Sunday, December 16, 2007

Ride the wild surf




Well folks, we've made it as far as Venice, but I think we'll be here for a while. A cold front has come through, bringing with it west winds at 25 to 35 knots and gusts to 40. It has kicked up a huge surf along the shore and waves up to 8 feet off the coast.
The boat is tied up at the Crow's Nest marina in Venice, but there isn't much protection from the west wind.
We are staying ashore with some friends of Bev, Pat and Peter. They manage a small resort apartment complex on the beach. When we went to check on the boat today, we found she had taken a bit of a beating during the night. We reset all the lines and added a few extra lines to keep the boat off the pilings. So far, the only damage is to the paint and that will be easily fixed.
We will try to move the boat tomorrow to a more protected area, and then leave for points south on Tuesday when the winds are predicted to shift to the northeast and weaken a bit.
Looking out at the Gulf, I'm glad we're not out there today! Whew!

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