If the weather is right, it's very doable. Once you reach Delray, the Gulfstream is close, so you need to run in 40 to 100 feet of water to avoid northbound currents.
Be aware, though, that you may end up motorsailing when the winds turn southeast-south, as they often do. But it's much quicker to motor outside than on the ICW, where you have to pop drawbridges. For most of the year, you get plenty of warning if bad weather is coming. In the summer, you have to be prepared for thunderstorms to leak over onto the ocean from the Everglades. They will scare the bejezus out of you the first few times. You can go from sunny to 50 knot gusts in 15 minutes. There's usually no way to run for shelter. They're over quickly, but it helps to have a beer on hand to calm the nerves afterward. There are sailing guides to the Keys that are very helpful. Jack Brennan Former C&C 25 Tierra Verde, Fl. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab®|PRO -------- Original message -------- From: Mark McMenamy via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Date:01/26/2016 5:21 PM (GMT-05:00) To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Cc: Mark McMenamy <markm...@msn.com> Subject: Re: Stus-List C&C 25 Info Thanks a lot Jack. I was thinking of planning an off shore run to Lake Worth one day, and then heading to Miami to avoid the bridges. Is it possible to do an all night sail and knock it out in a day or so? Thanks, Mark Mark McMenamy "Icicle" C&C 25 Fort Pierce FL On Jan 26, 2016, at 5:13 PM, jackbrennan via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: I sailed my old 25 all over the Keys. A perfect boat for it, particularly on the Gulf side, where the shoal draft will get you into all kinds of skinny anchorages. An 8 foot inflatable can be pumped up on deck and stored there when you don't want to deflate it. Where the 25 gets a little eye-opening is when you run some of the tricky East Coast of Florida inlets with wind vs tides. It's a tender boat, and a 4 -5 foot chop will have you rocking like you won't believe, with the engine of course popping out of the water. My wife used to turn green sometimes when we would run Hillsboro Inlet in 15 knot easterlies. The best strategy is to sail in nice weather, but motor the ICW when the wind picks up. Stay away from the smaller inlets and use the main ports - Lake Worth, Port Everglades and Miami. Jack Brennan Former C&C 25 Tierra Verde, Fl. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab®|PRO -------- Original message -------- From: Rick Taillieu via CnC-List Date:01/26/2016 4:41 PM (GMT-05:00) To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Cc: Rick Taillieu Subject: Re: Stus-List C&C 25 Info Mark, Welcome to the list, you’ll love your 25. The 25 will hobby horse quite a bit in short chop, especially if you have a heavy outboard on the back and an anchor on the front. I have a 25” ELS 4 stroke on my boat and I rarely experience any cavitation in waves but I do have stress cracks on the transom. That’s what happens when you replace an 89 pound 2 stroke with a 108 pound 4 stroke. Mine has a plywood backing plate glassed into the transom from the factory and I have a 2” thick, one foot square oak spacer between the mount and the transom on the outside. The oak spacer is there so I can fully tilt the outboard for sailing. When I lived on Lake Ontario my wife and I would cruise the Thousand Islands for 7-10 days every year. The boat is fine for two to do extended cruises but it does tend to get small if you’re stuck inside in rainy weather. I made a boom tent from ripstop nylon that covers the entire cockpit and wraps over the lifelines. It gives us shade and allows us to use the cockpit in all but the worst rain storms. I also put a mount for the table in the cockpit floor so we can eat and entertain outside of the main cabin. I made a plywood board that fits across the cabinets at the main hatchway. It serves as a great bar and a place to place for the stove when cooking so the heat stays out of the cabin. Give me a shout if you have any specific questions about how to set up your 25, I know the boats very well. Rick Taillieu Nemesis '75 C&C 25 #371 Shearwater Yacht Club Halifax, NS. Thanks. I've been wondering how using the engine would play out. During our sailing lessons we've always been in shore, never any real rough chop. I'll be using the Fort Pierce inlet which is one of the more benign inlets here in FL, but at times it for sure can get choppy, even if it's not low tide with and easterly wind. I was curious if people ever take these on longer trips? I was thinking of going down to the keys but I'm not quite sure how feasible that is. It's just my wife and I and we've done a lot of camping etc. It's a little over 100 nm to get down there. Thanks again for the info. Mark Mark McMenamy "Icicle" C&C 25 Fort Pierce FL _______________________________________________ Email address: CnC-List@cnc-list.com To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go to the bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
_______________________________________________ Email address: CnC-List@cnc-list.com To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go to the bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
