Cat on a Deep Blue Sea
The British Virgin Islands is, in my opinion, the best place for a new bareboat charterer to get the hang of a live-aboard sailing vacation. These islands are mountainous so you can always see land. The BVI covers only a small area but is jam packed with so much to see and do. The sailing is perfect with steady tradewinds and protected anchorages. It's easy to see why this is the yacht chartering capital of the world. The hard part is deciding which boat to sail. You have so many beautiful boats to choose from.
For this group of 4 couples, the choice is a 41' Catamaran. It boasts 4 staterooms, each with its own shower and head. This was my first experience with a cruising catamaran. The space is obviously beneficial to a sailing group, but I confess, I loved having both port and starboard engines. That's a big deal when you're maneuvering through a crowded anchorage. Being able to get into shallow water is also a plus.
Cats sail flatter than monohulls and I did miss the heeling at first. Sailing back from Anegada with a wind-speed of 22-24 knots and 10nm of boat-speed, the boat planes on the 3-4 foot seas. Virgin Gorda is 10 miles off my Port bow, which rides up and out of the water. I'm at the helm with a rain shower sprinkling my sunglasses and waves crashing over the Starboard bow. Keeping my course by the compass and the GPS adds to the experience. The wheels teters back and forth under the autopilot's precise adjustments. It's impressive, all this power requiring very little effort on my part. A beam reach seems to be the faster point of sail for a cat. Feeling the boat rise and fall beneath me is exhilarating. While the others sit comfortably around the cockpit, this moment to myself is splendid.
To the West, I see several monohulls heading out to Anegada. Some who chose not to reef, now find themselves on an obnoxious angle of heel. Others are sailing with mainsails only. Watching them now, I don't miss the heeling. Today, I just don't feel like working that hard. Maybe that walk along the beach, yesterday, has something to do with that. While stargazing in Marina Cay last night, I saw the Southern Cross for the first time. While lying quietly on the trampoline, savoring the moments before daybreak, the need to do much of anything had simply faded away. Oh right, that's why I came here.
Sea ya on the water!
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