Seawind 1600 Catamaran - Performance in Light Wind on a Sail to Key West | Harbors Unknown Ep. 8

#Seawind1600 Catamaran - Performance in Light Wind on a Sail to Key West

This week we set out on a two day sail from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West for the #SeawindCatamaran rally; a total of 160 nautical miles. We decided to split the sail into two days so we planned to anchor behind Rodriguez Key off of Key Largo.  Robin from #Seawind and his girlfriend Margot joined us for the sail. Robin is a local representative from Seawind and he was on board to give us some tips on how to best operate the boat.

Before we knew it we were passing Fowey Rocks Lighthouse which is 7 miles southeast of Cape Florida on Key Biscayne. The lighthouse construction was finished in 1878. On February 17th, 1878 the Arratoon Apcar ran aground on the reef. The 1500 ton steamship came to rest just 200 yards (180 m) from the lighthouse.  Efforts to save the boat failed, and she was pounded apart on the rocks and sank. Today the wreck is supposed to be an excellent scuba diving site.

There was absolutely no wind so we motor sailed with the starboard engine on and the prop in overdrive. The main sail worked to keep the boat more stabilized.

We arrived at dark and set anchor behind Rodriguez Key under the full moonlight. It’s a protected anchorage and the water was like glass.

The next morning we picked up the anchor just before sunrise and headed south for Key West. The forecast predicted 12 knot winds from the southeast so we were looking forward to doing some sailing.

Soon we were passing Alligator Reef Light, located 4 nautical miles east of Indian Key, and southeast of Islamorada. It’s just north of Alligator Reef, which bridges the shallow reefs of the Upper Keys and the deeper reefs of the Middle Keys. The name honors the U.S. Navy schooner Alligator, which went aground at this location in 1822. The Alligator was blown up after removing as much as possible from it to prevent it from being used by pirates. Countless vessels have also sunk here on the reef's jagged coral so we kept a close eye on the chart.

With 4 feet of daggerboard down on both sides they helped us keep course on a reach. The wind reached 13 knots so we turned off the engines and were finally sailing. We wanted to arrive in Key West by dark so we needed to move. With 12 knots of wind we averaged 8 knots.

A preventer line kept the boom out far enough to fill the sail nicely.
Since the wind was relatively light we had the main up and the screecher out.

We overlayed the #B&G Sail Steer screen so you can see what the apparent wind angle was, the apparent wind speed, the position, speed over ground, true wind speed, boat speed, true wind angle and true wind direction. You can see the wind was about 12 knots, our boat speed was 9 knots and speed over ground 8 knots. The blue arrow is the direction of the current and you can see there was 1 knot of current flowing against us.

If you’re wondering what overdrive is, it’s a feature of the 3-blade Gori folding propeller we have installed. You can choose the propeller pitch and profile in the water while sailing forward, by regulating the yacht's shift and throttle control. The "overdrive" is used when motorsailing in fair weather or when using the engine under sail. The "overdrive" gives the same speed at lower rpms. The result is less engine noise, less vibration and better fuel economy. But now we were powered strictly by the wind and the sails.

Sombrero Reef Lighthouse is located offshore of Vaca Key in Marathon on a mostly submerged reef. The name Sombrero Key goes back to the Spanish, and old charts show a small island at the spot, but by the later 19th Century the island had eroded away, with some parts of the reef exposed at low tide.

Florida is the only state in the continental United States with extensive shallow coral reef formations near its coasts. Coral reefs lay the foundation of a dynamic ecosystem with tremendous biodiversity and create specialized habitats that provide shelter, food, and breeding sites for numerous plants and animals. Especially important to Florida are the spiny lobster, snapper, and grouper. Florida’s Coral Reef stretches approximately 360 linear miles from Dry Tortugas National Park west of the Florida Keys to the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County.

We continued our march south and arrived at our destination as the sun set and the full moon rose. We anchored just outside of the #StockIsland Marina channel and settled in for the night.

Time Stamps
00:00 Intro
00:41 Episode Starts
04:24 Headed South
06:11 Fowey Rocks Lighthouse
08:41 Anchored at Rodriguez Key
08:59 Sunrise sail to Key West
10:09 Alligator Reef Light
11:26 Performance with B&G Sail Steer
15:34 Sombrero Reef Light
16:45 Sunset Sail into Key West

Music is from Epidemic Sound
https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/qvrz67/

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