Logistics of Cruising and Weather

Logistics of Cruising and Weather

By Capt. Scott Buckley

We recently completed an offshore passage from Pensacola FL to White City FL.  Total distance is about 140 nm and it took us about 24 hrs dock to dock. Pensacola Fl is the sight of a pretty impressive naval station and a historic Fort.  We stayed at the new Palafox Pier marina and did some repairs to the boat and waited for favorable weather.  We were pleasantly docked next to some fellow cruisers (Todd and Nina on SV Prism) who had left a week before us headed east and fed information about their experiences to us as we travel about 1 day behind them.  We overtook them at Gulf Port MS and they caught up to us in Pensacola.  We both left Pensacola on Thursday but were bound for different destinations.  While we were headed for Apalachicola FL they were headed for Panama City.  Our destination was about 35 nm further than theirs.  

The above picture depicts the route we took.  We stayed inside the 3 nm coastal limit due to a Navy broadcast that they would be conducting live fire exercises in the area form Destine FL to San Blas Island FL from 3 to 125 nm offshore.  I am glad we heeded the warning.  We thought we saw some lightening that first night that as we got closer turned out to be the mussel flashes of some pretty big guns. 
The area that is boarded in the picture above is their live missile test area.  We will be avoiding this area.
I said this post would be about more of the logistics of cruising so here goes.  When planning our departure, route and destination we had to take into account the weather and timing.  As well as what facilities and shelter if any existed at the other end.

The Route

The route had to be offshore.  The ICW in this area cannot be transited by vessels that cannot pass under a 50’ bridge.  We cannot.  The Navarre Bridge east of Pensacola is 50’ high.  The Choctawhatchee Bay entrance bridge is 49’ high and the DuPont bridge by Pearl Bayou east of Panama City is also 50’ high.  The next entrance into the ICW is the Port of St. Joe just north of Apalachicola. With all these restrictions putting in there (Port of St. Joe) was the shortest jump for a journey to the Tampa Bay area.  I have a cousin there that we would like to visit on our way thru.  There would be some protection at the Port of St. Joe or farther up the canal at White City public dock.  I was not looking for an anchorage and when we get to the weather section you will understand why.

The Weather

There was a moderate cold front coming thru Pensacola on Wednesday.  The winds offshore were predicted to be NE around 15 knots.  Though not ideal winds that was much better than winds out of the E or SE.  Once we got past Destin FL and started turning south the NE winds would be favorable for reaching and we sailor like reaching.  The front came thru Wednesday night as predicted and we sat over on SV Prism enjoying the company of our new friends as the rain poured down.  The next morning I got up early and listened to the marine forecast and became concerned with a second much stronger front that was expected to blow thru Friday night.  The forecast called for gale force conditions (35 knot winds) and 14’ seas.  I knew for certain I did not want to be caught at sea in these conditions if it could be avoided.  Further the winds after the front were predicted to swing quickly back to the east. 
So my options were to wait for the second front to pass and the sea to die down and fight the east wind for 100 nm while I work my way east.  Not a very attractive option.  It would delay our departure 3 days and make the offshore passage a very long windward passage.  My second option was to leave after the first front passed and take advantage of the northerly winds and use them to work my way east.  Then find some place to hide for the second front to pass.  My reasoning was that the rest of the journey was roughly in the SSE direction and E winds would not be too difficult to manage. The 1st mate and I discussed the options and agreed the second option was what we were going to do.  The risk was getting caught offshore during the second front.

Managing the Risk

What could get us caught offshore.  Very slow progress, crew injury or equipment failure that stranded us or slowed our progress.  For stranding we would call for help or make way to the nearest port.  One of the tasks we completed in Pensacola was to repair our marine VHF radio.  We had figured out it had very limited range on our trip east and made the decision to fix it before going on.  If our progress was slow we would duck for cover at the nearest port.  If we could not get to a near by port we would run with the wind south and skip Apalachicola entirely.  We had charts and information on all the ports along the route and I did not plan going so far offshore that making a break for one of these ports would be a very long trip.  We rigged up the jack lines on the boat and agreed we would stay “clipped in” at night and if weather and seas dictated it.  We topped off the water tanks and fuel tanks and secured everything else.  We were ready, the boat was ready, the route was planned and the timing was worked out.

The Timing.

The offshore portion of the route was 104 nm and the inland portion of the route was an additional 30 miles.  Because we were both unfamiliar with the approach into Port of St. Joe we did not want to do it in the dark.  Because of the arrival of the second front Friday night we would like to start making our way into the St. Joe Friday morning to give us some time to find shelter.  If we left Pensacola in the late morning we would be in the Gulf of Mexico by 14:00 or 2PM to everybody else.  If we managed 5 to 5.5 knots were would be at the entrance to St. Joe bay at 8 or 9 AM the next day.  5 knots should be very easy to achieve in SV Kooky Dance but I did not want to cut this voyage timing too close and risk getting caught by the second front.  If we got there early we could stand off the entrance until day light arrived. 

The passage

We slipped the lines in Pensacola at 10AM and made the run east toward St. Joe at 13:20. There was an outgoing tide and boosted our speed thru Pensacola Bay.  The winds were a little east of north and the seas were huge.  I was surprised and a bit discouraged by the waves.  It was going to be a long and uncomfortable day if the seas did not lie down.  The Bow was regularly going under and shipping green water onto the deck.  The lee rail was under some of the time as well.  Tamera and I were clipped in and hanging on.  The boat appeared to be doing OK and everything was staying secure.
As we worked our way east the waves did decrease and it was then it hit me why they were so bad as we left Pensacola.  Remember that out going tide that pushed quickly out to the Gulf was a counter current to the prevailing seas.  Seas against current cause the seas to build in height and steepness.  I called SV Prism on the radio and let them know the rough conditions they were in would get better as they worked their way east and away from the Pensacola's out going tidal current.  That was welcome news.
SV Kooky Dance was sailing well around 5.7 to 6 knots but was close to the wind.  The winds had a bit more east to then than the forecast predicted but not enough to get too worked up about.  In a couple of hour the winds veered back to the north and we were sailing at 6 to 6.5 knots.  With this speed however we were going to arrive at our destination at 4AM in the dark.  I said if our speed keeps up I would need to slow the boat down but I would not do so until we were much closer to our final destination.  I said I would look at it with 50 miles to go.  We continued to do well with boat speed even though the winds were a bit variable.  Speed would vary from 5.2 to 7.5 knots thru out the day and at 46 miles to go we rolled in the head sail and sailed on with just the reefed main sail.  I allowed the mail to twist off at the top and got the boat speed down to 4.5 knots.  This had us arriving around 7AM.  At this point I felt pretty certain I could speed back up if needed.
We arrived at the entrance to St. Joe bay at 6:30AM (again the boat speed would creep up occasionally) and proceeded up the canal to join back up to the ICW from Panama City to Apalachicola FL.  We proceeded to the White City public dock and tied up to the floating dock along the canal at 10AM Friday morning.  We ran aground trying to get to the new fixed docks by the boat ramps but got off easily.
We tied the boat up well with 6 dock lines and waited for the second cold front to arrive.  It was late and the winds did not pound us until the wee hours of the morning.  This is why I did not want to find and anchorage to wait out the front.  All the anchorages in this area were in rivers or ox bows.  There would be little swing room and if the anchor dragged there would be little room to react.  The front was going to hit us in the dark and it can difficult to determine if the anchor is dragging in the dark.  I doubted either of us would have been able to relax.

White City Dock

The White City dock is primarily a boat launch dock and a small city park.  There was a bathroom but no showers and no lights in the bathrooms so you should bring a light with you.  We were able to unload our trash and if you walk a short way towards town you could get some weak cellular signal for the phone.  A little over 1/2 mile to the east along Hwy 71 there is a small country store where we bought some bread and eggs.  The store was well stocked for the angler. 

There was no security but we encountered no problems.

We left early the next morning after the second front blew thru.  There was ice on the sails.

Planning the next leg to Tampa Bay.

Based on the weather forecast the winds for Sunday were to decrease to 15 knots from the north and clock to the NE by midnight with seas 3 to 5 feet and occasional 7 feet.  Winds on Monday were to continue out of the NE and gradually clock to the E.  They nearly got it right.  We would leave Apalachicola thru Government Cut and head east with a north wind.  We would be sheltered for a while by St. George Island.  After that it would a wide open fetch to the NE for the seas to build.  The wind would be good for sailing.  My fear was SE winds which prevail in this area.  SE winds would be from the direction we wanted to go which means we would need to tack into the wind the entire 150 miles.  Tacking is sailing a zig zag pattern towards your destination.  It also means you will be sailing hard on the wind which is a point of sail that gives the boat the maximum heal.  Even though you may be sailing 5 or 6 knots thru the water your speed toward your destination is about 70% of that speed if you are optimizing your wind angle.  That would mean tacking the boat for every wind shift.  A difficult thing to do when sailing short handed.  With just 2 persons on board you will not be optimizing your wind angle so your actual speed to your destination will be more in the range of 60% or your speed thru the water or 3 knots.  For the 150 mile run it would take 50 hour.  By taking advantage of the N and NE winds as we planned we could cut that time to 36 hours.  It could be a little rough but it is likely to be rough in any condition that we could sail in.

Planned timing to Tampa Bay FL

We planned to leave White City FL before 8AM on Sunday.  We planned to be thru Government Cut and into the Gulf of Mexico by noon on the same day.  From there we thought we could be entering the Tampa Bay channel by 4PM the next day.  That was the plan.  In the next post we will cover the passage to Tampa Bay FL which incidentally is close to where our boat was made back in 2009 by Caliber Yachts.