Planning a trip in a boat is very different than planning a road trip in the car or RV. Weather is one of the biggest factor that can change our plans, sometimes for days.

Go/No Go Plan…Hopefully all boaters have one. So what our Go/No Go Plan???

We look at weather forecast where we are currently at along with the forecast for our destination. Will there be rain, high wind gusts, are the tides and currents favorable? What is wind speed and from what direction? Do we feel comfortable with our experience, knowledge, and skill set to handle the boat if the conditions actually gets worse than the forecast? We also consider our guests comfort zones and the fur-bags too. Sucia and Bentley like calm seas too!

Wally and I make the go/no go decision together. If either of us have apprehension, even if just a gut feeling not wanting to go, we do not GO.

Our base line for wind is 15 knots plus of steady wind with wind gusts above that are generally a no go – especially in a boat we don’t have much foul weather experience in. Often marinas are tight and Escapade is a big boat to be docking in the wind. Wind and current opposing each other can cause wind waves that stack up tight. At large inlets, where water is entering and exiting the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW), this can be very uncomfortable and sometimes down right dangerous. Tides affect the water depth and again here in the ICW, this is important to consider as the water is dang skinny (shallow). Yep, skinny is a boating term too! It’s easy enough to run aground on shoals on the ICW without all of the above factors working against you.

If we were planning to go offshore, this plan would be significantly more conservative as wind and wave height become significant factors and the danger level is much higher than cruising on the ICW.

Being retired should mean no schedule, right? It’s amazing how bad shite happens when you make a decision based on a schedule – most great boating stories revolve around how people have earned that one the hard way. Personally, we prefer a safe and pleasant day on the boat as opposed to a arse whooping by Mother Nature.

This is the forecast from the NOAA weather website for todays proposed destination – Vero Beach. We also look at the Windy and Windfinder apps and compare the three reports. UGH, not looking good for at least three days but we will look again tomorrow.

So… the boat is ready to go, fuel tanks are full, water tanks are full, the refrigerator/freezers are full but today but it is definitely a no-go day! Mother Nature casted the final vote, we are both a bit bummed but such is life on a boat. I thought I was going to be writing our FIRST Great Loop post today but c’est la vie, this is for another day.