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You're gonna need a bigger boat

Twins! or more. Less than 30 feet when the gulf stream kicks up in the afternoon and its trouble. Epirb and plenty of spares. If I knew then I would have been more cautious. I've had my butt thrown across the bridge on a 58 Hatteras coming home close to Miami :helmet:

youll be fine, September is a great month for crossing, no cold fronts yet! rent a epirb and sat phone,have all flares, a gps or 2 a vhf or 2. Pay very very close attention to the weather, even though it 40-60 nm depending on where you depart, things change real quickly. These arent words to deter you, just to take it seriously

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speed Zone (Post 3775085)

You should talk to Stu at Florida Power Boat Club about how the last few years of that run went and stay far away with your boat. It sounds like a 45 min walk in the park but it can take down guys twice as big as you with ocean going boats. Ask him about the guy who tore up his boat and cut his face apart on his windshield :poopoo:

And I know of plenty of people that have hurt themselves seriously on an inland lake on those "dangerous" cruiser wakes.....

Smaller and slower boats many times fare better on the crossing because they ride the swells up and down
instead of trying to fly thru them as the big fast boats try to do..
Again using your brains can make all the difference in the world ..

Do a search online "miami to bimini" and you would be suprised the amount of 20ft-26ft center consoles that cross
on a regular basis to go fishing over there.. I would imagine a big bad go-fast could do what a little fishing boat can do?

Here is my offshore safety equipment list:

1) Boat with VHF radio

2) Fully charged backup Icom handheld VHF Radio in case boat VHF fails or total electrical failure

3) Boat with GPS

4) Garmin handheld GPS with spare batteries in case boat GPS fails or total electrical system failure

5) Compass

6) Charts reviewed for bearings prior to trip.

7) Weather reports reviewed prior to trip.

8) Lifevests on.

9) Flare gun with minimum of four flares (check expiration dates)

10) Four handheld day/night flares (check expiration dates)

11) Signal mirror for signaling other boats and aircraft

12) International Orange Distress flag

13) FastFind Personal Locator Beacon attached to lifevest with lanyard

14) MAG ML100 Flashlight that is programmed to signal SOS with spare batteries.

There was a guy going from Long Beach, CA to Catalina Island (27 miles) a few years back on a sailboat. The sail tore. The engine wouldn't start. His electrical system failed, so he could not radio anyone. The found him several months later off the coast of South America. He was still alive, barely, after catching some fish, and collecting rain water with his sail. I don't want to be that guy.

Michael

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael1 (Post 3775325)

lanyard

A must

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael1 (Post 3775325)

He ate sea birds! Amazing story, thanks for sharing

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=41831

small inflatable life raft.

How long does it take for barnacles to start attaching themselves to things? What type of growth would I see on the hull after leaving it in the water for ~5 days?