the transport we utilized the closest CVS for printing cartridges and printing paper. St Pete does have a courtesy dock for dinghies to use and it’s $1.00 an hour or cruisers can take advantage of the Nth Vinoy basins dingy dock at $5.00 a day. Thank goodness the show management provides a dock for boaters during the show as paying each day would have added up quickly.
Sam and Jamie from Aarkon inflatable’s got us some passes which allowed Trans marine to be represented at the show each day and as lovely as good luck is John and Libby from Hotwire allowed us to post brochures and in return we helped out in their booth networking and learning as much as possible about the KISS Wind generator as so to be installers and promoters for them in New England and the islands.
Everyone in the V berth
Over the next four days there was about to be laughter, sore feet, near death and a sailboat on the break wall, oh and a great party! The first night of the show Cam and I had gone to bed after a long day of self promotion, networking for Trans Marine we were awakened by loud thud on the hull, thinking a boat had run into us we both jumped up and ran to look through the kitty hole in the hatch. Cam being more awake than I yelled to me that “HE” was in the water! Well you know what it’s like trying to find some clothes in a hurry and in the dark. We ran up onto the back deck and “he” is Les in the water holding onto (but not in his Dingy) with his little 25ft sailboat drifting down with the anchor up and steel drums blasting. First thing out of his mouth was that he had been trying to get back into his dingy after falling over the side and self confessed that he was “Rum Dumb” I said at least he was talking because he was bloody lucky to be talking Rum at all. Cam and I jumped into our tender and huffed and puffed to get his dead weight into the boat, having no energy left and weighing about 200 pounds upright it made for digging in our feet and hosting him up with all the strength we had, Cam did mention afterwards that he thought we might have to use the crane to get him in. What an absolute classic old drunken sea dog he is so lucky he didn’t drown and or die of hypothermia.
Crew from several boats aboard SV Tranquility for dinner
The show wasn’t as busy as we thought it would be or the vendors had hoped for, but this opened up opportunities for longer conversations and salty dog talk with people in the industry that Trans Marine Pro was looking to work with and being able to go to seminars concerning cruising and advice on what to do if?. Fynn was itching at the bit to do the fishing clinic and on the third day of the show he got to go and listen to the advice of a master fisherman with all the lingo and special techniques, he was stocked to receive a fishing rod (all the kids did) it was a non for profit mission to cast awareness of Florida’s fisheries and aquatic habitats. Fynn loved it so much he carried the darn rod around throughout the Tents and show for the next 2 days, fishing of the dock at every opportunity. Maya and Fynn made fast friends with another family of boat kids and as they do they invited them out for a playdate which was enjoyed by all I think we had 7 kids under 7 on board. We will be looking for them aboard their catamaran next time we come to the west coast, special friendships are made easily with children of the sea and they might forget names but they never forget what their friends boats look like.
Boat kids
Saturday night and Jamie, Sam and baby Liam came too stay aboard HMS and we had a fabulous dinner of curried chicken and fine wine, of course this was much more decadent than the free pizza and beer they were serving at the Latt’s and Att’s party that Bob Bitching and crew were putting on, but hey we hate standing in line with wet feet even if it is free and there were just too many people. Thinking that it was going to be an uneventful evening we all went to bed and were awoken at about 3am as the wind picked up during the night and our big boat show battle flag was a little too high and started hitting the mast as it was flapping in the breeze which woke up Sam and in turn his walking around securing items on the back deck woke us up. We then noticed that one of the other boats in the anchorage had dragged anchor and was up against the sea wall in front of the airport. After noticing a flotilla of dinghies it was decided to sit back and watch as one more people would only add to the confusion and yelling that was going on. Once we saw some of the other dinghy’s depart from being yelled at for trying to help and the boat managed to get off the sea wall but was in such a panic he was driving around at full throttle and had still had the anchor down. After realizing that this was only a hazard to us and the other boats in the anchorage it was decided to go and firmly lend assistance, upon arrival Sam and Cam were yelled at and told to leave them alone and that everything was under control. After politely but firmly directing the captain to pull up their anchor and some calmly words to his wife whom stayed at the wheel we used our tender as a tug and brought them out into the deeper water and safely away from all other hazards. Once clear of SV Tranquility they then proceeded to go around in circles for the next hour or more trying to find a place to re anchor. At one point it looked as though they were going to drop their anchor over top of ours thus after letting out enough chain they would have ended up right on top of us, however they must have noticed this half way though their anchoring maneuver and thought better of it. Finally at quarter to five in the morning we decided that it was best to try and get a little shut eye before having to get up for the last day of the show and left them to continue driving around in circles until the sun came up. That afternoon they did come by with apologize for the abusive language and thank-you’s for the help and professional guidance.
Sunday and last day of the show, feeling pretty tired by now and looking forward to it being over! As always in our enthusiasm we invite people on Thursday to come to an end of show BBQ on Sunday then find ourselves thinking jeez I’d rather sleep! and like clockwork a couple of wines later and the BBQ is cooking the music is playing and intelligent (or maybe not so) conversation is flowing with a mixed group of people that have never met each other but have a love of life and respect for environment in common. I love putting different people from all walks of life together it’s very interesting and makes you step out of your bubble to engage in the thoughts of others.
Tranquility crew had the most laid back day ever on Monday with everyone just cruising and playing with Liam, we had told Maya and Fynn that we would do anything they wanted today since they had endured the 4 days of going to seminars and networking. First thing was that they wanted to go fishing, so we drop of the Danoch family and headed to the pier where we went up to the dock house and the kids got to feed the pelicans and fish from the wharf, Fynn was a little chatter box talking up a storm to any fisherman around whether they wanted to engage or not, we stayed till after dusk and it was only because the bellies were rumbling that started to leave and looking back we saw the HMS Bounty tied up on the face dock. This would be its home for the next couple of months. Unfortunately we wouldn’t get the chance to tour on it so we took a couple of pictures as we headed out of the basin on route for Tarpon Springs home of John and Libby and the great Sea Sponge industry of Florida.
We decided to stop in at the Coconut grove anchorage in Miami last night to stall on a approching low, thus future sailing instead of motoring against unfavourable winds. Coming into the Channel Cameron recognized a Cheoy Lee (Once a white boat captain always a white boat cap), heading south and knew it was the same boat our good friend Aunty Helen worked on, bummer we just missed her!. This was the first time we have ever been to Dinner Key by SV Tranquility and our expectations were dampened at the sight of city smog and abandon boats. Well at least there were some watch dogs off a Burger MY”Heritage” from the city marina that came out in their fizz boat to help guide us safely into the anchorage that has a spit that comes out on the north side of the channel. They also gave us instructions on where the dingy dock was and to take care to lock it up as downtown Miami had been having trouble with theft. After dropping anchor it was bitter sweet on whether we should have stopped as our body clocks will be even more out of sync after spending the last 6 days taking on the perils of the sea and trying to agree on which number of the beauford scale the seas and winds were at. It was decided between a 8 & 9 as we saw gale force winds up to 50kts and white capped waves with long hanging crests. More about our journey south when I write up the cruising log from Virginia beach VA to Naples FL and post it on the cruising log page through the website.
The kids were very excited to be able to run around the deck now that we had stopped and get rid of their pent up energy. Staring over the side they were in awe to see the sea bed below and stated that they would be going snorkeling at first light tomorrow. Staring over the side and seeing the remnants of mans polluting ways I wasn’t encouraging the idea. Fynn had a hard time grasping where we actually were in relation to the name of the city, “Mummy what city is that?”“We are in Miami” “Oh we are in your ami” “No Fynn we are in Miami” “I see we are in Maya’s ami” Ok I’m still not sure if he got the point but hey it could well be Fynn’s ami for all he cared by the end of this confusing conversation. So we lit up the BBQ poured a cocktail and had a wonderful meal. We still felt like we were at sea though, since there is no conscious regard for speed restriction in the channel and the sports fisherman fly by at 20kts. No problem man People of zee world relax!Tranquility and crew decided not to stay in Miami and picked up anchor this morning at first light and high tide to head to Key West and wait out the weather there. The winds have picked up to 20kts out of the NW which makes for a rolly dead down wind sail at 7.2kts SOG, we are currently abeam of Plantation Key approaching the Hen and Chicken sanctuary preservation area.
The Marina was a great place to meet interesting people and it was lovely to be surprised by some old friends that we hadn’t seen in a while. Leighia managed to get some of the fellow cruisers out of bed at 7am for Yoga on the Clam dock, I don’t think the locals had seen anything like it before and were quite taken back by all the stretching and bending that was going on so early in the morning. The time finally came for SV Tranquility and her crew to jump on the weather window that provided the perfect sailing conditions for us to get south to Marathon in the Keys. We had a great sail, winds were 20-25kts out of the NE and the boat was averaging 7.5 SOG our big heavy girl likes those conditions so it was very comfortable, we only had to turn the motor on once outside Miami when the wind died out for a bit, but then as soon as we made the course change she picked up speed again and we had the wind on our bean and the swell behind us, it was truly great it was exciting to be sailing again!
