Leaving a few hours later

Chris here... If you're used to seeing us leave at 7am or 8am, we won't be doing that this time. Due to a strong morning wind, bigger waves and very cold morning temperatures, we're going to be leaving around noon or one. Also, we'll be running about 30-35nm offshore as opposed to going direct from Charleston to Ft. Pierce. If we went direct, we'd probably enter the Gulf Stream, and since the current would be against us that would be a bad thing (not to mention that having a north component to the wind causes some ridiculous seas).

I spent a bunch of time this evening going over our course on our navigation software (RosePoint Navigator's Coastal Explorer 2009 Beta), entering different start times and different speeds trying to figure out when we'd get to the inlet. You know what I figured out? You can't predict anything. I think I'm starting to get this whole cruising thing. In my business, I'm used to being completely in control. Out here, you have to line everything up and let it run its course. What happens, happens, and you just adjust what you're doing accordingly. Funny thing - I always told everyone I worked with that you can't pick your result - you can only follow a process that hopefully achieves the result you're looking for. I can't believe how much passage planning and business are alike.

You can download a Google Earth file with our anticipated path here (if it just shows a page full of "stuff", right click on the link and save it to your computer, and then use Google Earth to open it). We'll have the SPOT going - the link to our tracking page is on the right side of this blog. Also, Poppi arrived here safely and we're looking forward to a passage with him! I'll try to do one more quick post right before we untie our lines tomorrow.