(Podcast) Key West’s Wacky History: Tales of the Conch Republic and Sailing into the Sunset
Season 2, Episode 11.
From a modern-day naval battle to setting sail on our final voyage of the season — and figuring out what to do when hurricane season comes — we couldn’t help but enjoy every minute of this adventure.
Have you heard of the Conch Republic? There’s a great story there. On April 23, 1982, after a series of denials and rejections in the courts, the city of Key West took matters into its own hands. A Border Patrol checkpoint had been set up on the main route into the Keys, leading to long backups and hours of waiting while everything in your vehicle was searched. The city reasoned that if they were going to be treated like a separate country, they would just happily become one. And so the Conch Republic was born.
Spying a target of opportunity in the USCG Cutter Diligence, the wooden schooner Western Union, under the command of Captain John Kraus, attacked with water balloons, conch fritters, and stale Cuban bread. The Coast Guard responded with fire hoses, Prime Minister (Mayor) Wardlow surrendered — and then demanded foreign aid, which has not been paid to this day. A quiet victory was won, though: the checkpoint came down and the traffic jam was gone.
Our Key West story isn’t quite over, but it’s time to head back north and prepare for hurricane season (June 1 – October 31). That means sailing north overnight to our home port of Punta Gorda, in Charlotte Harbor, on Florida’s west coast.
This would be only our second blue-water overnight passage, and we felt much better prepared — even though we’d been hanging in the straps at the work yard just a week before. A full safety inspection, including the mast and rigging, a little provisioning, and all we needed was perfect weather.
When passage planning, we rely on a few different forecasts — Predict Wind, Weather Underground — and double-check against the National Weather Service. Lucky for us, the weather was spectacular: winds out of the SSE at 12 knots and a gentle following sea. We made great time on what was by far our most comfortable passage to date. This is why people sail — smooth seas, a good breeze, and the open-water experience. It was perfect: sailing into the sunset and arriving the next afternoon, happy and confident in our skills and in our beloved Moon Dragon.
Hurricane season — and preparing Moon Dragon to be on the hard (stored on land, strapped down on stands in a hurricane-approved marina) — was our next challenge, and I’m so grateful I had the help of my brother and father to get her all set up. We cleaned her out of food (donating everything they’d accept), stripped the sails, cleared the decks of gear and lines, and rigged a sunshade across the entire deck. We did a lot of work in a very short time!
Cristen took on the challenge of driving north with Eric and the dogs (who were super gassy) and all of our stuff, while Eric had a couple of yearly doctor checkups back in Missouri that we really didn’t want to miss. Needless to say, she’s amazing and really stepped up. (Matt is the author of this blog and her biggest fan.) I was able to join them back in Missouri a couple of weeks later… but that’s another story.
Now that we’re back in Missouri, we’re all set to take on new challenges — and, as always, we keep in mind that when facing the unknown, the keyword is ADVENTURE!
