As I lounge here in St. Petersburg for the weekend listening to the Gulf from the fith floor....
I'm winterizing my boat except in a different way... after not having it out since the 3rd week in October I'm getting ready for winter fishing! I'll pick up the later part of December bay striper and then switch to the ocean for Jan..... then try some wreck fishing.
I just got back from taking my boat south to Deale for her winter nap... in SCW conditions.
After dealing with 25 kt winds and seas to 4' on the way down, I'm inclined to believe the TPL wing gage was broken.
It was reading winds at 7 kts when I decided to make the run. :shock:
kev a cold front push through and really changed the winds quickly. See TPL's wind history. Went to over 20knots at 2pm and is currently standing at 30knots as of 9pm: http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/buoy/TPLM2.html
Gotta tell you... when we made the turn from 83 to 83a, the seas were absolutely hideous...
But as we got closer to the western shore, the land gave us cover and the waves laid down so we managed a 12 kt cruise.
We started out at Annapolis at 27 kts... slowed to a low of 9 kts at 83 and spent the time between 83 and 83a at 10 kts getting slammed by the head seas.