The Caribbean 1500
29 November 2009 | Bitter End Yacht Club, British Virgin Islands
kurtfFlock / clear & beautiful skies
Okay, this is a short entry, because there is really so much to cover. On November 2nd, Kate, Sophie, and I sailed out of the Chesapeake with Dennis Ryerson and Tom Spencer along as crew. We joined the Caribbean 1500 rally and headed south to Nanny Cay in the British Virgin Islands. We had one amazing offshore adventure that I'll detail in a subsequent post. The cliff notes version is that we made it to the BVI's in nine days. We opted to bypass Bermuda, as did virtually every other boat in the fleet, and head directly to the BVI's. We followed a cold front as we left the Chesapeake on a cold, blustery, and drizzly November morning. We crossed the Gulf Stream with no problems and enjoyed frisky sailing running before northerly winds that hung above 20 knots most of the time and seas that ranged from 5' to over 10'. The highest wind gust we experienced was 38 knots and the fastest boat speed was 10.2 knots. We've spent the last couple of weeks getting the boat put back together, installing some new systems, and adapting to the slower pace of all things Caribbean. We're presently at the Bitter End in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda. It's a beautiful Sunday morning, and we expect to have a very relaxing afternoon. More later!