Hope's and Howard's Sailing Adventures

Well, we did get up early and tried our best to head for St Croix but Mother Nature did not oblige. The wind was more like ESE as opposed to the ENE we had anticipated. So, after plugging away for about 4 hours, we tacked and decided that if we wanted to make landfall in daylight St Thomas was a much better option, it being closer and a better angle… Read More

Another great day. It started with coffee at the dinghy dock shortly after 8am where we met up with Kim, Mehrnaz, Ash and Sue to discuss plans for the coming days. Ash and Sue decided to stay a few more days at Culebra to let Ash’s wrist recover from what we think is tendinitis. Kim and M are game to spend a few days in Vieques and we want to.. Read More

Our first destination from the dock was Peter Island, a short, easy hop from Road Town that didn’t even warrant raising the mainsail. There we spent most of the afternoon scrubbing the bottom of the boat to remove the forest of weed, barnacles and what we think were sea anemones that were about 2 inches long! Howard donned his scuba gear and used a full tank of air in the.. Read More

So, we have been busy over the past few months.  Howard returned to the U.S. in mid-February to frigid weather to sort out our years of accumulating way too much “stuff”, off-loading about half of it either by selling or donating to charity and placing the remainder into a storage unit.  The house sale finally went through on March 31st….. Yippee!!  Meanwhile I (Hope) continued to work up until April.. Read More

It has been a most enjoyable family time but sadly Scott is already on his way back to Oregon and Sonia and Hope leave early tomorrow.  Since our last blog, we have visited Saba Rock in Gorda Sound (where we saw in the New Year), Cooper Island, Peter Island and Norman Island.  We returned to Village Cay in Road Town, Tortola yesterday.  Beautiful sailing, wonderful company and some spectacular fellow.. Read More

Wishing all of the crew of Second Wind, present and future, a very Happy New Year in 2015. With love from Karen and William, still swaying at sea in our dreams, and dreaming of a return trip. Enjoy those Painkillers!

We work hard for our pleasures here in the BVI. It took us a full hour to move over to Jost Van Dyke this morning (Dec 29th). Initially we were doing about 6 knots under genoa alone (too much effort to hoist the main for such a short trip) but then the wind dropped to about 6 knots so the iron sail brought us into Great Harbour. While the main.. Read More

Slipped our mooring right on schedule at 10 AM per our arrangement the night before with Sue and Ash. Raised the full mainsail, then the staysail as we rounded Steel Point at the Western end of Tortola (and opposite Great Thatch) and had another lovely sail in about 15-21 knots of Easterly winds. Almost made it to Cane Garden Bay in one tack but decided to head the last little.. Read More

We raised our mainsail and slipped our mooring at Francis Bay around midday, then sailed through Fungi Passage (between Whistling Cay and Mary Point) for a spanking sail in 12-15 kt Esterly (of course) winds close-hauled, initially heading towards Jost Van Dyke, then tacking when we could make it around the Eastern end of Great Thatch and into Soper’s Hole. We were met by Ash and Sue in their dinghy… Read More

So, we made it to Francis Bay on St John with only one minor hitch (a lost flip flop) after our midday libations in Cruz Bay. Cruz Bay is well worth the visit for interesting arty shops and a selection of good restaurants; whereas Francis Bay is a wonderful peaceful bay that is part of the National Park that covers 2/3 of the island of St John. However, it is.. Read More