Sunday, December 6, 2015

SAILING, SAILING.....


The Lady Bea
Earlier in November we headed down to the British Virgin Islands for an amazing sailing holiday.
The whole adventure began last winter when Julia asked what I wanted for my upcoming 60th birthday. Last year we skied Tuckerman’s Ravine in New Hampshire for my birthday and we were most fortunate in being able to get all our kids together with us. Hiking up the super steep slopes of the Ravine and seeing them enjoy what I used to do in my younger years was a dream come true. Doing a sailing holiday was another dream that I had. Since I was on a roll, I thought why not give a try?
We threw the idea out to friends to join us. With Jim and Joan Gordon from Kamloops and Ian and Beth Haysom from Victoria we had a perfect mix of sailing experience, stories and conversation, and adventures.
The boat we selected was a 40 foot catamaran named Lady Bea based out of the capital, Road Town. From Road Town we circumnavigated the island of Tortola and then a week later were back in Road Town. Along the way we would stopped each night at one of the many beautiful islands that dotted our route.
Last dinner together at Cooper Island

The boat performed really well for us. There was a comfortable amount of room for everyone to move around, she was stable and managed even the stronger winds without problem. There was one little “blow” and with the wind at our backs and sizable surfing waves we got her up to just under 11 knots. That was quite good considering 7 or 8 knots is footing along quite well.
The British Virgin Islands is widely regarded as a perfect destination for those taking their first sailing trip. Sailing from one destination to the other is fairly easy, the mooring spots are well laid out. Our cat had two engines and screws (props) which made it easy to manoeuvre and since it was “low season” it never felt crowded.
In the end, I think that we both got a bit of the boat bug.  There we were on our last day in BVI looking at 42' er's in a marina wondering what it might feel like if we actually owned one! That’s another dream for another time.

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