Calm and warm. We went outside instead of taking the ICW. We could make better time that way, because we didn't have a bunch of bridges to wait for. The wind was supposed to be 10 to 15 knots out of the southeast, which would have been perfect, but it was more like 3 or 4 knots out of the east, so we had to motorsail. Then the wind quit completely, so we took in the sails and motored. The Gulf Stream gave us an extra push, so we zoomed along at more than eight knots! Reached the Lake Worth Inlet by 4:30 and would have been at the yard within half an hour if Roy hadn't managed to find the only shallow spot in the entire harbor. Luckily, the tide was coming in, so after gunning the engine for twenty minutes or so, he finally got free. Then we had a hard time finding the channel to the boatyard, but after a couple of wrong turns, we finally got in it.
This was the most difficult slip we have ever docked in. It's narrow, and the dock is less than half the length of our boat and has no cleats. It's stationary. There are a couple of big fat pilings I was supposed to loop a line around, but my skills as a cowboy are even less than my skills as a sailor. Fortunately, there was a very nice young woman on the next boat who helped us get tied up.
We were sure glad we got here and got tied to the dock before dark. It was hard enough to do in daylight; in the dark it would have been almost impossible.
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