Episode 18 - Stormy Weather

It's easy to lose track of the little things that aren't little things. Boating is new to us, so in all the preparations and making sure we get the drills down right and don't forget things (like making sure the shore power is unplugged before we leave the dock!) it's easy to forget Mother Nature and the Weather! Check the weather often - before you leave, and frequently when you're en route, and so on. We have a habit (now!) of looking for weather warnings and patterns throughout our trips. We learned that with Mzungu once, where the winds really picked up at our former marina and coming back was a bit of a struggle, and docking was a time of High Emotion where I was caught by a gust and the stern swung and I almost hit a very nice sailboat. A lot of good lessons that day! I would not want to be docking in the weather that hit us a couple of weeks ago - eventually, it will pass. Might take awhile, but I'd rather wait at a dock or mooring somewhere than try to race ahead in extreme winds and rain. So - check a couple of sites (I use Windfinder and WIndy and standard Weather Network information) and stay safe!!