Whilst watching the sunrise over St. Martin towards the end of delivering a storm-battered privately-owned BVI-based 50’ monohull, I got some time to myself to reflect on the last 3 months of hyperactivity since Hurricane’s Irma and Maria blew through my home and stomping ground. Pretty much everything has already been said about the September … [Read more...]
Grounded
Running aground in the Caribbean is less common than many other places in the world. That's one of the many attractions of sailing here. Tides are so minimal as to not even needing to really know the time of high or low water, there are few large areas of shallow water where charter yachts are allowed to venture (some parts of the Grenadines … [Read more...]
Sailboats: half plane, half submarine
I had the pleasure of sailing with someone who founded and leads a non-profit foundation that helps school kids improve their science and math skills by connecting them with adults with careers in these fields. These 'working scientists' and their employers agree to donate some of their time to remotely connect online with these kids and mentor … [Read more...]
First Signs of the Season
In a similar way that landlubbers notice the first signs of spring, sailors in the Caribbean notice the first signs of what we colloquially refer to as the 'new season'. One of the earliest, to seen around this time in October, are the first private yachts being put in the water and re-rigged after time 'on the hard' safe from the worst effects … [Read more...]
Squeak!
"Can't we stop that noise?" asked one of my students on last week's 7-day catamaran cruising course. He was referring to a squeak that had developed in our steering wheel that was likely caused by the wheel's break bushing not completely disengaging from the its shaft. And he was right in that, if it was that annoying, we probably could take the … [Read more...]
The name’s Bond…
... actually, mine isn't. But my middle name is James and I couldn't help but think of the famous line Connery's first self-introduction when I saw this 'runabout' zoom past me in North Sound, Virgin Gorda the other week. As it overtook our charter catamaran's humble dinghy, I noticed something strange about her aft-most topsides. But I didn't … [Read more...]
Cat to the Future
Just back from a week coaching a new owner of the latest Lagoon 52. Link to Lagoon's presentation of the boat Since seeing them enter the BVI scene a few months ago I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about the new approach that Lagoon were taking with the location and proportions of this catamaran's rig. It seemed … [Read more...]
A Sail to King Kong’s Island…and Beyond
Just back from a whirlwind 6 day/6 island passage training course on a chartered catamaran with a client interested in extending his cruising range by sailing longer legs across international borders in more challenging, open water conditions. Day One: Starting in St. Martin, French West Indies, we headed 40 odd miles south in 15-20kts of true … [Read more...]
To Catch a Fish
As I was preparing to help deliver a brand new Passport 545 from Hampton, VA to the BVI, the proud owner emailed the crew to to let us know that one of our fellow crewmates, Geoff Mason, had ‘guaranteed’ that he’d catch us a large dolphin fish (aka Dorado or Mahi-Mahi) during our 1400 mile passage south. "Great!” I thought. You see, although … [Read more...]
“Up to Eleven”
In the mockumentary movie, 'This is Spinal Tap', the guitarist character Nigel Tufnel shows off an amplifier where the volume control, instead of going from zero to ten, "...goes to eleven". Watch the one minute clip here. The popularity of the film caused the saying to subsequently be used when something is being taken to its maximum … [Read more...]