Count me as being in the stay closer to shore with an unfamiliar boat group. There's not that much advantage to taking a straight line shot. And, no, northbound travelers don't often "ditch the ditch". You can ride the gulf stream and take advantage of the current boost without being 200 nm off the coast. Ditto all the cautions about a "new to you" boat. 200 mi. offshore is not the place you want to be discovering all those little problems that are sure to show up in the first week of operation.
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