Can someone describe what a “big” north swell might look like in swell height? When is it too small to even worry about from any direction?
It’s relative sailor to sailor. I don’t like caneel in any swell over 1 meter. That’s fine in maho. In my mind in the USVI “Big” swell is 1.3-2 meters. This is daily stuff, not talking storms nearby, etc. The swell isn’t as bad if the wind stays up overnight but when the wind settles to only a few knots the swell just rolls the boat all over. Most of the time swell is under 1m.
I base much of this knowing that you can just plan your trip differently knowing the conditions. If I’m sitting in caneel knowing i could be comfortable 40 minutes away in maho I would much prefer to be there.
