American Sailing Certified Sailor

Last day. I took Marty J out of the Bight towards Road Town. Sir Francis Drake channel was bumpy. We raised the main to the second reef which really made the boat much easier to steer. We motor-sailed because we needed to get to Road Town to turn in the boat and go to the fuel dock. Weather was squally but we didn’t get wet while underway. 

Day 7 BVI Flotilla: Norman Island to Road Town

Marty J

Spent 2 nights at Anagada. Departed in the morning for the downwind (broad reach) sail to Jost Van Dyke. After departing the channel, raised the sails to the first reef main and jib, turned on the Jimmy Buffett and sailed on! Winds were a little tamer, at about 20 kts and no squalls. A glorious sail! Arrived at Diamond Cay and moored to see the Bubbly Pool. Our plan was to sail to Great Harbour but one of our flotilla boats reported that there were no mooring balls available so we stayed the night at Diamond Cay. 

Day 5 BVI Flotilla: Anagada to Jost Van Dyke

Departed North Sound, Virgin Gorda. We raised the sails and did some drills in the sound, specifically “crazy Ivans” as a manuever to avoid collision in an emergency. Then we sailed out of North Sound and almost immediately sailed into a squall with up to 30 kts wind and rain. The squall lasted about 30 minutes, then we settled into a pleasant close reach sail with double reef main and single reef jib (we meant to double reef the jib but it pulled out to single). We rotated different tasks on the boat including helming. I found the boat easy to handle with that sail plan even in 20-25kts of breeze-only needing a light touch of 1 hand to steer. Seas were 4-6 feet with some ocean rollers coming through but the boat and crew handled it with ease. After negotiating the tricky channel to the anchorage, I was the morning ball “hooker”. I was able to hook the line but was unable to unhook it (it got caught on the float buoy). The boat hook got pulled forward and caught in the anchor. But other than a broken boat hook, no other damage to the boat or crew. 

Day 3: Virgin Gorda to Anagada

Motored from The Baths to Bitter End Yacht Club at North Sound, Virgin Gorda. The crew decided to motor because the destination was straight upwind and there is a large reef at the entrance to North Sound. So we motored. I helmed the boat most of the way and was on the helm when we picked up the ball. 

BVI Flotilla Day 2: The Baths to Bitter End Yacht Club

Motored across the Sir Francis Drake Channel. We motored because we wanted to get to the Baths early before the crowds. We were also worried that the beach would be closed due to rough surf. But, we arrived and the beaches were open and there wet enough mooring balls for the whole flotilla. We dingied in then swam in, toured the Baths, which were incredible! After about 2 hours onshore, we got everyone safely on the dingy, then safely back on the boat. As we slipped the mooring, 2 boats that were circling converged. So it was good that we got there early!

Day 2 BVI Flotilla: To the Baths

Departed Conch Charters, Road Town, BVI on our 1 week flotilla with the Annapolis Sailing School. After getting into clear water, we raised the mainsail to the top, and immediately got hit with a squall with 30 kt winds. We road out the squall then reefed the mail to the second reef, then set the jib to the second reef. Winds were a constant 20-25 from the ENE. Our destination was Trellis Bay, Beef Island. Which is next to the airport, directly upwind and around the NE tip of Tortola. Sailed up and around the end of beef island and successfully moored for the night. 

Day 1 BVI Floatilla

Annapolis Christmas Boat Parade on Annapolis Sailing School’s Sabre 34 “Lightsaber”. Ian Morrison was the skipper. Under power the whole time. We went up Spa Creek loop twice-after going through the Eastport draw bridge. Then came out and did the loop by Naval Academy and went down ego alley twice!

Temps were in the low 30s. I was on the bow the whole time. Winds picked up by the Naval Academy. I was cold!

Annapolis Boat Parade 2024

Last sail of the season. Winds out of the West about 10 kts. We left the dock about 1430. Third time we left the dock, third different wind direction. This time the boat went straight out of the dock, then we turned to starboard but went straight across to the pilings on the other side. We went across the exit, then backed out. We set sail and went down the Magothy. We hit over 6kts and had such a pleasant sail we had a hard time turning around. 

We were motoring back against the wind to get back to the dock before dark. About half way back, near marker “red 10”, the engine overheated. We shut the engine down, set the anchor and got a tow back to the dock. It was quite stressful because when the engine overheated and steam and smoke came out of the companion way. 

Final Sail of the Season

Bay Dreamer II

Winds were falling-started about 7-10, then falling to 5-7. My boatmates from the morning all left (at least 1 was planned). So I sailed with Anna and Massey. We did 3 windward/leeward races, doing a respectable 3rd, 2nd and 6th (the last race we got caught trying to port tack the fleet). It was a beautiful end to the season!

KBC End of Season Regatta-Buoy Races

Rainbow 24

Conditions were about 12-15 out of the N when we got to the dock. I was with a boat of sailers that I had not sailed with before-1 had taken 101 this year, and older Argentine gentleman who joined in September-but had previous sailing experience and his wife (who had little experience). There was a lot of discussion about reefing and almost all the boats (there were 11 in the race) decided to reef the main when leaving the dock. The wind was funnelling into Back Creek, so this felt like the right course, but when we got out and started sailing around the starting line, we shook out the reef. I had the helm at the start and we got a really good start, but other boats overtook us, putting us in the middle of the fleet. Part of that was due to a navigation error where I held us close hauled for too long going to the wrong marker. But then we got some speed, honoured the mark and started upwind into Whitehall Bay, where the turning mark was. We switch helm to the Argentinian gent and we were making up ground, rounding the top mark in about 4th or 5th. On the downwind leg, we ran aground hard. We tried for about 10-15 minutes to get off, but eventually had to call Ian and get towed off. We sailed back to the dock, taking a DNF. 

What did we do wrong: We were took too close an angle after rounding the mark, but I didn’t recognise that our course was going to put us over a shallow bump. Once aground, we had almost no way to get off, because all our efforts did was push us further aground because the wind still pushed us.  At one point we had the rail in the water. We tried to push off with the paddle. We tried to use the paddle to turn the boat and sail off, all to not avail. 

Stephen Lizewski