Sailing away from Key West in beautiful weather, locals out living the dream in their fishing boats. Town after bridge after tower pass by as we sail east, bearing ever north past Florida.
We head to deeper water, motoring in light airs & pick up the Gulf Stream current. Winds fill in and soon we are sailing very nicely right on track for the large deep water channel which splits the Bahamian plateau.
As night sets in the winds increase further and we rocket forward, doing over hull speed of 8.5 kts for over 12 hours despite being reefed in both sails.
One in the morning and I turn sharply to the east into the channel which runs for 100 miles until it reaches the pure Atlantic Ocean where we will begin the final leg of 750 miles on to Bermuda.
Never seen a wind shift like this one! We turn east and the wind shifts almost 180’, now on the nose and rough. There is a frontal boundary here between a large cold front pushing down from the north and the tropical southerly we have been in for the last few days. Weather forecast shows the southerly will prevail and return, maybe in a few miles or a few days. Wild winds for sure!