Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina

I'm the one saying I've only been around through that area, but that's just one trip up and back. Also, it was in perfect weather with nothing more than chop and was in a 63' boat capable of 40+ knots. Now I wouldn't be surprised if a few boats haven't unwisely ventured out recently due to the lock closure on the cut. I'm also one who on that same boat has spent extra time in far western Florida the past few days rather than going in unwise gulf conditions. Now, I will try the cut next time through but in the right conditions and the right boat (future boat for me), I'll still venture outside as well.

Oh, and looks like from the map the boats aren't outside Hatteras but different Atlantic locations, obviously though all well off the coast, one over 50 miles.

Regardless four sailboats with issues and in waters that are bad at the moment. Will be interesting to know more about these boats. Even more interesting to know why they're there, although sure we never will.

Oh and three of the four were more than 200 miles outside. We were significantly closer.

I've been around Cape Hatteras, but it was in a 109' MY and we had really nice weather and we did a straight shot from Charleston, SC around the Cape and pulled into Little River (or is it New River) VA.

Thing is that we don't know when they started, from where, where they were going, or what kind of boats and experience. More mistakes are made by people deciding they have some sort of timetable to meet or by people exceeding their boats limits or their experience. To me you have a check list of some sort that considers worse case scenario. 1-Is boat capable, 2-Is crew capable, 3-What weather is anticipated. 4-How far will you be from safety in hours. 5-In worse case scenarios what are your capabilities. 6-You keep your eye on forecasts and conditions as you make the trip.

You consider these on every trip you take. I don't know how many mistakes vs. prudent boating these boats made, but certainly didn't meet some of the factors that would make their trip wise.

Yes you say instincts say experienced sailors, but mine tend to say not experienced enough. We finally think we'll be on the move again tomorrow morning as we've been delayed nearly a week. Could we have made our planned trip? Yes. Would it have had at least some small degree of risk we weren't comfortable with? Yes. Last, would it have been enjoyable? No.

I will also say there are some sailors who are a different breed. I saw it here on Tuesday. About a 35' sailboat and they headed out. They said it would be fun and a good challenge. I guess to them it's a sport and to me it's recreation for pleasure. Now I do believe they felt they had the skill and their boat was capable and they had tons of experience in worse conditions. I've read those who circumnavigated without the boats or experience that I would think would minimally be required. Just finished James Baldwin's "Across Islands and Oceans." He was a lot more adventurer than is in my DNA. To me his trip, his lack of experience at the start, his boat, doing it alone, all totally out of my realm of good sense. Made some good reading but created zero desire to do such myself. I think the stories of these four boats would be very interesting.

I'm sure each of you has found yourself sitting somewhere longer than you intended and seen others seemingly less capable or in less capable boats go out.

It makes no sense to me either. That's actually the conditions we had in the gulf this past week. While, for pleasure purposes, we had no desire to go out, I have no doubt with our boat and captains we could have handled the conditions. Now the boat we're on doesn't have the range to go 200 miles offshore.

Again, I'm not a sailor so don't know the problems they had. However, I sure am use to sailors telling us powerboaters how much their boats can handle that ours can't.

While it may not be the case here, it sure reminds me of the cases I see every day of people completely new to boating getting a mid sized boat capable of being owner operated and thinking they can handle it all themselves without training. My wife and I are getting extensive training from our captains, are going to school for more, and are not totally new to boating, just this type and size. Still, we would not yet consider such a trip without a professional captain. Each time we're out we learn something new as circumstances bring something up and they train us further. But that's the difference between being amateurs doing this a year and being a professional with 25 years. The other day it was a course in matching speed on a planing hull to the waves. Hitting that right so that even in 4-6 ft our ride was smooth at 25 knots was something we would not have learned on our own. We would have bounced in at displacement speed. Every day with true professional captains shows us just how much we don't know and we respect that. We would not consider going 200 miles offshore without a professional captain. Yet we had an acquaintance, purchased a 45' trawler as their first boat and the first week took off by themselves (husband and wife) for Nassau.

Yes, and that looks easy when someone experienced does it. But when he slows down and says "Now which of you wants to try it first?" you find out. But now we both have a good feel for it. Funny thing is we both had done similar on the lake on smaller boats. While it's not the same, it's still a matter on rough days of finding that right speed and angle. But there we were the experienced ones. Here in a larger boat on larger water we're the novices. We love to learn and things like that you can't learn in the classroom or by reading.

I agree with everyone's opinions on here, and to my experience, I have been around Cape Hatteras multiple times in mid 40's cruisers, and also the 108' that I used to run. For me it was always taking a look at running the inside from Beaufort and hopping out at Oregon Inlet, or just running around and heading in at Cape Henry or vise versa when heading South. The big factor for me was the changing conditions of Oregon Inlet, and what kind of water was inward of the bridge.

I don't mind going around Hatteras if the weather is right, and while it's a bit out of the way, to me it's somewhat easier (weather dependent) on going through Oregon Inlet and having to run the Sounds down to Beaufort.

It's all a matter of making good judgments based on all the factors and information. Right now we're stranded in Key West. Now, I must admit, if I'm going to be stranded somewhere this is among my first choices.

Half shell raw bar has a baked lobster stuffed with crabmeat that's amazing. Ricky's blue Heaven has awesome food also....... Unfortunately the weather here has been blowing hard for almost 2 weeks now. I like Key West, but after 4 days I would have my fill.....LOL

Oh we haven't yet tired of Key West. We keep coming back. From the people to the sights to the culture to the nightlife. We love nature and quaintness. I think many visitors here miss things that we've made a point to see, such as the Dry Tortugas National Park (not in these seas though), Vandenburg Wreck, Hemingway Home and Museum, Truman Little White House, the Eco-Discovery Center, Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden, Key West Lighthouse and Museum (Ok, I have to see every lighthouse), Wildlife Center, Museum of Art and History, Shipwreck Museum, Aquarium, Butterfly Conservatory, A small local art gallery whose name escapes me, and so much more. All that and more before you even count Mallory Square or Duval Street. Then the locals, so laid back. May be some good reason for that. Tonight we went to a Cabaret and just walked around town.

And you are right about Blue Heaven. All meals. A uniquely Key West breakfast too. Now, I am in trouble tomorrow. Belle wants to visit all the local art galleries and antique stores we can. She will probably find a few items for a couple of our stores, but I'm sure some "have to have" item to add to our home as well. I can't blame it all on her though as I fall victim quickly to nautical items and when we moved to Fort Lauderdale we decided not to try to decorate all at once but just to wait and when we saw items we especially liked pick them up one by one.