Namaste Sailing

In this edition of Key West Sailing Adventures we will learn not to reason with the hurricane season

Well its time for the 5:00 A.M. update for Hurricane Irene and, whew, I think we missed the bullet. Up until last night we were still calling for 30 knot winds on Thursday and Friday. Hm-mm 30 knots, 6 foot seas, and stirred up water, not really a good combination for snorkeling, especially in keeping with our promise to treat our guest like we would wish to be treated.

What a difference a day makes. Now were looking at 12 to 17 knots of wind and seas less than 2 feet.. So it looks like we will be treated to another beautiful weekend and instead of hunkering down watching the water rise we will be frolicking in the clear waters of the Florida Keys and yet there is still a slight knot in my tummy.

So to all of our friends who have sailed with us and to those of you who we hope to meet here is the answer to the question: how do we reason with the hurricane season? The short answer is we don’t. You really can’t. As much as I love watching and predicting mother nature via tropical updates, weather blogs, and nexrad radar, there is just no reasoning with the hurricane season.

It is a fool’s errand to second guess the weather. On the night before hurricane Katrina was predicted to miss the keys we all sat around high fiving each other over shots of Pussers, celebrating the fact that we were “out of the cone” Come morning we woke up to 80 knot hurricane force winds, boats sliding all over the anchorage, numerous groundings and at least two sinking’s. All reasoning abandoned, we simply hunkered down and did our best to protect life and property.

So now, even after we are predicted to be “out of the cone” and I can look forward to a weekend of sailing,  I will still dig out my “A1A” CD and play that all so prophetic track that helps to remind me how wonderfully unpredictable life can be.

Out of the Cone