Friday 22 January Plans

Friday 22 January - Plans
On Thursday from no wind to 20+ knots, and that has been a blessing. I have been sailing amazingly well, sometimes up in the 7's. The wind is up, the speed is up, and the spirits are up. The good strong wind is making it possible that I will be able to get to Sapodilla on Saturday.
I want to get to Sapodilla Bay, Caicos for a several reasons. We are forecasted to have strong north-west winds Sunday, and this is without a doubt the best anchorage for NW wind. My option, if I do not make it to Sapodilla is Hawks Nest at the south tip of the island. At Hawks Nest I will have to motor in through a pass, then up around the end of the island. And then motor back out again to continue. I might be able to sail to anchor at Sapodilla. Sapodilla is my destination, my milestone. If I stop at Hawks Nest it will take several more days to "get to where I am going".
I will sail through the Turks Islands just south of Hawks Nest. If I can keep my speed up I will make that pass about 02:00 Saturday morning. Then it is 60 miles across the Caicos Bank up to Providenciales, and Sapodilla Bay. The reason all this is a problem is that the wind is clocking around, right now it is from the east, then it will veer to the south-east, then south, SW, W, and Sunday morning strong from the north-west. As long as the wind is no more west than south-west I will be able to sail, but I can not sail against a west wind. The wind is clocking. It will go to the west. But I don't know what time that will be. If the wind goes to west I will have to turn around and sail back to Hawks Nest. The farther I get the longer it will take to get back to Hawks Nest so the sooner I have to make the decision. The faster I can sail now the sooner I can get to Caicos Bank, the better chance I have of making it to Sapodilla. I can not enter Hawks Nest in the dark. So somewhere along the way I will need to determine the time to get to each anchorage and what the wind is doing. The time that the wind shifts from SW to W is my critical concern.
Reef Early
Bill Doar
s/v Advent II