August 2, 2019, me, my wife, and a family of four (parents with son 13 and daughter 11) left the Necker Island anchorage early afternoon heading to Anegada. We had checked the weather forecast the day before, earlier in the morning, and during lunch - all looked good. Just north of Necker we had full sail up on a nice beam reach in calm water making 7 - 8 knots. Less than 4nm from the entrance to Anegada we noticed some weather moving in from the east, but on radar it didn't look big. We thought we could get into Anegada before it hit. Very quickly we realized we should slow down, let it pass, and then head into the channel. We reefed down and slowed to a crawl. Then we realized another squall line was also moving in on Anegada. In less than 20 minutes we had sustained winds at 42+ knots and dozens of gusts in the 45 - 48 knot range with pouring rain, fog, and visibility of less than 80 feet. We saw a couple of gusts at 52 knots. We were getting very close to the first set of markers at the channel entrance and the seas were pretty settled, but started building quickly. We waited about 30 minutes, checked the radar and weather, then heard radio traffic of boats having trouble. We knew we couldn't stay there and headed back toward Virgin Gorda. We had seas up to 10 feet (maybe 12), driving rain, fog, and sustained winds between 35 - 42 knots for almost three more hours. The family had NO sailing experience, save the two days they had been with us. The kids had never been on a recreational boat before - never.

The family stayed in the salon and me and my wife managed the boat. We checked on them several times - doing OK. About midway through the storm, I told my wife I was worried someone might be getting very sick and perhaps very frightened. My wife took the helm and I went into the salon (42' catamaran) to assure them everything was going to be OK and we were safe, even if uncomfortable. I stepped into the salon and the kids were playing cards, the mom was listening to a podcast, and the dad was making coffee! When I asked if everyone was doing OK, I got thumbs up and the dad asked if he could bring us some hot coffee. When he stepped up to the helm station he said "wow, it looks rough out here, you guys should drink your coffee inside." We made it into North Sound and picked up a mooring ball at Leverick with sustained winds of 30+ knots in the dark. My wife and I were very tired. In no time, the wind had died down, we saw thousands of stars come out and the kids told me it had all been fun! I asked if they were frightened at any point. Their reply, "no, were you?"