Ali Briggs Carvalho

We had a smooth sail to Sandy Spit, a cute tiny sandbar island with palm trees used in corona commercials. We anchored and had lunch before the wind turned and we were concerned about depth. We lifted the anchor and had a memorable anchoring lesson, then the rain started. A big northern front is coming in and it arrived early, good to be conservative! Made it to our anchorage, which is a super protected spot, and had maraschino bourbon sours to celebrate. Tonight winds up to 25 knots expected from the north!

Sailed downwind from Maho to Jost Van Dyke - jagged notch in route when we deviated to avoid a boat 😆. Ali got confused on which jib sheet is the working sheet - the downwind side! Time to clear into customs! First time!

Maiden voyage of Ali’s outhaul eye splice! We’re on our way to BVI, hoping to clear into customs tomorrow morning. Had some big gusts above 20 en route, hit 7.5 knots reefed at one point before motorsailing as our route was straight into the wind. Lots of snacks for lunch and discussion on the optimal time to stop back winding a sail on a tack on the trip. A+ mooring ball pickup, for real, except Ali more or less tossed the boat hook into the water midway through, so embarrassing! Gu saved it with the other boat hook and the power of physics.

It was freeeeeeeezing and new canvas / enclosure panels were NOT installed yet