Cave Dweller
| Vessel Name: | Cave Dweller |
| Vessel Make/Model: | 51 Hylas |
| Hailing Port: | Camas, WA |
| Crew: | Richard, Andrea, Emily, William |
24 February 2010 | Francis Bay, St John
10 February 2010
10 February 2010 | Saba Rock
28 December 2009 | PDX
Recent Blog Posts
10 February 2010 | Saba Rock
Made it to North Sound
Picked up a mooring at Saba Rock. What a cool place. Spent last night at Marina Cay, and fooled around at the artsy village in Trellis Bay this morning. Then a nice sail up to the end of the Virgins. 10 to 15 knots of wind from the southeast let us sail most of the way. Had to turn on the motor and [...]
Untenable
24 February 2010 | Francis Bay, St John
Richard
Untenable
Tuesday we started moving to BVI to welcome the grandparents to this beautiful place. We got a little extra incentive to get out of Honeymoon bay when the south winds arrived and made the anchorage a rolly mess. Everything gets slower and harder to do when the boat is rolling beam to beam.
The morning started with a return visit from Island Rigging. Jay and Ian brought all the pieces to install the lever on the inner forestay which is now fully functional and ready for when we need to fly our staysail. They also tuned up the tension on the backstay. Of course that was complicated because the threads were galled on the turnbuckle. So they had to take the assembly apart and replace it.
Meanwhile I was getting a lesson in cleaning conch. What a messy job.
Afterwards I zipped to town to fill the propane tank and get a few essentials.
After stowing all the junk on deck, we left the kids on the beach and went to the fuel dock to fill our diesel and water tanks. Was a little exciting getting on and off the dock with the wind blowing us away from the dock. After we picked up the kids at the beach we headed out to sea for our first stop at Francis Bay on St John. I didn't put up the main sail while at anchor because the bay was so rolly. Ha! Dumb move. After we got out of the bay the swell was bigger than I expected and wind was a brisk 20 knots. Took forever to get the main up in those conditions. Of course with all that rolling going in, we quickly discovered the stuff that wasn't yet stowed well. Also took quite a bit if water over the bow and discovered the forward hatches weren't dogged down tight enough so Emily's bed got wet. That was work to get squared away with all the pitching. Finally after getting beat up for half an hour we got the jib out and everything smoothed out. Made a good 7+ knots on a 90 degree (east) course with south winds at 22 knots. With all the day's activity we didn't get underway until 3:30 and started to wonder where we would have to stop for the night. As we approached Christmas Cove we decided to keep going to Francis. After we went thru Current Cut the wind and seas settled down and the sail went from exciting to pleasant. We hooked the mooring at Francis Bay soon after sundown just as the anchor lights were starting to twinkle on. Andrea made tacos for dinner and later we saw what looked like an albino stingray slapping the surface right next to our boat.
Tuesday we started moving to BVI to welcome the grandparents to this beautiful place. We got a little extra incentive to get out of Honeymoon bay when the south winds arrived and made the anchorage a rolly mess. Everything gets slower and harder to do when the boat is rolling beam to beam.
The morning started with a return visit from Island Rigging. Jay and Ian brought all the pieces to install the lever on the inner forestay which is now fully functional and ready for when we need to fly our staysail. They also tuned up the tension on the backstay. Of course that was complicated because the threads were galled on the turnbuckle. So they had to take the assembly apart and replace it.
Meanwhile I was getting a lesson in cleaning conch. What a messy job.
Afterwards I zipped to town to fill the propane tank and get a few essentials.
After stowing all the junk on deck, we left the kids on the beach and went to the fuel dock to fill our diesel and water tanks. Was a little exciting getting on and off the dock with the wind blowing us away from the dock. After we picked up the kids at the beach we headed out to sea for our first stop at Francis Bay on St John. I didn't put up the main sail while at anchor because the bay was so rolly. Ha! Dumb move. After we got out of the bay the swell was bigger than I expected and wind was a brisk 20 knots. Took forever to get the main up in those conditions. Of course with all that rolling going in, we quickly discovered the stuff that wasn't yet stowed well. Also took quite a bit if water over the bow and discovered the forward hatches weren't dogged down tight enough so Emily's bed got wet. That was work to get squared away with all the pitching. Finally after getting beat up for half an hour we got the jib out and everything smoothed out. Made a good 7+ knots on a 90 degree (east) course with south winds at 22 knots. With all the day's activity we didn't get underway until 3:30 and started to wonder where we would have to stop for the night. As we approached Christmas Cove we decided to keep going to Francis. After we went thru Current Cut the wind and seas settled down and the sail went from exciting to pleasant. We hooked the mooring at Francis Bay soon after sundown just as the anchor lights were starting to twinkle on. Andrea made tacos for dinner and later we saw what looked like an albino stingray slapping the surface right next to our boat.
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