Another post on this forum got me thinking that it would be great for those that have "been there and done that" to share what they've learned about bareboat chartering in the BVI.

It would be possible to list hundreds of tips, but I'll only start off with a few, and hope others chime-in.

* Bring half the clothes and twice the cash. By weight, the toys I bring outweigh the clothes by about 3:1. Leave space in your bag and buy clothes or souvenir T-shirts along the way. You can always wear them if you run out of clean ones!

* To avoid arrival-stress while sailing, plan to sail in the morning and be at your next destination by noon. By late-afternoon the mooring fields can be totally packed, leaving you with failing light and trying to execute plan B or plan C.

* Bring a hand-held VHF radio. Many boats only have a radio below, and sometimes there's a problem with the handsets on the boats that do have them topsides. A hand-held lets you remain at the helm and talk to the dock-master.

* Plan a stay at the dock about once every 4 days or so. Many places have TTOL specials and you will (probably) need to get water, and perhaps fuel during your trip. If you schedule it in to start, you won't find yourself blowing half a day when "surprise!" the water tank runs dry.

* Don't trust the water and fuel gauges, and eye the battery gauge with suspicion! All gauges must convince me that they are correct, and I assume they are wrong at the beginning of a trip. I have been known to take the fuel tank cover off and peer in with a flashlight. Boats that have two water tanks and a cross-over valve between them have a built-in fail-safe system. First, open the crossover valve and let the tanks equalize. Then turn it off. Run tank 1 dry and now about half your water is left. Open cross-over and let equalize, and then turn it off again. Run tank 1 dry again, and about 1/4 of your water is left. Time to fill-up. This method also protects you from running ALL of your water into the bilge (or the ocean) if a leak develops in the system or somebody leaves a faucet running.