Hi all,

Myself and my girlfriend are planning our first trip to the BVIs at the beginning of February, chartering a 34 foot monohull with BVIYC. I’ve been an avid reader of the TTOL forum over the past few months and it’s been a great source of advice and inspiration!

I have a question that I’m hoping to get some opinions on. My girlfriend is a relative newcomer to sailing (she has her ASA101 and has sailed as crew on friends’ boats). While I'm confident in handling the boat short-handed, I’m thinking about hiring a skipper on the first afternoon to make it more relaxing for both of us. Mainly I’m hoping to have a reassuring voice and an extra pair of hands while we practice our routine for picking up a mooring ball, anchoring etc. Would a check-out captain facilitate that kind of afternoon?

A related question is whether hiring a skipper would restrict us on the first night’s anchorage? We’re chartering out of Road Town (with a sleep aboard the night before), and had initially thought we might spend our first night at the Bight on Norman. But I guess that if we want to also practice some boat handling and the skipper needs to be able to get home, this might restrict us to staying nearer the charter base?

cheers
Steve