As I stirred I was confused; the light streaming in through my hatch was coming from the wrong direction. From my bunk I could tell that we hadn’t swung overnight; I finally figured that the light streaming in wasn’t from the sunrise it was from the moonset! The skipper in me, however groggy, decided just […]
What’s a Day like Bareboating in the BVI?
What does a day Bareboating in the British Virgin Islands look like? Join my friends and I for my first full day bareboat chartering: We started out at Marina Cay, explored The Baths on Virgin Gorda before they opened. Then we sailed to the Bitter End Yacht Club and snorkeled along the barrier reef northeast […]
Head to Head: Charter Catamaran vs. Charter Monohull
With 17 people signed up we were going to need at least two boats. This, combined with the limited availability of boats in Antigua meant that we couldn’t get two matching boats to accommodate everyone. We settled on a 38′ catamaran and a 50′ monohull. We had wanted to try a cat for a while, […]
Choosing our Second Caribbean Bareboat Location
Some sailing friends and I wanted to do another trip during the winter and this is a summary of the process we went through deciding where we should go. Where to Visit When to visit was a constraint of ours, we wanted to sail in the off-season after the new year. So it was either […]
The Video that Started it All
About a year ago I was going over the video clips that I had taken since I had started sailing and I thought with a bit more effort I could come up with a sailing video like many of the awesome sailing videos I had seen on YouTube. So I bought a bunch of video […]
Big Boat Basics: Below
The first time you spend more than a few hours on a big boat most of the new things you have to learn are below decks in the cabin. Most of these differences can be boiled down to conservation; conservation of resources that are limited on a boat including electricity, water and space. Fortunately they’re […]
Keep Calm and Harbor Trip On
It’s after midnight, I’m standing on a windswept beach practicing tree pose by the light of a campfire when Mandi hands me an offshore PFD. I suit up and prepare for some rowing because our boat is anchored several football fields to windward and there is a tent shortage on the island: somebody forgot the […]
Sailing Packing Checklist
Updated 30-Nov-2019 I use this checklist when I am packing for a sailing trip. I go through the checklist to remind me about everything I might bring; everything I don’t need I just check off and move on. If I’ve needed it once it’s on the list; this is meant as a list of ideas […]