Command Decision

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Near Cape Canaveral, N28 31.412 W080 36.271

The sailing magazines are full of articles about go-it is. One is so anxious to go that one’s judgment gets clouded. Today I reluctantly followed that advice.

After visiting Melbourne my plan was to exit the ICW at the next available inlet to the North (which would be , then make a 72 hour run to Charleston, SC. The problem is the weather. Today the forecast was for severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and waterspouts -- hardly the right stuff for novices like us. Worse, the next three days are forecast to have northerly winds -- the wrong direction for us.
I explored the idea of hanging out around Cape Canaveral a couple of days, but that doesn’t sound attractive. The next two inlets north of Canaveral (at New Smyrna and Saint Augustine) are considered too dangerous. The only practical solution is to follow the ICW all the way up to the St. Johns River near Jacksonville. That will take 4 days and a lot more inland travel than I wanted. Also, there’s no guarantee that the weather will be fine on the day we arrive there.

So be it. I bit my lip and tried to remind myself that I’m no longer a project manager. It’s unimportant that things actually happen on the days that I said they would. We don’t have to be back in Albany April 1. We don’t have to have our house sold in May. It’s a big culture change for me. Less so for Libby.

After accepting that outcome, the trip up the Indian River today was very relaxing and pleasant. There was very little other traffic and the channels were wider. We did most of the day under sail and on the self-steering vane. It worked well.

We were also able to duck between two thunderstorms by tracking them on my radar. I never had a tool like that before, but it’s very easy to use and intuitive.

Tonight we are at anchor near the Space Center Executive Highway Bridge.
I can see the Vertical Assembly Building at the Cape to the East.