Prudence? Convenience? Omen?

In Lake Worth, Palm Beach, FL
N 26 45.50 W 080 02.63

Today was a beautiful one. Sunny; a bit cool; and winds NE at 15-20 knots. I returned the rental car, then we set about to prepare Tarwathie to go to sea.

By noon we were at the intersection of the ICW and the St. Lucie River, and the St. Lucie Inlet channel. I'm chicken about ocean inlets. The wind, tides, currents and waves all conspire to make it the most hazardous conditions we voluntarily face. Worse, the sand dunes shift around causing shoaling. Therefore, our paper charts and electronic charts refuse to chart the areas around inlets. They change too fast.

I called the Coast Guard for local info. They said that we would have enough depth, but that the shoals shift every week causing the CG to constantly move the channel buoys. The girl I talked to sounded hesitant to recommend it. What the heck I thought, can't be too chicken too often. So out we went. The traversal of the inlet went without incident. The water was deep enough, it was high tide. The buoys and day markers were adequate. By 1230 we were out at sea and under sail.

Tarwathie loved it, and we flew southward at 7 to 7.5 knots. I reckoned that we could be in Key Biscayne by 0400 tomorrow morning and we could even continue to Marathon and be there in only 30 hours. Tempting.

Around 1600 Libby was on watch and she called for help. The control line of the Monitor self steering rig had broken. Darn, that is the third time that line broke while at sea. It is impossible to fix at sea when the boat is pitching. So, looking at the chart, it was 90 minutes until sunset, and only 3 miles to the Lake Worth inlet. We probably could have continued, but it sounded appealing to pull in to Lake Worth, get a good supper and a good night's sleep, and repair the Monitor on Saturday.
The weather should be good for sailing once again by Sunday.