Preparing for those Winter North Winds

Over the years, I’ve used The Boat Galley newsletter to share what we’ve been up to and what we’ve learned while doing it. Here’s one feature from a few years back sharing the importance of prepping the boat for the north winds that accompany a winter cold front–even when we’re in the Florida Keys!

As I’m writing this, we’ve got a norther raging here in the Florida Keys. Whenever a cold front sweeps across the US, our typical easterly winds will switch to the south, then the west and finally the north.

The north winds are usually strong, preceded by a squall line, and bring chilly temperatures. So how do we prepare?

• Hurricane mooring lines and chafe gear on and double-checked.
• Decks cleared of everything that could blow away.
• Flag down so it doesn’t beat itself to death.
• Dinghy hoisted on davits so it doesn’t escape, and secured with racheting straps so it doesn’t chafe.
• Grocery shopping done yesterday — I planned meals that take long slow cooking and will keep the boat warm. Today I’m roasting a turkey breast. The boat smells wonderful and is toasty warm!
• Grabbed a shower at the marina yesterday afternoon just in case we don’t get off the boat for a day or two.
• Water tanks were topped up and batteries full.

We don’t have snow, but we do have to keep an eye on our winter weather!

P.S. It’s forecast to get down to 54 degrees (F.) tonight. Barefoot Gal may be looking for socks!

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