New Orleans, LA to Key West, FL

[sailguy40]

I am sure someone here has done this trip before since its basically a straight shot once you get out in the gulf. I have estimated Key West is appoximately 558nm from New Orleans, LA so its a long hike! I am figuring that sailing there non-stop can take 5-7 days easy or maybe even longer. So if anyone here has ever done this I am curious to hear how long it took you and what boat you used.

[CaptainForce]

time = distance/speed

[sailingdog]

Even sailing or more likely motorsailing non-stop may take a bit longer than that, especially since you will need to dodge the areas where the oil spill is still a factor. Crude oil can do some serious damage to the hoses and other parts of your boats cooling and head systems. The hoses are not rated or designed for handling petroleum products and either are the impellers. As such, the crude oil may cause the hoses and impellers to swell, soften and distort.

Two factors that will have a major impact on your ability to run 24/7 are having a good autopilot or other self-steering system and how many crew you will have aboard. Doing this with less than four people will prove very uncomfortable.

Originally Posted by sailguy40

I am sure someone here has done this trip before since its basically a straight shot once you get out in the gulf. I have estimated Key West is appoximately 558nm from New Orleans, LA so its a long hike! I am figuring that sailing there non-stop can take 5-7 days easy or maybe even longer. So if anyone here has ever done this I am curious to hear how long it took you and what boat you used.

[svHyLyte]

With your Cal you should be able to average about 4.5 knots through the water which would give you rougly 5.5 daze if you are able to lay a straight course and you have decent wind. At this time of year however, your winds will not be particularly favorable, primarily out of the southeast and light, making maintaining your speed difficult. You will be able to pick up some of the southerly eddy of the northerly Stream loop to the south of the Florida pan handle but how much that will help is anyone's guess--maybe a knot or two for awhile. Given the foregoing I suspect you'd be looking at a 7-8 day trip per Dog's observations. Single handing would be very difficult and it would be a task for two under trying conditions--hot, slow, etc. Unless you were prepared for long hours at the helm you'd need an auto-pilot (although tiller pilots are inexpensive) and for that you'd need power. A couple of 135W solar array's mounted above your Bimini might provide enough power but you'd have to really watch your energy budget. Despite the foregoing, if you're up to it, it would be a great adventure....

FWIW..

[sailguy40]

Oh I need to mention that I no longer have the Cal, I have an Oday now and its worlds nicer. I'm actually not planning on doing this trip, its something that I wondered about prior to the oil spill. Now since they had that oil spill as SD mentions, not a good idea considering what the oil can do to a boat. Maybe one day when the oil goes away I can give it a shot, by then I will have everything imaginable on my boat, oh yeah boy will she be loaded!

More practical would be for me to step up to something in the 32ft range or bigger. If I would ever do this trip with my current boat, it would be more on a few coastal route legs and not a mid-gulf single leg direct to route. That could easily add a few days to the trip but at least I can make port stops. As a 22ft, even though its in extremely good condition I would think its not big enough for a trip like that. Unless I get it loaded with more accommodations and weather is not so fierce but as we all know, with weather nothing is every completely predictable, especially several miles out in the gulf of mexico. Plus in a weeks time, I can almost guarantee I would catch at least one storm. Not to mention I am still not experienced with blue water sailing yet. So yeah, this trip as far as me doing it takes a back seat for now. I do however wish the oil would clear up so I can at least visit some of the gulf islands. I won't hold my breath on this one, who knows how long that will be.

[sawingknots]

another thing to consider when traversing that area is CRAB-POTS,millions of them,almost impossible to dodge,especially at night or when there's a heavy chop,its not easy cutting [untangling] them from your prop especially during heavy weather.i'm told that local boaters put a cutter apparatus on their prop shaft