BVI Sailing Vacation (Part II)

June 27 - A "Dark and Stormy" Start

Big thunder and lightning this morning woke Suzi and me up at 4AM.  I rolled back over feeling good as we were still tied to the Moorings' marina dock.  The alarm woke us for good at 7am, but it was still raining.  I made percolated coffee, cut some fresh fruit and toasted raisin bagels to start a rainy day.  The girls showered on the boat to get use to water conservation ... Gray and I ventured to the supermarket to pick up a few more provisions.  More coffee before the last land based "head" visit for a week was in order before I "topped" off the water tanks.  We were ready to go! 

I started the engine and got a bit nervous as the dock was filling with workers and charterers getting other boats ready.  I had a straight shot out of our slip, but a big "cat" was just off my starboard where I needed to make a left. I didn't have much room for error and the growing audience was sure to notice any mishap. I had Suzi forward ready to fend us off with the boat hook if I got too close, but all worked as planned and we motored out of the dock and into to harbor (10:30am).

Once we passed the final green buoy to enter the Sir Francis Drake Channel, I turned into the wind and raised the main.  The previous day I plotted a course of 212M to Norman Island, so I turned the wheel and made our course. I engaged the auto pilot and began to experiment with the sail trim.  We were on a port tack and reaching. All seemed to be working well until the boat began to round up into the wind.  Before I knew it we were heading close hauled on a course of 135M and I could not seem to get the boat to fall off. I disengaged the auto and made a tack, but I still could not get the boat to make my course.  I began to get concerned so I started the engine and was able to get us back on course by motor-sailing.  We unfurled the jib and were making 6.9knts. I cut the engine again and self steered for fifteen or so minutes before engaging the auto once again.  All seemed good as we headed toward the Indians and Pelican Island.  It was a nice sail as I began to get comfortable with the boat after the rounding up incident with the auto pilot (I later learned that sometimes the auto pilot, especially if it is not "tuned" properly, can get overpowered in breezy conditions and following seas as the boat yaws as the auto cannot anticipate wind gusts or waves.  If it does not "correct" the course quickly enough, you round up.)

As we passed the Indians on our port, we could see the Bight anchorage off of Norman Island (our destination) and I instructed Suzi on the plan to furl the jib. As she tensioned the jib sheets, I began to pull in on the roller furling jib line, but Suzi lost her grip on the starboard jib line and it pulled through all of the track pulleys and the entire length of the line was being whipped violently around by the wind. First rookie mistake - I forgot to tie stopper knots on the jib lines (in fact, I did not even look to see if they were ties as I always leave them tied on my boat). Fortunately, I was able to retrieve the wayward line and we furled the jib, and then lowered the main to enter the anchorage under power.  Actually, this was quite a dangerous situation ... Imagine that the jib line is a 50 foot bull whip that is "cracking" uncontrollably in all directions and extremely fast- much faster than humanly possible.  Then imagine trying to catch it by hand.  We were lucky that the stormy start to our day did not end with a serious eye injury by the end of a jib line whipping in the 20+ knts of Caribbean wind.     

A gust blew us off our first attempt at a mooring ball, but we nabbed the second without a hitch AND we are within swimming distance from the (in)famous Willy Ts. (1pm, about 1 hour behind my intended schedule).

On board we enjoyed lunch of tuna salad on whole wheat pita, then off to the Caves for some snorkeling. Great fun, but in less than 3 hours, I was guilty of rookie mistake no. 2 - I moored our dingy to a yacht mooring ball and a very large cat came along and tied to “our” ball and let our dingy float under yacht's canopy.  I swam over and the cat captain was nice and politely showed me the dingy mooring so I crawled in and motored out from underneath his cat and retied to the correct mooring area and reconnected with Suzi and the kids to resume a great snorkel. 

The Caves was also the site of our first casualty - water proof camera crapped out (major disappointment).  Dinner?  Maybe Willy Ts for Suzi and me once the kids are put to bed.  Instead, we dined on board Blue Tide and it was great (Cajun Chicken curry with white rice).

Willy Ts beckoned and Suzi and I arrived (kids in bed) for a couple of "Dark and Stormy's" to "end" with what "started" our day.  The reputation and lore of Wiley Ts did not disappoint ... We saw another charter group, including a woman (who seemed to know her way around the bar and behind it) her husband and friends that were enjoying themselves in a very uninhibited way ... While behind the bar and trying to cue just the right Led Zeppelin song for her liking, she ordered a body shot ... Took off her shirt and crawled up on to the bar and laid on her back.  The bartender (after looking at me and shrugging his shoulders) placed whip cream and cherries on, well use your imagination. Then her husband (I assume) promptly gobbled everything up while she giggled. She was ALL tan, so obviously did not have any concerns about revealing her private areas (footnote - upon arrival back in the USVI, the body shot couple was staying at our resort and recognized Suzi and I ... They seemed very embarrassed and avoided eye contact as I tried to say "Hi, remember us from just a few nights ago?").