Not much need for a daily weather check as we’ve been getting wind and cool temps due to, and I quote “ …as a long stretch of fresh to strong northerly winds continues over the western Atlantic. The long northerly fetch will push a large swell down the eastern seaboard which will combine with a local wind chop to generate very hazardous seas over the Atlantic.”  Guess that helps explain the high water.  The seas in the gulf stream are 9-11ft, way higher than anyone would want to encounter.

When north wind meets the north flowing GS, conditions get ugly fast.  One morning a few days before the wind really picked up, a sail boat left Vero to stick their noses out at Ft. Pierce inlet with the hope of crossing. Couple hours later we heard them call a marina in Ft. Pierce for a slip. Guaranteed they have not yet crossed.

25 knot gusts create waves even in the small mooring field

The gulf stream is amazing.   Roughly 30 million cubic meters of water are moved every second. To put this force into perspective, that is 50 times more than the Amazon, the Mississippi, the St Lawrence and every other river that empties into the Atlantic Ocean, combined.  Vessels crossing it usually estimate a 2 ½ kt current on average, over its width and a proper path looks like an “S” as you need to head south a bit to end up not farther north than desired. We will need to plan our trip across with an “S” path, unlike last year when we began so far south that all we had to do was ride it up and head east when we needed to.