"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
snip It's legal if you display proper lights and signals but it's also
unwise. The forces are enormous in unprotected water and there's a
high probability of losing the boat. Your best option is a small
protected area well inland. We took our Grand Banks 49 up the
Okeechobee Waterway to a sheltered spot 60 miles upriver. We had no
problems at all nor did any of the other boats near us. Don't wait
until the last minute however because the locks and bridges were
closed the morning of the storm.

Agree. My neighbor in Matlacha with a 36' trawler did wait but still came
out OK. Charley came across Pine Island between Pineland and Bokeelia,
which put it 10 miles max as the crow flies from our houses. He put some
extra lines across the canal to hold it off the dock and suffered no damage,
other than a couple of the 4 foot waves coming down the canal coming up over
the stern.

Mayday