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...]
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...]
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...]
Dolphins Ahoy!
Spotted by new sailors on their first bareboat learning experience in December 2014. I hope that they'll be hooked on sailing after this! … [Read more...]
Monohull or Cat?
This is perhaps the most common question that 21st century sailors ask themselves and there is no simple answer as both types of boats have their obvious pros and cons. For some the choice is decided by the fact that a monohull will heel moderately while sailing upwind in a typical Caribbean trade wind breeze, while a the heel of a similarly … [Read more...]