There was no refusing my friend’s invitation. He and his wife were about to take their brand new to them 38-foot motor yacht from their home on the Tennessee River in northwest Alabama to a boat repair facility in St. Petersburg, Florida, a run of about seven hundred miles. The boat was in excellent condition, but because it had logged only a few miles during the previous two years, it would also be a shakedown cruise. That was part of the main reason he wanted me, an experienced boater, to come along as an extra hand. I had cruised that route in my own boat, so I knew the water.