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Now for the route and weather window. Our local weather man, Tom Rector of NBC2 plotted the weather for us. Gary Trimmer plotted the course across the Florida Straights which has currents running at 2-3 kts to the East. On April the 18th at 10:00 P.M. I got the call from Tom Rector. Leave now. Its a good thing we were packed and ready to go. Within 2 hours we were sailing out of Charlotte Harbor on the Beneteau lacking 1 crew member that couldn't be found.

Scott was to trailer the 2 Escapes to Key West the next day and we would leave ASAP. We arrived in Key West on the Beneteau at 8:00 A.M. the morning of the 20th. Scott pulled in around 10:30 A.M. and we proceeded to provision the 2 Escapes and set sail for our destination, Cuba. It was noon and the winds were 8-10 kts from the SE when we sailed pass the large cruise ships in Key West, Scott and I looking toward the South with great hopes of reaching our destination.

As we sailed across the Reef we were amazed at all the debris you could see on the bottom. There were old military shells, sunken boats and other unrecognizable objects. But knowing we had a long trip ahead of us we focused on sailing the Escapes as fast as they would go.

We each had our Garmin 170 to navigate and keep in contact with each other, so we listened to the weather channel off and on for wind and sea conditions. At 12 miles out the wind died to 0-2 kts and the sea was like a sheet of glass. At least we were out of the grip of the incoming tide, but we were not making any headway. We decided to board the support boat "Something Special" and head West. Our thought was that when we were on the support boat and traveled West we would not sail toward Cuba unless we were on the Escapes

At 5:00 A.M. the 21st we climbed back on the Escapes and headed SW. in 13-15 kts of SE winds. This was great sailing. The 3-4 ft seas didn't bother the performance of the boats at all. So we prayed for 15-20 kts and that afternoon we got it. We got wet, even though we had our gear in water proof containers somehow water found its way to spare batteries instantly turning them to rust. We decided we had to much gear aboard and we came along side the support boat and unloaded keeping only the Garmin and safety equipment and bottled water. With the thought of losing our gear gone now, we tied ourselves to the boat and headed on a close reach toward Cuba.

The evening of the 21st brought light winds as we were entering the currents, so we again took advantage of it and headed for "Something Special" for some long needed food and a quick rest. The winds came up again so we climbed back aboard the Escapes and headed SW. in 15-20 kts. Wonderful, we thought, as night fell we turned on our improvised lights to keep visual coact with each other as well as the support boat. With the seas running 5-6 ft now we lost each other in the swells.

Now in the darkest of night I have ever seen before the Gulf was letting us know why this trip is not to be done in a small boat, unless you are "Escaping From Cuba, not to Cuba" To make matters worst the lights began to fail and my heavier weight {180 lbs} allowed me to sail faster than Scott {110 lbs}, even when I reefed the sail I was still faster. We were broad reaching now and one mistake at that high speed on the Escape could mean a "pitch pole". Before we started the venture we agreed that if conditions threatened our lives beyond our control we would abort and head West on the support boat until the conditions changed in our favor. The only commutation between us was the Garmin 170, thank God it was both GPS and VHF.

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