This is really long... Short and skinny! Lots of rain and I almost killed my mother (literally)

This is from May 1 to May 8, 2011



When looking back on the 7 previous trips that we have done t the BVI, I never thought that this one would turn out like it did. This trip, we chartered a Sunsail 43 from the owner. Funny enough, it was the exact same boat that we chartered in 2009, Diamond Breeze. We, again, had the kiddos (Aubin 9 and Ava 7), and for the first time in the BVI my parents came with us (Jack sr. 73 and Brenda 71)

Mom and Dad have chartered all over the place, Greece and Mexico to name a couple. Dad also has a Sabre 28 that he has on Lake Erie in Cleveland, so we weren’t nervous about the saltyness of the old folks on board!

We all met at the Sunsail base on June 1st. Our flight on Spirit was great. $99 per ticket, and we got away with them NOT charging us for the carry on’s (which we would end up paying for later!). Bobby’s showed up a little late, but that was understandable. They don’t bring stuff out until they get a call from you. Apparently, they have showed up to deliver, and the customer was a no show due to a cancelled flight. Everything came and looked to be in order. I actually checked in the food while the bride hung out by the pool sipping on a Bushwacker. I quickly came to the realization that it was going to be hotter than could be when sleeping on the boat that first night! Which it was. I ended up sleeping in the cockpit and laughed to myself when I heard the “Man, we should have done that.” From passers by the next morning.

The check in was quick and next thing we know, we are off! How about that. Record time!!!

We sailed up the Drake Channel and made a quick stop at the Baths. When we approached, I quickly saw that there were no balls open. “Boy, this is going to be a crowded week.” I thought.

However, that wasn’t the case. It was very quiet. But, I digress.

After the baths, we made our way to the BEYC. Dad had wanted to see the resort, and we enjoyed it. Turns out that there was an IC 24 regatta going on at the same time we were making our way in. Was very fun to watch them racing around while drinking a cold beer on a mooring ball. We went ashore for drinks and the required purchase of BEYC gear. We took Dad to see the cool bar in the restaurant that have tried to model my humble “Hattendorf Yacht Club” after. It’s really cool!

That night we were serenaded to mega loud music coming from the Bitter End for what we could only guess was a party for the regatta. We ended up turning off our radio due to the fact that we couldn’t hear it! Not quite what we have become used to, but not a huge issue.

The following morning, we woke to some serious overcast skies. We had planned on heading off to Anegada, and it was looking a little dicey! After coffee and breakfast, the rain decided to come. Rained cats and dogs. It was about this time that we found out that our bimini top leaked! Not just leaked, but it was like it wasn’t even there. We sat huddled under the dodger for the hour that it rained, and then… A BREAK! I looked at my wife, and I said, “We are leaving before we get more!”

“But, everything says that we shouldn’t go over in overcast weather.” She replied.

“We have Walker’s ‘How To Guide’ we are good. Let’s make a break for it!” I said with confidence.

The passage was uneventful and we got there with zero problems. Thanks very much (again) to Walker for taking time to provide that guide to all of us.

Anegada was Anegada. Wonderful!!! We made our reservations at Potter’s, but had a fleeting thought of a new place that had just opened by Neptune’s. The dude came by our boat, and gave us a menu. He was very nice and some folks by us went and had fun. Maybe next trip…

We made our way to the Cow Wreck. It was surprising to hear that Alex had moved away, but it was still very nice. Got to meet some nice folks (fellow Catalina 22 sailors) and the kids had a great time as usual! The wife, kids and I made our way all the way over to the far end of the bay. It was a fun walk. Got to see pelicans diving in for fish, etc. These are memories that I hope my kids take with them for the rest of their lives.

I hate to say that dinner that night at Potter’s was just okay. We were the only ones there, and it seemed that everyone was ready to go home. I’ve never had dinner served so fast. We sat down at 7:00 and dinner was served at 7:03. It was good, but not GREAT as it has been in the past. We did get to talk to Potter for a bit, and his kid had a fun time running around with my girls. We were back on the boat by 8:00. Not much hang -out time, but that’s okay. We were all pretty tired from the Cow Wreck Bar, so I guess it wasn’t so bad. We had just talked the place up quite a bit to my parents, and it didn’t live up to expectations.

The following morning, we woke up early and made our way to Neptune’s for a great breakfast. No wind with lots of flies, but the food was great and the company was fun as well. Breakfast at Neptune’s is always a great time and just hanging out there is such a great time.

Unfortunately, the wind didn’t quite cooperate with us, so we ended up motoring a large chunk of the way back to Leverick Bay. At least we had a lot of clouds to keep the temperature down!

Once at Leverick, we had the cracker-jack guys from Sunsail came out to fix the forward head. Great service! The kids had fun in the pool and for the first time, we got a cab to drive around the island. It was such a great time! Spanish Town is very cool. I’ve been sailing up and down the channel since 2002, and I’ve always wanted to see it. If you find yourself at Leverick and want to kill an hour or so, highly recommended!

After we got back, I went to the bar to get a cold one, and there was Nick. Hanging-out. After a quick “It’s me Monkey Feet!” Introductions were made to my parents. Nick is such a great guy! He made the visit great. We had such a fun time hanging out and talking to Nick and his wife. I recommend a stop at Leverick bay just to hang out and meet Nick.

The next day, the rain looked like it was going to make a comeback! We made our way over to Monkey Point to go snorkeling. Cooked a few cheese burgers in paradise and watched the rain come. During the rain storm, the oldest wanted to go snorkeling, so we made the trek over to the dinghy tie up. It is so cool to have moments like this with your kid. We swam around in the rain for just a few minutes, but at that moment she fell in love with swimming in the ocean. She was amazed at the fish and how many there were. We made our way back to the boat and started our way over to Jost Van Dyke.

White Bay has always been a favorite spot for us to stop. We have great stories from this place of meeting Big Jim, me hiking up the hill because I was bored and various fun stuff like that! Well, when we got there, we were kind of surprised to see around 20+ day tripper motor boats. Holy Cow! Soggy Dollar was like freaking Cancun! I had to fight my way to the bar! After 15 minutes, I couldn’t stand it anymore, and we left to go to Great Harbour.

Rain again! Man, was it getting old!

We went over to Foxy’s for drinks and dinner at Corsairs afterward. Foxy’s was great. Foxy sat down with us, and it was funny to hear my parents trying to have a conversation with Foxy. I wish I could have videotaped the conversation. Sooooo, funny. After that, we made our way to Corsairs for dinner. What a great meal!!! I would recommend it highly if you make your way to JVD. I had the tuna. MMMMMMMM! Life changing good! Beware of the bathrooms though. They have the men’s sign pointing to the other door. I kicked out some dude thinking it was the ladies room when taking my daughter to the bathroom. Oops…

The next morning, we went to a great place up the road from the police station. I believe it was called Christine’s. Great. We had planned on Ali Babba, but his cook didn’t show up. Although, I bought some ice there, and the owner is one really nice guy.

We had heard that even worse weather was on the way, so we decided to make our way to Soper’s Hole if it got nasty via Cane Garden Bay. Went across and the kids spent about 45 minutes swimming. Wish we could have stayed there that night to try to find Mal, but we had to get rolling to a safer harbor.

We actually got to have around 40 minutes of a beautiful sail over to Soper’s. When we got there, we made reservations over at Jolly Roger. That was a great dinner. We had never been there before, and we really liked it. Got a nifty t-shirt. Gotta love the skull and crossbones with a gold tooth!

That night, well, it got nasty! Rain and winds that felt like hurricane force. We swung back and forth on the mooring like we were going to bust off. I thought that either that or someone else hitting us was going to happen. Made it through the night unscarred. The next morning, it was funny. “Okay, wait for a lull and we will get rolling.” The wind was so hard, I thought that we were going to fall back to fast and nail a boat trying to get out of the harbor. We left the harbor unharmed!

We decided to make our way over to Cooper to have lunch and the back to the Sunsail Base of our last night. Wind strong and right at our nose, so we (again) motored over to the Cooper Island Beach Club. This is where the proverbial crap hit the fan. It was still pretty windy, so on my first approach to the ball. I got a funny puff that blew us off. I guess you got to miss one per trip!

So, here comes my mother to help my wife pick up the ball. I thought that this wasn’t going to end well, and boy was I right. We picked up the lead for the ball again, and my mother grabbed it from my wife, got it through the fair lead, and then the boat started falling off the ball again.

I heard a loud scream and then “Oh my God!” My mother had tried to muscle the mooring lead onto the cleat and got her hand sucked into the fair lead! She came back holding her right hand in her left. She said, “I think I just lost a finger!”

I went into take care of my mother mode. I had her put her hand in the cooler, my dad took the wheel, and I called Cooper Island Beach Club. No help. I tried to hail VISAR on the radio. No luck!

Cruising Guide…

I got the Cruising Guide and looked up the VISAR add, and called them on my cell phone. Got an answering machine. CRAP! There was a number to call if there is an emergency. I called that number, and bam. Got someone on the phone. I explained the situation, and they asked me to make my way back to Road Town. 3-5 foot seas and a mother that looked like she was going into shock. “This is not good.” I thought to myself.

I put the boat on autohelm, and got the first aid kit to try to stabilize her hand. No fingers cut off. Thank God.

As we made our way across the channel, I saw the guys from VISAR coming out. The large orange inflatable making across toward us bouncing up and down across the waves looked like the best thing that I’ve ever seen! They came up to us and they quickly decided that that making a transfer in the channel was a bad idea. That meant that they had to come over to our boat. Mark and Tom hopped on board and then the equipment came too. They were great! Got mom stabilized and we were instructed to head over to TMM. Seems that Mark is one of the partners. (and Mark if you are reading this, I did go pick-up a brochure and have already recommended your company to some friends).

Waiting on shore was Phil to take my parents to the hospital. They were whisked off, and we went to the VISAR base to say proper thank yous. I bought mom a VISAR shirt and me a burgee. My apologies, but I can’t remember the driver’s name. He was very helpful as well.

All I have to say is what a great dedicated bunch of people! As you all know, they work off donations. I know the economy is tight, and we have had to cut back on donations as well. However, VISAR is back on our list! They were AWESOME.

Mom’s trip to the hospital was a couple of hours. Turns out that she broke her right ring finger, her middle finger had a severed artery and her pointer needed several stitches. X-rays and everything cost $82.50! That has made us laugh since it happened. Here in the states, the same treatment would be well into the thousands! She now has a pin in her finger (surgery right when she got back) and is ready to start planning another trip!

After we cleaned off the boat (thought that it would kind of hard to explain all the blood over the boat to the folks at Sunsail), we decided to make our way back to the Sunsail base. After a hairy departure, we motored back to the base, did some laundry (that you have to go to Nanny Cay to do) and had our final dinner at the base. We had planned a night out, but mom wasn’t in much of a mood to go out.

We carried on a tradition that we used to do when we used to go skiing as a kid. Awards night… We drew names at the beginning of the week and over the course of the trip, you had to buy a little gift for that person to highlight something funny they did over the course of the week. It was a lot of fun.

That night as I was walking up and down the dock totally depressed about the trip. It had many good moments, but the rain coupled with me almost killing my mom kind of threw me into a funk. I walked by a 32’ boat with like 6 twenty-somethings on it. One was wearing a Phillies hat. After a quick, “Phillies Suck!” we quickly made friends and the wife and I ended up hanging with them until around midnight that night. It was great fun talking to first timers about their upcoming journey. I have since gotten an e-mail back from them about their trip, and they were thankful for some of my advice. Put a smile on my face.

The last day, we had to leave the base at 7:00 to catch our flight on Cape Air (love that airline). As we were sitting waiting, monsoon! Well, it cleared up for the trip to PR, and we spent a few days there with the wife’s family. I found that I really like it there.

Short and skinny about this, our 8th BVI adventure: Weather stunk. Almost killed my mother, but we had a fun time and look forward to going back.