"If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there!"

It is very frustrating to wait for the weather window. I have spent a couple of months getting the boat ready to go again and yet here I sit waiting, waiting, waiting. We have been asked by a lot of people what it is like to experience a storm offshore. Most of the family would say, “ I don’t know.”


We are very careful when choosing a weather window for an offshore passage with the family. Jimmy and I have been in some REALLY nasty stuff on deliveries because a delivery is a paid job and the purpose is not pleasure but getting the boat to its destination in good time. The only bad weather stories we have on board Wandering Dolphin are from our first two years owning the boat. At that time I was still new to the whole thing and lived by the Captain Ron montra, “If it’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen out there!” Jimmy, EmilyAnne, and I experienced some HUMONGOUS seas in the Gulf Stream with a north wind and that changed my mind. We actually had paid for a professional weather router on that trip… he got it wrong and we suffered the nasty weather. Now I may seek advice on weather but ultimatly I am responsible for my own weather routing and I choose to err on the side of caution, especially where my family is concerned. I am proud to say that after five years out here my wife has yet to experience any Gale force winds and seas. So… I am still waiting… perhaps this weekend I will have the window I need.

Ready to Kick the Tires and Light the Fires,

Captain Tofer