Caribbean 1500, Hampton, VA to Roadtown, Tortola - 10/28/02 thru 11/13/02
We had a great start out of Hampton, VA on Sunday, 11/3 and everyone is so excited about arriving in Tortola in the BVIs as soon as possible. There's three of us aboard Early Out for the passage. A friend of ours from back home, Peter, is helping us.  It'll be nice to have another person aboard. Especially for the night watches (which I think is his favorite part - no matter what he says)  :-). Peter, who is known on our boat as both Dr. Speed and Big Wind Buckley,  got his name because he's constantly tweaking the sails to make us go faster and we have never seen so much wind until he came on board.  Hence the fast names.

It was a wild start with 47 boats all trying to beat each other across the line. The winds started out 12-15 out of the NNE, gusting to 18. After the start and overtaking several other boats (Fred and Peter's favorite part since this rally is a race), we put the spinnaker out and enjoyed a beautiful sail under sunny skies until around 4 PM when the wind died and we had to turn the motor on. Most of the fleet motored during the night as the wind didn't pick up again until around 3 AM on Monday, 11/4.

Blue Water Yachting Center in Hampton, VA with Caribbean 1500 boats

Starting Line - West Marine Caribbean 1500 rally

The wind came up strong during the night which made for some fun reefing exercises in the dark (shortening sail). There's no moon so the nights are really dark. By 6:45 AM we had 25-27 knots gusting to 34 out of the NE. Also with the heavy wind came rain. We were expecting the first night to be really cold - but it wasn't as bad as we thought. Maybe it's because we had on so many layers that we could hardly move. It wouldn't have been as bad if it wasn't raining. The rain finally ended in the late evening and the winds died down and we ended up motoring a few hours during the night.

The folks coordinating the rally hold daily chats over the single side band radio. So at 7:30 AM and 7:00 PM everyone gets on frequency, gives their location, wind conditions and if their encountering any problems, etc. Its a good way to keep track of everyone and make sure their safe. Its also a great way to keep track of the other boats in your race class. After the chat my job was to plot the position on our electronic charts of the four other boats in our class so we knew where everyone is.  Then Peter took over and did extensive analysis on everyone's progress.  I think this was the guys favorite time of the day - reviewing how everyone did each day.  After Peter's analysis it would either be - we've done a great job, or let's get moving!  The rally is using a weather router service, so we get emails daily from them. We also listen to Herb - the weather god in some people's mind which gives us some good insight as to what's going to happen out here.

We were hoping the next day, 11/5 (Tuesday) would bring better weather. The rain cleared up, but the winds increased. For most of the day we had 25-30 out of the SE with seas building to 6-8 ft. We continued to sail under a triple reefed main sail and our staysail (storm sail). Early Out was doing great and her crew wasn't too bad either. The weather forecast was that gale force winds were coming our way and there's no way to out run it. So we prepared ourselves as much as possible and sure enough, by evening, the winds started increasing to 35-40. The winds and seas continued to build throughout the night. Things were getting very rolly/bouncy. The winds built to a consistent 40 gusting to 45+ with waves building to 15-18 ft. You could see the spray off the waves go sideways. Some of the waves looked like mountains coming at you. We sailed thru the night under a reefed staysail only. Even with that small amount of sail out we were doing over 6 knots. I can't say enough about how good the boat handled the weather and sea condition. The autopilot did great as well and did most of the steering. Although someone was always out in the cockpit watching out for things - which was a wet task seeing how waves kept spraying over the boat. With the high seas it makes it really difficult to spot other boats. In fact I didn't see an oil tanker 'til it was only about 2 miles away. There were probably 5 or more boats that hove-to (parked the boat) overnight. On the morning chat, we discovered that some had sail and electronics damage. Nothing broke on Early Out during the gale and no one got sea sick. We were very fortunate. I was the closest to becoming sick when I'd go down below. But I learned to lay down and close my eyes as soon as I was below and I did pretty good.  The teak floor in the main salon became my favorite friend.  The strong winds continued thru the night and into the next day.  Finally by noon on 11/7 (Thursday) the winds decreased to 20-25 out of the north.  So even though the seas are still up - 6 to 8 ft, things are much better. The sun is out and all is well. We have about 585 miles under our keel and about 800 more to go.  I sure hope there are no more gales out there!

Big Wind Buckley and Debbie enjoying the ride
 

Day 5
The weather has greatly improved since my last update. Last night was an awesome night. Lots of stars out, warm weather and a nice 15-20 knot breeze to push us along at an average of 6.8 knots. We hadn't seen a boat for several days until last night when we came within 3 miles of a large commercial vessel. Other than that, we haven't seen very many people. Its an odd feeling being out in the middle of the ocean with nothing but water in sight for days. Speaking of water - its a gorgeous deep blue color and we've actually seen several birds. Some of which we expected, but others, like a small finch were clearly lost. In fact I have a great picture of the finch sitting in my cockpit as he was clearly exhausted. I was even able to feed him bread - which again goes to show you how tired he was. He eventually flew away. I sure hope he's able to hop enough rides on boats to get him back to land. We've tried our hand at fishing, but so far, no luck - we're not giving up though. I know there's a Mahi Mahi out there with our name on it.

The rally we're participating in has a website that their updating daily with the positions of all the boats, weather conditions, etc. The website is: www.carib1500.com which makes it nice for everyone back home to see that we're ok and where we are.

The weather prediction for the next couple days looks good - yea!  Northeast to east winds 15-20, maybe lighter. So hopefully we'll enjoy the nice push from these winds all the way to the BVI's. We now have 746 miles and almost 5 days under our keel and we're over 1/2 way there.

Day 6 & 7
Well its been a week today that we've been out to sea. Other than two commercial vessels, we haven't seen a boat for about 5 days.

As many of you know from following the Caribbean 1500 website (www.carib1500.com), its been a very interesting trip. We've experienced a little bit of everything. From starting out with moderate winds, having the winds diminish to then having them increase to gale strength with heavy seas. Day 6 brought another wind change which put the wind right on our nose so we now find ourselves sailing close hauled (sailing as close to the wind as possible) to make our first mark of Anegada. With the wind between 15-25 most of the time, we've been heeling quite a bit - at least 20 degrees.  I can now relate to those commercials that say - I need a V8!  Life on a heel is difficult in many ways. Even though our stove in gimbaled so it will move with the boat, cooking has become quite challenging. First you have to manage to stay down below long enough to cook without turning green, if you know what I mean. Then you can't leave anything on the counter for a second or it quickly slides off onto the floor - even though I have non-skid material everywhere. Your also constantly trying to brace yourself so you don't go flying thru the cabin. Lately I've been tying myself to the stove for support. We did have a minor incident on the boat yesterday to our table in the salon folds up against the wall. Fred had opened it up to put something back when the boat lurched and Fred went flying, with the table in his hand, to the leeward side. Fred was ok, but our table is no longer connected to the wall. Oh well, who needed it anyway!  We have something to fix on our autopilot so this will be added to the list. Small things like getting dressed while trying to brace yourself or going to the bathroom on a 20 degree angle become quite challenging.  I'm looking forward to life more upright -- just need the winds to shift about 40 degrees.

Day 8
Today is our 8th day out, still heeling and now we're running into many squalls.  In the daylight, its easy to see the squalls coming. Its also easy to see if it contains rain or not, but what's hard to predict is the wind velocity. Several of the boats have been caught in squalls and had their sails rip as the wind went from 15 to 40 in a matter of seconds. So we keep a very close eye out and shorten sail before coming too close. The big challenge is at night. With very little moon, its difficult to see the squalls coming. What we've been doing is checking the radar every 1/2 hour. If you keep a close eye on the radar, you can generally spot them before they get you.

One of the many squalls we encountered

Today was also big in that we've logged over 1,000 miles for this passage. We now have 1,034 under our keel and approx. 402 miles to go. If all goes well, we're estimating our arrival in the BVI's for Wednesday, 11/13..
 

Arrival in Roadtown, Tortola - British Virgin Islands
We have arrived safely in Tortola on Wednesday - 11/13. The trip ended up being a totall of 1464 miles and we did it in 10 days. Not bad for a boat that averages 6 knots (6.7 mph).  We were warmly greeted by the folks at Village Cay Marina in Roadtown and was presented with a bottle of champagne that didn't take long for us to open.

Fred and I want to thank you for all your thoughts as prayers. They really helped as our boat and its crew did very well. On the daily radio chats and at the marina after our arrival in Tortola we realized just how lucky we were not to incur any damage (besides our table, of course).  I'd say over 75% of the fleet incurred either some sail, rigging, engine, autopilot, water in the boat or fuel problems. One boat even got hit by lightening. One had to be towed into the marina because of no engine and their fore stay had broken so they jury-rigged a temporary sail to enable them to get here. A handful of boats ended up diverting to Bermuda before continuing on to Tortola to get repairs made. While there were others that diverted to the Bahamas and Dominican Republic. The folks coordinating the rally said that the Gale the fleet went thru was the worst weather they've seen since starting the rally over 10 years ago. Not sure if that should make us feel better or not.

We spent 2 1/2 days at the marina in Village Cay on Tortola cleaning up Early Out as well as ourselves. Boy did that first real shower feel good after 10 days. Friday, 11/15, they had the awards presentation and dinner. We took second place in our racing division...missed first by an hour and a half. We were 11th overall (out of 46) which we think is pretty good considering the experience level of the fleet including some professional crew.  The evening dinner was delicious.  It was a buffet that had main dishes of chicken, grouper, prime rib and much more.

We left the marina Saturday and decided to go somewhere to relax for a while. We ended up anchoring in The Bight off Norman's Island. Beautiful island with some great snorkeling around the caves. We'll probably just hang here for several days and catch our breath.

Thanks again for all the support. We learned a lot about our boat and ourselves on this passage. I think others who made it are probably saying the same. I'm sure there will be a summary of everything on the Caribbean 1500 website if you want to check things out - www.carib1500.com

The go-fast crew of Early Out dressed in uniform upon arrival in Roadtown.
 

British Virgin Islands 11/15-11/28/02

We have sailed in the Virgin Islands twice before. Once on a charter with Fred's entire family in 1989 and once with our friends Luann and Steve a couple years before Michelle was born. This is certainly a magical place and we are enjoying it even more this time if that is possible. It's really great not to have some deadline hanging over our heads so we can take our time and leave when we are good and ready. Here are the spots we visited:

Norman Island - The Bight

One of the beautiful sites we saw on our hike - picture of the Atlantic side

Norman Island, named after a pirate, is often said to be the island on which Robert Lewis Stevenson based Treasure Island.   Its said that Stevenson's grandfather adventured in the islands and wrote descriptive letters home, from which much of Treasure Island may have been copied.  It's always great because it's well protected and there is great snorkeling and hiking nearby. We stayed for 3 days since this was our first really stop after our journey from Virginia. It took us a little while to unwind and catch up on sleep but we felt much better after we left.  In addition to the old sailboat and floating restaurant, William Thornton, in the harbor, there is a new bar on the east end of the Bight. They have great Pina Colada's which tasted fantastic after a hike over to see the ocean side.  In addition to great views, we saw colorful caterpillars that were about 6 inches long.  We've seen a lot more cactus on the island than anticipated which suprised us.  This is considered their rainy season so right now its not unusual for one to experience a shower or two a day.  None of which seem to last very long.  Infact we like them because they clean the salt off the boat.
 

Cooper Island

Relaxing against one of the many palm trees

Copper Island was Fred's favorite spots last time we came. With its palm tree lined beach and quaint open air bar in the shade, it's a wonderful place to relax and enjoy the sites. Fred happened to be wearing his Brookville Lake Sailing Association shirt when we went in and wouldn't you know it - someone from Cincinnati spotted it.  Got talking with them - it was Chris & Sharon and Mike & Karen - fellow members of BLSA.  What a small world!  We later joined them on their boat for a couple cocktails and stories.  Thanks to all of them for the  goodie package they left with us.....especially the beer!

The  Baths - Virgin Gorda

Boulders you could snorkel around
 

We got and early start and headed over to The Baths. This one of the most popular snorkeling spots in the Virgin Islands.  Free day moorings are provided to protect the reefs from damage caused by anchors.  Here you'll find granite boulders as huge as houses that are piled together to create grottoes at the water's edge, where shafts of sunlight find their way down to illuminate crystalline pools of beautifully clear water.  The volcanic origin of the islands left molten areas that cooled and solidified at different rates, forming and eroding into these huge rocks.  We snorkeled for a hour or so then took the hike through the big boulders and pools of shaded water that led to another beautiful beach.  Very cool hike.

Lee Bay on Great Camanoe Island

One of the great suggestions that Dr. Speed/Big Wind Buckley gave us before he departed was to anchor in Lee Bay. This turned out to be a great spot. We had it all to ourselves along with the pelicans and goats of course. The snorkeling was great and being off the beaten path was a nice change of pace.

Cane Garden Bay, Tortola

Fred has very fond memories of Cane Garden Bay since this is where we got to watch Michigan win a National Title in Basketball back in 1989. The bar we watched the game at - Rhymer's - is still there and looks basically the same.  At the time, it was the only establishment in the harbor - now the beach is filled with bars, restaurants and other small businesses.  The place has changed quite a bit and didn't have the same charm that we remembered as it had been built up substantially from our last visit.  Its still a great spot to visit - its just not as pristine or quiet as other places we've visited.

Little Harbor, Jost Van Dyke

Scene from our hike - Little Jost Van Dyke

One of the many goats we encountered on our walk

Little Harbor has a small settlement ashore.  On the east shore you'll find Abe's and across the turquoise water bay, you'll find Harris's Place and Sydney's Peace and Love.  We went to Sydney's for a special dinner out and we were treated to a great meal of roasted pork, good service and a bar where you fix your own drink. How can you beat that! We got to meet Sidney and his family - daughters, Strawberry & Janet.  His son, Sidney, Jr.,  sold us a conch shell that had been modified to work as a horn. Fred was the only one who could make it work properly but I'm sure I'll master it in time.  We took a short hike up a very steep hill to get the picture above of Little Jost Van Dyke. Pretty close to the center of the picture, Mike and Fred went snorkeling later that day and found millions of bait fish along a reef. This attracted the pelicans as well as a school of 4-5 ft. tarpons. Pretty exciting swimming through the bait fish in very limited visibility and all of a sudden coming nose to nose with a fish almost as big a you are!

Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke

Our Thanksgiving Celebration at Foxy's

This is Foxy - the famous entertainer and restaurant owner - plays some very unique songs

Just around the corner at Great Harbor several of the Caribbean 1500 rally boats were arriving to have Thanksgiving Dinner together at Foxy's. This is another charming harbor but a little more commercial with the ferry landing and Customs/Immigration Office.  The Thanksgiving Dinner was great with 8 boats represented from the rally (Noelia, Significant Other, La Buona Vita, Indigo, Sea Wings, Sea Fever, Early Out, Raindancer). The get together was all arranged on the Single Side Band chats that occur every morning at 7:30am. The dinner was delicious, but slightly different from the traditional menu we're used to.  To give you an idea of a Caribbean Thanksgiving, here's what we enjoyed:
  Lobster bisque served with a vegetable spring roll
  Freshly Baked Cornbread
  Mango glazed roasted turkey with...
     Pumpkin Sausage stuffing and brandy gravy
     Almond Potato Croquettes, Carrots and Parsnips
     Snow Peas, Caribbean Sweet Potatoes, Plantain, Orange Cranberry Sauce
  To finish out the dinner - you had a choice of Pumpkin, Pecan or Apple pie

(Did I succeed in making everyone hungry?)
The next day we checkout of the British Virgin Islands at the customs office and headed over to explore the U.S. Virgin Islands.