Flying Pig will be taking advantage of an unusually good window to
make our passage to Ft. Pierce, where we'll be on the hard for several
months during family business. You can follow our progress by
clicking tinyurl.com/flyingpigspot, which holds a week's worth of
locations at 10-minute intervals.

We'll initially be going NW from Raccoon Cay to avoid the Cochinas
Banks but staying south enough to avoid the Middle Ground shoals.

From there we'll go directly west over the Great Bahama Bank and pick
up the favorable current in the Hurricane Flats where we'll turn NW
again, riding it until the area near Orange Cay.

From there we'll choose the most favorable wind direction to pick up
the Gulf Stream. Current weather information suggests that it should
be both favorable winds and seas for our travels taking advantage of
the 3-knot-plus lift it can provide.

We'll turn out at Ft. Pierce, or Lake Worth if it's apparent we won't
get to FTP comfortably before dark, anticipated to be on Sunday
afternoon.

Those interested may also catch us before and after we speak with
Chris on 4045.0 SSB, USB at 6:30-7:30AM, other than Sunday, when he's
off.

Fair Winds to all our friends afloat; we'll see the shoreside folks
soon!

L8R

Skip
--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

The Society for the Preservation of Tithesis commends your ebriated
and scrutible use of delible and defatigable, which are gainly, sipid
and couth. We are gruntled and consolate that you have the ertia and
eptitude to choose such putably pensible tithesis, which we parage.

Stamp out Sesquipedalianism

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
...
Flying Pig will be taking advantage of an unusually good window to
make our passage to Ft. Pierce, where we'll be on the hard for several
months during family business. You can follow our progress by
clicking tinyurl.com/flyingpigspot, which holds a week's worth of
locations at 10-minute intervals.

We'll initially be going NW from Raccoon Cay to avoid the Cochinas
Banks but staying south enough to avoid the Middle Ground shoals.

From there we'll go directly west over the Great Bahama Bank and pick
up the favorable current in the Hurricane Flats where we'll turn NW
again, riding it until the area near Orange Cay.

From there we'll choose the most favorable wind direction to pick up
the Gulf Stream. Current weather information suggests that it should
be both favorable winds and seas for our travels taking advantage of
the 3-knot-plus lift it can provide.

We'll turn out at Ft. Pierce, or Lake Worth if it's apparent we won't
get to FTP comfortably before dark, anticipated to be on Sunday
afternoon.

Those interested may also catch us before and after we speak with
Chris on 4045.0 SSB, USB at 6:30-7:30AM, other than Sunday, when he's
off.

Fair Winds to all our friends afloat; we'll see the shoreside folks
soon!


WOW! Flying Pig is really flying. He's already at the latitude of Miami out
about 30 miles in the axis of the Gulf Stream. I bet Skippy's hanging over
the rail puking his guts out. The wind is blowing out of the East at 20-25
knots and has been doing so for several days so the seas are likely quite
large. It's a good thing he's got Lydia to run the boat while he's
incapacitated. LOL!

--
Gregory Hall

Gee, fella. When you pick up a fair wind, you pick up a FAIR WIND.

Hi, folks,

As the spot page showed, we basically flew. Major seas made for lots of
motion, but not much bashing. Averaged right at 8 knots, helped immensely
by the clean bottom.

Passage reports after we get settled in. Nice to be back in internet land -
a boat just pulled in next to us after coming from St. Martin, taking much
the same route as we'd planned, but he got out later and his wind died at
the end.

Aside from the leg into Ft. Pierce, and a weird anomaly on Saturday noonish,
where the wind totally died and we got some light rain, we rarely saw less
than 20 knots. Single reef main, and genoa between full and about 70% all
the way, starboard tack until we turned in to Ft. Pierce.

Having the skyline disappear for seconds at a time was interesting from my
6'-above-water perch, and, with all the rock and roll in the early parts, an
extensive running of the fuel polisher pretty much guaranteed that we'd have
fresh fuel when we finally turned on the engine 2/3 of the way into the
channel. About 40 minutes of engine from anchor-hooked to anchor-hooked.
Nice trip, about 480 miles in 60 hours...

Anchored RIGHT out front of the USCG, we'll figure out where and how to
check in soon...

L8R

Skip and crew, thrilled with the trip

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.

In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.

Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
...
Flying Pig will be taking advantage of an unusually good window to
make our passage to Ft. Pierce, where we'll be on the hard for several
months during family business. You can follow our progress by
clicking tinyurl.com/flyingpigspot, which holds a week's worth of
locations at 10-minute intervals.

We'll initially be going NW from Raccoon Cay to avoid the Cochinas
Banks but staying south enough to avoid the Middle Ground shoals.

From there we'll go directly west over the Great Bahama Bank and pick
up the favorable current in the Hurricane Flats where we'll turn NW
again, riding it until the area near Orange Cay.

From there we'll choose the most favorable wind direction to pick up
the Gulf Stream. Current weather information suggests that it should
be both favorable winds and seas for our travels taking advantage of
the 3-knot-plus lift it can provide.

We'll turn out at Ft. Pierce, or Lake Worth if it's apparent we won't
get to FTP comfortably before dark, anticipated to be on Sunday
afternoon.

Those interested may also catch us before and after we speak with
Chris on 4045.0 SSB, USB at 6:30-7:30AM, other than Sunday, when he's
off.

Fair Winds to all our friends afloat; we'll see the shoreside folks
soon!

L8R

Skip
--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

The Society for the Preservation of Tithesis commends your ebriated
and scrutible use of delible and defatigable, which are gainly, sipid
and couth. We are gruntled and consolate that you have the ertia and
eptitude to choose such putably pensible tithesis, which we parage.

Stamp out Sesquipedalianism

"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
Hi, folks,

As the spot page showed, we basically flew. Major seas made for lots of
motion, but not much bashing. Averaged right at 8 knots, helped immensely
by the clean bottom.

Passage reports after we get settled in. Nice to be back in internet
land - a boat just pulled in next to us after coming from St. Martin,
taking much the same route as we'd planned, but he got out later and his
wind died at the end.

Aside from the leg into Ft. Pierce, and a weird anomaly on Saturday
noonish, where the wind totally died and we got some light rain, we rarely
saw less than 20 knots. Single reef main, and genoa between full and
about 70% all the way, starboard tack until we turned in to Ft. Pierce.

Having the skyline disappear for seconds at a time was interesting from my
6'-above-water perch, and, with all the rock and roll in the early parts,
an extensive running of the fuel polisher pretty much guaranteed that we'd
have fresh fuel when we finally turned on the engine 2/3 of the way into
the channel. About 40 minutes of engine from anchor-hooked to
anchor-hooked. Nice trip, about 480 miles in 60 hours...

Anchored RIGHT out front of the USCG, we'll figure out where and how to
check in soon...

snippage

Can't really figure out the reason for that 90 degree sharp turn. Duh!
Somebody tell Skippy that he'll arrive more quickly if he angles over to the
inlet. Pretty dumb traveling two legs of a triangle when one leg will do the
job faster and better.


Wilbur Hubbard

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...
Can't really figure out the reason for that 90 degree sharp turn. Duh!
Somebody tell Skippy that he'll arrive more quickly if he angles over to
the inlet. Pretty dumb traveling two legs of a triangle when one leg will
do the job faster and better.


Wilbur Hubbard


Given that we averaged 8 knots, we were much more interested in comfortable
wind angles and speeds than shortest distance.

You could say the same thing about our orientation south of Andros - instead
of going up to Orange Cay, we went direct to the Gulf Stream, where we were
rarely under 10.5, and mostly 11 or better, including one stretch of 11.6.
As it was, we went further than we needed for the Gulf Stream vs going
straight north on 79-45 as Chris Parker recommended, chiefly for wind
angles. We were pinched a bit for most of the GS trip, but didn't want to
reef further, given that our heel stayed (rolls excepted) at ~15*, ideal for
our boat. Once we had the wind clocking just a bit, we headed a bit NE to
get the 79-45, and proceeded due N. Once past the curve of FL, we bore off
even more, keeping stuff in the 90* apparent range.

With 7-9 E seas plus NE swells, as well as a tidal help, pushing us north,
making it possible to turn more south to maintain our course due west, when
we turned the corner at the top, we were able to tack and keep it at
~120-150Port. Lots slower, of course, but still comfortable.

Hard to argue with success :{))

We've just been informed by the local sheriff that we need to move to let
the CG cutter have maneuvering room when they return, so we'll go up to
where we're being hauled, shortly...

L8R

Skip

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.

In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.

Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...
Can't really figure out the reason for that 90 degree sharp turn. Duh!
Somebody tell Skippy that he'll arrive more quickly if he angles over to
the inlet. Pretty dumb traveling two legs of a triangle when one leg will
do the job faster and better.


Wilbur Hubbard


Given that we averaged 8 knots, we were much more interested in comfortable
wind angles and speeds than shortest distance.

You could say the same thing about our orientation south of Andros - instead
of going up to Orange Cay, we went direct to the Gulf Stream, where we were
rarely under 10.5, and mostly 11 or better, including one stretch of 11.6.
As it was, we went further than we needed for the Gulf Stream vs going
straight north on 79-45 as Chris Parker recommended, chiefly for wind
angles. We were pinched a bit for most of the GS trip, but didn't want to
reef further, given that our heel stayed (rolls excepted) at ~15*, ideal for
our boat. Once we had the wind clocking just a bit, we headed a bit NE to
get the 79-45, and proceeded due N. Once past the curve of FL, we bore off
even more, keeping stuff in the 90* apparent range.

With 7-9 E seas plus NE swells, as well as a tidal help, pushing us north,
making it possible to turn more south to maintain our course due west, when
we turned the corner at the top, we were able to tack and keep it at
~120-150Port. Lots slower, of course, but still comfortable.

Hard to argue with success :{))

We've just been informed by the local sheriff that we need to move to let
the CG cutter have maneuvering room when they return, so we'll go up to
where we're being hauled, shortly...

L8R

Skip

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.

In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.

Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

On Sun, 6 Mar 2011 15:15:39 -0500, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

You could say the same thing about our orientation south of Andros - instead
of going up to Orange Cay, we went direct to the Gulf Stream

I have looked at that route south of Andros a number of times as a
possible shortcut between the FL Keys and the Turks and Caicos. How
were the sea conditions going over the banks down there, and did you
notice any current?

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 6 Mar 2011 15:15:39 -0500, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

You could say the same thing about our orientation south of Andros -
instead
of going up to Orange Cay, we went direct to the Gulf Stream

I have looked at that route south of Andros a number of times as a
possible shortcut between the FL Keys and the Turks and Caicos. How
were the sea conditions going over the banks down there, and did you
notice any current?


Hi, Wayne,

Yes, there is about a 1-knot current in our favor, exactly on the route we
took (well, the NW part - the due west part had none), as shown on P8 of the
Explorer chart of the area. Seas were similar to the gulf stream, which is
to say, in that area, about 5-7. Recall that the wind had been blowing for
days, however, and also that they were beamish, so we weren't bashing.

If you're going from the Keys, and off to T&C, which is more southerly than
where we started (unless you wanted to stop in the Raggeds, a great idea,
however, I'd not go that far up, but instead go straight over Cuba. I did a
routing for a friend who went to the DR from St. Pete; it went under all
that, if I recall correctly. I MAY be able to find it in my old sent files,
and if so, I'll put it up for you. It worked great for him...

Hmmm... Thinking about it, I'm not sure any more about that - maybe it WAS
along the route we took. In any case, the banks, aside from the choke
between the Cochinas and Middle Ground, wsa a no-brainer. If you were going
to bypass the Raggeds, you could get under the Cochinas, and probably or
perhaps also miss Cay Sal...

I'm hopeful to get out the passage log sometime really soon, because once we
hit the yard, I'll be banished from the computer :{/)

L8R

Skip

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing about in
boats-or *with* boats.

In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.

Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...
Can't really figure out the reason for that 90 degree sharp turn. Duh!
Somebody tell Skippy that he'll arrive more quickly if he angles over to
the inlet. Pretty dumb traveling two legs of a triangle when one leg will
do the job faster and better.


Wilbur Hubbard


Duh! It's called tacking or maybe adjusting your course to accommodate sea
conditions. Easy for you to judge other's seamanship with your keel firmly
planted in the sand for months or years at a time. Eh Captain Neal. And lest
not forget you cannot go out of the transmitter range of your ankle
bracelet.