I went the opposite way in early Dec of 2002 on delivery of a Hans Christian 38. Kemah to St. Petersburg via B-line. Wind was out of the East (normally North or South winds) for the first 4 days, so there was a little tacking going on. Total trip was about 720 miles.

Few observations...
1. Lighted oil rigs are similar to passing baseball stadiums at night.
2. Abandoned, un-lighted wells are out there - Thanks to radar and a calm night, we were able to dodge them but you need a sharp eye. One we passed looked like twisted metal sticking out of the water about 15 feet.
3. GPS interfaced into the laptop was a huge plus until the laptop quit on the last day. Thanks to the back-up handheld unit and paper charts, we were right on the money to go into St. Pete.
4. We had 5 people on board and rotated throughout the night so two people were always in the cockpit, leaving 3 people in the entire cabin - plenty of room. Also viewed the radar every 30min and noted the position of the boat, speed, and track heading.
5. jack-lines, teathers, and harneses were on, non-negociable at night.
6. Our farthest point off shore was about 120 miles.
7. We had every kind of weather...Sunny and 70 to 45 and rain. Dead Calm to 6/8 foot seas.

Love my 36MKII but the Hans Christian was a very stout boat for this trip and did not pound. It just took me a few days to get my "land legs" back. Great time, learned a lot, but would not do it again.

CJ
A few years ago I sailed from Punta Gorda Florida to Isla Mujaris Mexico. It took us three days to make the crossing. However, it took us five days to sail back. If you plan on making your crossing to Texas in six days I strongly suggest you take along at least twelve days of food and drinking water.

There is a guy in Punta Gorda I talked to about seven or eights years ago that sailed from Punta Gorda to Texas, but I can't remember his name. He retired from the phone company and his son is a professional captain now. If I can remember it I'll forward the name to you. I remember him saying they thought the crossing would take five days, but it took longer and towards the end of the trip they were eating candy and health bars.

There is a private weather forcaster service in Florida who gave a talk at the Isles Yacht Club last month. We hired him to give a five day forcast for our race to the Dry Totugas which was accurate. His name and email address is "Chris Parker" [email]chris@mwxc.com[/email]. He charged us $75 and worth every penny.

CJ,

I haven't made the trip, but my co-worker moved his Amel 53 from Ft Lauderdale to Kemah. He had the following to offer: There are currents going around Key West that they had to compensate for (You won't have this problem). Install AIS and stay as far south of the New Orleans oil rigs as possible. Radar would also be beneficial. They maintained 2 in the cockpit at night because of the oil rigs. when coming into Kemah (Houston ship Channel) there are many ships waiting for pilots so they planned their entry into the channel for early daylight hours.

It took them 7 days, but he said they had great weather and the wind was out of the North east when they took their trip in February.

I hope this helps.

CJ,

In my opinion...
For me personally it seems on the high side for the boat. 6 total people for at least 6-8days is a lot of time for lack of personal space. I personally would go with one or two less and trade an extra shift at night for the additional space.

The boat will get "smaller" every day.

In my personal experience, I have noticed on trips that there are people that I get along great with for "day sails," but on extended periods it is not the best match. Without sounding "cheesy," crew chemistry will play a huge part in this. Every person you add will increase the chances for conflict and make the boat that much smaller.

I am by no means an expert, just my opinion.

Good Luck, Be Safe, and Enjoy the Trip!

CJ
If you install an AIS device Please let us know when you are leaving and post the web site and instructions on our C36 site so we can follow your trip. Also I hope you leave a message or blog about your trip this way we all can enjoy your trip.

This request goes to everyone who is taking a long trip.

First, fair winds and a great passage to you.

Second, I concur that some of the most exciting and satisfying times were making longish passages way out of sight of land.

I live in Punta Gorda, too, and see far too many boats stay too long at the dock.

Glad it went well, CJ. You can read all the books you want, but until you get some "interesting" passages under your belt, you don't know the full picture.

I lost a few mainsail slugs in heavy weather, too. I suspect the plastic slugs will only take so much and they surely lose some strength with age.