Blender Boy
Veteran Member
After cruising over 5500 miles in the past year from San Francisco, Tropical Blend (Nordhavn 43) is in Isla Mujeres, and we are planning to cross to Key West in the next week. I have been monitoring the weather, and it actually looks pretty good for the next week - no cold fronts are in the forecast. We have a weather router to advise us in this passage. After being caught by a strong front for 3 days in Belize, we want to be sure that we have a good window for this passage. Our normal cruising speed is 6.5 knots, so we anticipate a crossing time of around 55 hours.
My question is for anyone that has made this passage before: we can take the straight line course, but I'm pretty sure that we won't pick up much of a favorable current, as the Yucatan Current is straight north from here (loved cruising at 8.4 knots yesterday!), and we won't see the Gulf Stream until we are close to Key West. How is the current on the straight course that parallels the northwest coast of Cuba? If the weather is calm, is there enough of an advantage to follow the currents in an "L" course?
Anyone interested in our voyage, or following our passage, can access our website for Tropical Blend. Sadly, I am months behind on updating it, but the tracking log from InReach is always working.
My question is for anyone that has made this passage before: we can take the straight line course, but I'm pretty sure that we won't pick up much of a favorable current, as the Yucatan Current is straight north from here (loved cruising at 8.4 knots yesterday!), and we won't see the Gulf Stream until we are close to Key West. How is the current on the straight course that parallels the northwest coast of Cuba? If the weather is calm, is there enough of an advantage to follow the currents in an "L" course?
Anyone interested in our voyage, or following our passage, can access our website for Tropical Blend. Sadly, I am months behind on updating it, but the tracking log from InReach is always working.
