First-time post, advise needed

[razorreilly09]

Hello all! This is my first post on the site and am wanting some advise and maybe some recruits. A friend and myself will be setting sail out of Tampa Bay and plan on sailing around Florida South to the Keys for a few nights then back up the East Coast to Ponce Inlet or Cape Canaveral to get a thousand miles under our belt. Im very new to sailing but my friend is seasoned. Has anyone here made this trip or one similar? If so any advise would be appreciated. Also if anyone is interested in sailing with us we would love the company(on their own boat as we will only be on a 27'er). We are thinking 10-14 days would be a good time frame, does this sound right?Thanks for any info-Capt.Jeff

[Sunspot Baby]

Using your numbers, doing 1,000 nm in 10 days means you need to make 100 miles per day average. This might mean you have to keep moving in some really unfavorable weather and leave little time to see the sights. Your route is doable and could be most enjoyable

If you make 6 kts average (not that easy in a 27'er) you will have to sail and average of 16 2/3 hours per day.

Give yourself more time or lower your expectations on how far your going. Do, however, get on the boat and go somewhere. You will love it. How about including the Dry Tortugas, then back to the west side of FL?

George

[GordMay]

When “touring”, 25 – 50 nm / day might be a reasonable expectation for a smaller cruiser. Any more might be more like a delivery, or (at best) a passage.

[Pblais]

When “touring”, 25 – 50 nm / day might be a reasonable expectation for a smaller cruiser.

Unless you want to run 24 x 7, I think Gords numbers would be closer to a trip where you might have some fun most every day and sail a whole lot too. Expectations might be to your peril doing such great distances in 2 short weeks. I would pick the time frame first and then let the trip destination take care of itself given you plan on ending up where you started.

[razorreilly09]

Thanks for the replies, we actually have about 16 days to work with, and plan on sailing most of the daylight hours and are set on going around both sides of Fl unless conditions change our course. The good thing is that our ladies will be on stand-by with the truck and trailer to pick us up wherever we want so if we need to call it short or change plans we can. I would rather fo to the Tortugas myself as the Keys dont excite me much anymore, I'll check into that,thanks again

[dmb4eva85]

I'm new to sailing but live in tampa bay. I'm 21 and go to USF. This would be a great opportunity to get some sail time and experience. If you guys need another person for the voyage I could definitely led a hand. shoot me an email.