We left January 21, 2003 at 04:30. We had a
36 hour window in light westerly winds. The
winds had been blowing from the north for the
last couple of days so we decided to let the
seas settle down a bit before we headed off.

Once we left the inlet, we followed a 110 degree
bearing and then followed 90 degrees once we were
6 miles out. We maintained this bearing until we
reached the Little Bahama Bank at 12:53. The winds
remained light westerlies (8-10 knots) so we did
not get the push we wanted.  Furthermore, we were
expecting a counter-current that never appeared
along the Banks which was to push us in a southerly
direction.

The result was we were over 8 miles north of our
destination, Memory Rock. However, we just simply
went in through the cut a little North of the rock
and decided to head straight for Great Sale Cay,
instead of Mangrove Cay. Many boats were trying to
leave the inlet on a 90 degree bearing and ended up
5 miles north of us, having to go through the White
Sands entrance instead. We underestimated the
northerly current of the Florida Straight, but no
one really knows until in it.

My thought: better head on a more southerly bearing
early when the current is weak and work your way
across with the current using less fuel than to
fight the current to maintain an Easterly or
Southerly bearing.

Having arrived in the Little Bahama Bank by mid
afternoon, we continued on and later later anchored
further into the Bank only 32 miles west of Great
Sale Cay. We decided to carry-on the following day
to Great Sale Cay since they were calling for 10-15
knot south-west winds.