It's a long sail from Sarasota to home, but the weather forecast is for a strong southerly wind today, which would be downwind. If we go only part way, we would be slogging home Monday against an equally strong northwest wind. Easy choice. We stirred our bones early and cast off for home.
We had 15-20 kts behind us on Sarasota Bay. Sailing with reefed main alone at hull speed. A couple of gusts overcame the autopilot and we broached, but no harm done. Near the north end of Sarasota Bay we seemed to be moving slowly even though the wind hadn't let up, as if we were dragging an anchor. In fact, we were. The lanyard which secures the anchor had either come loose or been left loose when we took in dock lines. I hauled up the anchor with no damage and a check mark on my lifetime bonehead bucket list.
Crossing Tampa Bay with a good chop and strong following wind had us rolling uncomfortably but enjoying the fast ride. We crossed the bay from the Anna Maria Bridge to inside Pass a Grille in 2 hrs. 57 min. A passage not soon to be bettered by Carina.
Home without further incident. A long to-do list of improvement ideas and a few minor repairs to be done.
We especially enjoyed ourselves on this cruise. A normal supply of challenges but plenty of good sailing, good eating, comfortable sleeping, not too hot, mostly, and unflagging morale. We're getting better and better at this.
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