Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Mosquito Set Free for a Ride on the Outside

Team B&B Yacht Designs left their anchorage at at Peanut Island at 6:30am (DST)  --an hour before sunrise-- to tack out through Palm Beach Inlet (a.k.a. the Lake Worth Inlet). 

SandyBottom said the swells were huge in the inlet and it was a bit scary tacking out.  She said on the outside the swells were large and it was a wet ride as they sailed offshore from the Lake Worth inlet to the Ft. Pierce inlet.  Their typical speed was near 12 kts.  Will have to ask later what sails they had up.

They are now back inside on the ICW headed toward Sebastian Inlet State Park. They have one on-demand bridge to pass and a few other tall fixed bridges. They should be at Sebastian in a few hours. They might have stayed outside all the way to Sebastian Inlet, but that inlet is infamous for its sometimes you-don't-want-to-be-there washing-machine conditions. There was no need to gamble all-or-nothing on Sebastian being calm later today;  they are making very fast time, roughtly 9.5 kts, going up the ICW.


SPOT track of a fast wet ride sailing offshore

The website marinas.com provided the following views and descriptions of these inlets.

Going out the Palm Beach Inlet  a.k.a. Lake Worth Inlet 
(Marinas.com)

And then coming in the Ft. Pierce Inlet
(Marinas.com)

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