We made THE CROSSING!!!
We were both slightly nervous about the crossing... it ended up being a great weather window, and we were fortunate to travel with seven other Looper boats.
A favorable weather window means winds under 15 knots and seas 1-2 feet. History indicates that these windows are few and far between (typically about 10 days for November). Eddy's Weather Wag available to AGALC Members is the best crossing resource. (Thanks Eddy)
We prepared Thistle and us....ready to GO!
Made sure all of our electronics were fully charged.
Prepped a ditch bag with essentials.
Called family to notify them of our plan.
Made a sleeping bed on the fly deck.
Made a pot of chili.
The two of us agreed on a shift schedule.
Rechecked our weather and course.
There was a total of about 12 Loopers crossing with the favorable weather opportunity.
We traveled with 7 Loopers in our flotilla. One experienced Looper took charge and lead the way, checking in with all 7 of us by radio on the hour. It sure was nice to hear a familiar voice in the middle of the night :) ... Thanks Golden XO.
Greg and Reenie shared time at the helm with one and two hour shifts. The stars and shooting stars were spectacular!
It was a ONCE in a lifetime experience:)
Looper Tip: Believe Eddy's advice not to arrive at the R4 Buoy prior to 10am. There are more crab pots than you can imagine! And very difficult to see when looking into the sun.
The red line indicates our planned crossing.
The blue line is the traditional Great American Loop.
We choose course #1.
The Good: It is the shortest distance and best of all we only need one good weather day!
The not so Good: It will take us 24 hours.
The red line is course #1.
We rechecked multiple weather reports...
Especially Eddy's Weather Wag!
It's a go :)
More dolphins in Thistle's wake.
We left Apalachicola at 11am and traveled about 20 miles to Dog Island.
Dog Island is where Loopers stage to cross together.
You stage according to your boat speed.
Crusing @ 8 knots, we want to depart Dog Island at about 2pm.
It will take us approximately 24 hours to reach Tarpon Springs.
Sunset about 5:30pm.
There are numerous crab pots starting in 30 feet of water (The last two hours).
When tired and looking into the sun, crab pots are challenging to avoid.
At 11am we were thrilled to radio Turtle Bay Marina and dock at our assigned slip :)
We made " THE CROSSING " safe and sound...the purple line was Thistle's course.
Thanks for the well wishes XO
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