Hey Allyn Chris the other night owl typing from Kansas where my son and I share his Rhodes. The one my wife and I spend our summers on is in Greece. I’ve sailed my first Rhodes to the Bahamas with my brother exactly 25 years ago to the day. Very cool trip. My wife and son joined when my brother returned to the States. We spent a couple of months sailing all over the islands. The Rhodes handled it all. Though we go to the Bahamas every winter (covid excepted) I think I would enjoy doing it in the Rhodes as much as in our larger boat.  Get to know your boat first, and build your sailing skills, then do the “big” trip. Sailing the bays and inter coastal waterways is a fine way to learn sailing. Good luck, you will really enjoy your boat.
Chris Geankoplis
Enosis

On Thu, Jun 3, 2021 at 11:04 PM Allyn Baskerville <allynb at adsne.com> wrote:

> Last post for the night. We've been wanting to take the Rhodes somewhere
> this summer, and we were wondering if there were any other events like the
> Texas 200. I just learned about that, and it's probably too late to sign
> up, plus I don't think my boat will be ready to sail by then because of the
> forestay breaking. We live in Oklahoma, so that location would be ideal,
> plus I'd like to get out in the gulf. Our little lake is a circle with
> about a 9 mile circumference.
>
> We have close to 0 experience sailing in the ocean - I've been out with my
> son (lives north of Miami, FL) a couple times on his Bayfield 32, but
> that's been it. Is it too risky to pull the Rhodes to Miami and sail to the
> Bahamas? What about sailing around the Florida mini-loop?
>
> I've been working on a project that I think will be useful for some trips
> like these.  I recently installed a depth transducer, a radio with AIS
> receiver, and a VHF antenna on the top of my mast that supports AIS. I have
> a wireless NMEA 0183 multiplexor that still needs installing (sitting in a
> closet), and I need to purchase and install a GPS antenna with the NMEA
> interface. This won't take long to wrap up, but ultimately it will connect
> to my iPad running Navionics. I think it should work, and this has been a
> fun project to design. We have a lot of projects going on at the house, so
> I work on this when I can (meaning early weekend mornings). Is there any
> other electronics or hardware that I need to consider? The boat is pretty
> basic - no frills, and I don't have the mast crutch or winch yet, but that
> will happen soon.
>
> Good night all. Allyn
>