Last Leg

Dubbel Zout at Sea
Nik Ormseth
Fri 17 Mar 2023 15:21
Alas, with a deadline to be in Fort Pierce on Sunday, the final leg from the Turks and Caicos to Florida was a bit of a drag race. We had five days to get here and nearly 700 miles to cover — an average of about 6 knots. No concern for DZ when there’s wind, but a problem if there isn’t. The Gulf Stream helped us out with 2-3 knots of favorable push over the last 24 hours, and we did well over 6 knots for a couple days in the middle. But the winds also dropped off to nothing on a couple days, which left us using the engine a lot — something we resisted on the ARC and that hadn’t been needed in our island hopping to this point. Nonetheless, WE MADE IT!!! Noteworthy on this last passage... - Discovering provisions laid in in Portugal (fried cured chorizo — delicious!) - LOTS more vessel traffic than in mid-ocean. And unlike in mid-ocean, the commercial traffic doesn’t get out of your way! - At-sea boarding and inspection by USCG - Managed to avoid losing my sunglasses overboard across 5000 nautical miles of ocean, only to lose them within sight of Fort Pierce — Doh! Uh Oh... ![]() No, no — just a social visit from Officer Friendly! ![]() Last sunset at sea ![]() A toast to Dubbel Zout! ![]() |