Day 8 - Vero Beach

Lyn and I got up at 06:30 today so that we could leave as soon as the sun came up. Kite had 55 miles to travel today and we knew that much of it would be against strong winds. We dressed and then started preparing Kite to leave the dock. There was much to do. The power cord had to be unplugged, passed over to Kite and then coiled and stowed. The lines on the port side had to be removed from the pilings they were tried to, and then coiled and stowed. Two fenders had been tied to pilings along the dock and these had to be removed and retied onto Kite. And finally the three starboard mooring lines had to be removed after first warming the engine. We were away from the dock by 07:15 and headed out the channel and into the ICW.

Vince and Eveline had to wait until the marina opened at 08:00 to get a pump out, so they didn't leave until 08:30, but Ringle cruises a couple of knots faster than Kite and we knew that they would not only catch up but likely pass us by noon. Our plan was for Ringle to get a mooring at Vero Beach Marina and Kite would raft with Ringle when she arrived an hour later. Kite heard Ringle arrive at Vero Beach when she radioed in. Sure enough, Kite was about one hour behind them.

Ringle passes Kite en route Vero Beach

With only three miles to Vero Beach, our radio emitted a loud weather alert signal and warning of impending strong storm with hail and 60 mph winds. Lyn checked the weather radar on her iPhone and confirmed the warning as real and immediate. There was a marina just ahead and we were a half-hour from Ringle. The ICW here is a narrow channel with very shallow water on either side; certainly no place to try to ride out a severe storm. So Kite called the nearby Loggerhead Marina and tied up at a secure dock for the duration of the storm and the rest of the day. We called Ringle to explain what happened and promised to join them tomorrow morning.