Cruising the BVI: Day 2 - To Marina Cay

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In the previous installment of the series of blog posts "Cruising the BVI: Day 1 to Norman Island" we described our first full day in the BVI.  We eventually made our way to the Bight.

Monday February 28, 2011 - I did not get much sleep due to the wide angle and rapid period of our swinging at anchor.  I awoke and went on deck several times during the night to check on things.  I could see the gusts work their way down from the eastern end of the bay past us.  Several times our rhythmic swinging from the mooring ball would put us at the end of an arc just as a gust hit.  The wind gust would rapidly accelerate us in the opposite direction.  Hearing the resulting whoosh of water on the hull along with the higher pitch whistling in the rigging was disconcerting and made for fitful sleep.  This began Jim's and my weeklong discussion of anchor swing dynamics and mooring ball securing techniques.

Nonetheless we awoke to a beautiful day even though it was mostly overcast and quite windy.

The ladies prepared a wonderful breakfast of eggs and fresh fruit, with some Zucaritas on the side.  Now that we were fueled and with our sea legs, it was time to sail!

Day 2 Route

"8 is enough" left anchor before us and relayed to us the weather forecast.  Basically it was the same as Sunday but would be a little more overcast.  So we would be tacking upwind into the swells of Drake Channel.

We motored out of the Bight towards the Indians.  Once we were clear of those at anchor we raised sail before we entered the larger seas beyond the islands.

"4's Company" is equipped with lazy jacks.  I've only had limited experience with them  A boat we chartered on the Chesapeake was so equipped.  The problem was the mainsail on "4's Company" has battens which extend beyond the sail's leach.  So as we were raising sail, the battens would catch in the joints of the lazy jacks.  Eventually we figured out that having the lazy jacks completely loose would allow them to rest far enough forward to alleviate the problem.  Unfortately this necessitated working at the foot of the mast when all the other sail controls were in the cockpit.

We sailed up Drake Channel on starboard tack with full main and jib.  I was having trouble getting the sails trimmed well and finally discovered the (first) problem.  The genoa tracks were all the way forward.  In this configuration the jib was way too full for upwind sailing.  Moreover, using the jib tack seam I could see the sail was designed to have the sheet lead much further back.  So I beared off some and let the main out.  We then moved the opposite jib traveler car full aft to prepare for when we tacked.

We tacked, trimmed in and the boat held a reasonably nice upwind angle now.  (Overly) Satisfied with my sailing prowess, we proceeded on port for about 20 minutes.  Jim, in the mean time, moved the port side car fully aft in preparation for the next tack.

Bad Cleat IdeaI called "hard-a-lee!"  The bow crossed the wind, Dorothy let the jib fly on starboard and Jim started grinding on port.  Then I saw the jib backwind, dragging the bow to port and halting our forward movement.  "What the heck?!?".    I centered the rudder and we picked up speed, backward, and our transom began to push the dinghy!  Then the jib freed, I gave some right rudder so we would point left and we eventually resumed sailing, yes forward, on starboard tack.

It turns out there was a reason the last crew had left the jib cars all the way forward.  For some inconceivable reason, this boat has abeam docking cleats and associated toe rail cuts.  The jib sheets naturally seek these out in order to get caught!

So we adopted a technique, ala the Flying Scot, where we applied some windward sheeting before freeing the jib's leeward sheet while tacking.  We had a couple of more tacks to refine our technique when we approached Peter Island.  By this time the swells had built again to the 5-6 foot range.  Plus it was approaching lunch time and we were getting tired from pounding into the waves.  So I decided we would take a lunch break at Great Harbour.

Great Harbour is the big bay on the north side of Peter Island.  Peter Island is a private island.  The bay to the east of Great Harbor is Sprat Bay which has the marina for Peter Island Resort.

Great Harbour is very deep with reasonable anchoring only along the very perimeter of the bay close to shore.  After some histrionics which the skipper would rather forget, we anchored along the east side of the bay about 100 yards from shore in about 40 feet of water.  This was the only time we used the boat's anchor during the trip.

After lunch and a swim it was getting late.  So instead of sailing we ran the engine and headed directly for Marina Cay (pronounced "key").

Marina Cay is located on the northeast side of Tortola, just south of Great Camenoe Island and Scrub Island.  It is a very small island and shoal which provides a nicely protected anchorage.  We took the northern route into the anchorage, avoiding the shoals which extend about half way into the apparent channel.

We arrived just after '8 is Enough' and caught one of the last mooring balls.  If we had not there was plenty of area to anchor.  '8 is Enough' made dinner reservations at Pusser's and we relaxed with some wine and cheese.

Summary

It was another great day in the BVI.  While we had more wind in our face than we would have liked, the sailing was great.  The water was clear and warm.  The food was delicious and all too plentiful!

Next up: Virgin Gorda and the Bitter End Yacht Club.

Glenn