TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Delivery skipper?

I may be in need of someone to help me deliver my boat from St. Lucia to Tortola. Probably in October or as late as early November. Any recommendations?

Any experienced amateurs interested in a free one-way cruise?

You should find someone on here who can help. I used to offer 'down island' trips regularly on TTOL in the past and never had any problems getting crew. You are coming the right way so that helps! If you don't get an offer in a few days I can provide contact details for a few crew members including amateur skippers who've done the trip previously.

I'd like to help but I'm stuck in the UK for the foreseeable future.

P.S. What's the boat?

Thanks, should have mentioned the boat:

Jenneau 36i sail mono, fresh out of phase-out.

If you have an auto pilot and a safety harness you can easily single hand it and reach an anchorage during the day island hopping except for an an overnight from St Marteen.

If you depart st Martin early enough, could avoid that overnight too.

The thought has occurred to me, but wife is opposed to the idea (and can't go). Maybe as a last resort I can convince her, but I need to explore other options first.

Depending if your waiting for the bridge to open and the weather. But yes it could be done.

Far be it from me to wonder why you want to move a boat from St Lucia to Tortola in Hurricane season, but you might want to check with your insurance carrier beforehand.

Apologies if you've already covered this.

The only reason to move it "immediately" (October or November) is so I that I'm already heading to St. Lucia for the handover. I could store it there for a while, but then I'd have to make another trip to move it.
We've chartered end of October without major incident... News has been calling for an early end to the hurricane season.

Insurance could be an issue... fleet coverage through Sunsail will end at handover, and the current plan is to sign with Conch before moving the boat and be covered under their fleet coverage for the trip. Peter at Conch didn't voice any objections...

I'm totally open to being told why what I'm planning is a bad idea...

Hurricane season is a great time to move around the Caribbean because the seas and winds are calmer.

Are you on a schedule for this trip northwards? In other words, do you plan on island-hopping and taking your time on the way up? There are some great places on the way and while you travel is too early for me, I think I might know someone (an experienced sailor and boat owner) who might be available but would want to see the sights on the way.
With a 36i you won't be able to make the St. Martin to BVI trip in daylight. You have about 10 hours of usable light and 90 miles for the crossing (leaving Marigot and into the North Sound) and that boat won't cruise downwind at over 8 knots unless you are sailing in very heavy winds. But I love that night passage going back and if you time it to arrive in daylight it is a great experience. All of the other passage on the way can be done in under 10 hours.

Just don't be in the lagoon. Easy to leave Simpson Bay in the dark.

I have no problem taking a week or two for the trip. Looking at the number of passages, it seems a week would be fairly rushed and two would give some time for down days or weather.

I would probably prefer to sail overnight to the risk of arriving after dark. Having mostly chartered up to now, my night sailing experience is limited to my ASA 105 course, but I think I would totally enjoy it in suitable conditions.

Not much time to check in, and enjoy visiting an island if you are only doing daylight passages.

I'm not saying it is anywhere near a bad idea, just asking if you've dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's.

If you are sure that fleet insurance is totally adequate and in full force ( press Peter on this, don't just take lack of HIS objection as blanket approval by the carrier), by all means, I have no objections, it is your boat.

Just so you can all breathe a collective sigh of relief :-) the boat is now safely in Road Town and we are already looking forward to our next visit in February.

The passage from St. Lucia was... interesting... engine problems meant we had to sail pretty much the entire distance and hand-steer to conserve batteries, etc.

Being boarded by the Dutch CG was fun too.

I'll be happy to help. Message me or email me. ptrout10@yahoo.com

You're kinda late to the ballgame <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

I thought that was funny. But did not reply