Drew and Deb sailing: Waiting in Miami with wind

I flew into Miami from Manchester, NH on Saturday after leaving NYC Friday, kissing Sarah, Yeang and Is good-bye for their visit to grandparents in Malaysia. I drove the car from Queens to park at home in Exeter. So complicated and busy. We are straying from sailing and fast becoming a travel blog.

Historic sign in the park on the East River. Part of my 2 x daily 1 hour walks with Is in the stroller.
Is sitting up in her chair at 3 months!

Isabelle Chng (3 months) and Celia Twombly (8 months), first cousins (Sarah's and Dillon's kids) held by Shelly, Dillon's nanny.

Back to fixing in Miami: Drew took on the auto-pilot by replacing the rudder position transducer sensor. Drew in the cockpit locker:

Mazu supervising on the deck next to the dock.

Later we'll head out into the Biscayne Bay where the wind is okay to calibrate the auto-pilot mechanism so we can continue to wait for favorable winds.
Presently there are up to 8-9' waves and a north wind that doesn't equate with a nice enough sail. They say this weather is for salty sailors, not us. We are looking for 3-4' waves and south, southeast or southwest winds to push us north. Our planned route is to stay a bit outside, ideally hop in the Gulf Stream that's about 15 miles out. It adds a few significant knots onto our speed. We'll go directly from Miami to Moorehead City just below Cape Hatteras or stop in West Palm Beach on the way for a rest. Go inside at Moorehead City for several days on the ICW which means stopping at night and coming out at Norfolk, VA. From there head straight for Buzzards Bay another 3 - 4 days. Then into Mass. Bay to Marblehead. The whole thing takes about 3 weeks whenever we get going.

ASIDE: Just a note of thanks to Sarah and Yeang for such a great time taking care of Isabelle for the month of April. It was nice that they thought about what I might like to do there too.
One of the fun activities was seeing Freedom Park, a national monument to FDR on Roosevelt Island in the middle of the East River. a short 10 minute drive. Pix below. We also rode the tram up over and back over the East River, one subway fare. We could see straight down each Manhattan avenue north to south. We also had a nice little reunion at Lisa's (my niece) in Pelham when I drove bookcases out to her place.