Sailing trip homework

Cafe Society
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Background: Due to the odd hours of my job, complacency, etc., my wife and I have not spent a single weekend (or longer) away from our kiddos since the twins were born seven years ago. My wife turns 40 in about a month so over the past few months I have worked with two of my buddies and have helped plan a birthday sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands for the three couples. We leave in about three weeks.

My question to you, gentle folk, is how to prepare for the experience? I don’t necessarily mean what clothes to take, etc. (because I’ve glanced at a couple of threads about that), but what literature should I read before I go? How can I best maximize the experience? Get in the mood?

I have, in the last year or so, read the Aubrey/Maturin and Horatio Hornblower books. These past couple of months I have been reading some technical sailing materials (all of us have been sailing quite a few times so we’re not complete novices but I want to bone-up).

My list of things of things to do so far is re-read “Treasure Island.” Hehe. I’m going to re-watch “Dead Calm” and “The Island” (and that movie with Johnny Depp!) Any other thoughts? Should I buy that Pirates computer game? I’ve heard good things about it. :slight_smile:

Any good historical fiction set in the Caribbean? Good documentaries?

Any special places not to be missed?

Thanks so much for your help, SDMB’ers!

Gnomadic

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I hate that no one answered this and it dropped, so I’m going to just pop in and say I hope you have a fantastic trip! It sounds like it will be a fantastic time indeed.

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Moby Dick? A Perfect Storm? Rime of the Ancient Mariner?

Load your MP3 player with Jimmy Buffet and/or steel drum music?

Brian

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To learn about every possible thing you should absolutely not do while sailing, try *The Water In Between: A Journey at Sea * by Kevin Patterson, who recounts his (mis)adventures at desperately and with almost a complete lack of skill, buying a sailboat and sailing to Tahiti. Peter Nichols’ A Voyage for Madmen recounting the first solo circumnaviation competition, the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. It’s a bit disjointed, but an excellent peak into the minds of people who decide to set themselves out on the blue for months at a time. I particularly like the bloke who sails around in circles in the South Atlantic for a few months, giving false reports of his location, and then in some kind of despair drowns himself even though he appeared to be in the lead.

Oh, and you might want to take a gander at Chapman’s, too, though I suspect you already know that.

Stranger

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We need more detail. Is this a sailboat charter? Bareboat?

If you are in control of the itinerary, I can give some good advice on places to visit.

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BoBettie - Thank you so much! I was kind of bummed that it rocketed off the first page so quickly. :slight_smile:

N9IWP - Great ideas, all! I may wait to enjoy Moby Dick after the trip…but I will seek out The Perfect Storm (I enjoyed the movie). The sailing video was great! I’d love to sail around the world on a tall ship someday. Good call on the Jimmy Buffett and steel-drum music, I hadn’t thought about that! Thanks for the suggestions…

Stranger on a Train - Those look fascinating. I had not heard of Daniel Crowhurst before. Wow! What a story. I will seek out The Water in Between and A Voyage for Madmen (though I won’t let my wife see the latter, heh). Chapman’s is one of the technical books I mentioned. I’ve been looking at it quite a bit. Thank you for your info!

Xema - Aye (I’m working on my nautical lingo!), it’s a bareboat charter. One of the other couples has previously been on two sailing trips and he, especially, has a ton of experience as he grew up sailing. We don’t seem to have much of an itinerary yet. I’m sure we’ll go to Norman Island and look for treasure :wink: . Presumably we’ll have a meal at Bitter End. I suspect we’ll go to Jost Van Dyke and throw a few back at Foxy’s. Outside of that I’ve got a big blank. The gang is supposed to meet in the next week or so to hammer out those details out… Thanks for the offer of spots to visit, I’d love to hear more!

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There are are other tall ship videos on YouTube
and there’s this:

Brian

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I was just on a tall ship a few months ago. I was only on for about six weeks, but they do round-the-world trips as well.

And the crew handbook has a recommended reading list. You might try Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, The Way of a Ship and Men, Ships and the Sea, both by Alan J. Villiers, and Fair Wind and Plenty of It: A Modern-Day Tall Ship Adventure, by Rigel Crockett.

Can’t help you with any specific places to go; I was a little bit east of where you’ll be.

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Robot Arm - I read your sailing thread with interest. I’m sorry about your crewmate.

Thank you for the input! I was amused to note the full title of one of them: *The way of a ship: being some account of the ultimate development of the ocean-going square-rigged sailing vessel, and the manner of her handling, her voyage-making, her personnel, her economics, her performance, and her end *

I’m going to the library!

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Thanks. I didn’t realize I’d brought in any lurkers with that thread.

I still think about Laura, of course. Her father also lost his wife to cancer about 10 years ago. He’s setting up a charitable foundation in their names. I hope they’ll be able to do some good work.

The last book I mentioned wasn’t on the list in our handbook, but was written about a previous trip on the same ship. And there’s a TV reality series premiering in about a month that was filmed on board, but that’s just when you’ll be setting sail, too.

Have a good trip. It’s a special part of the world down there.

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The Life of Pi by Yann Martel would be a fun read for while you are on your trip.

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I’ve done this 4 times in the Virgin Islands, but the last was six years ago (comments below are as of that time) so some of my info may be out of date. My emphasis has always been on places that offer scenic beauty and/or good snorkeling, with a bonus if they are off the beaten path and away from the crowd.

In researching this post I note that Google Earth has very good images of the Virgin Islands. I’ve included lat/lon coordinates taken from there. Here are some recommendations:

The Indians (18.3317/-64.6290 - a mile northwest of Norman Island) offer very good snorkeling.

The south end of Guana Island (18.4642/-64.6290 - north of Tortola) is known as Monkey Point and offers excellent snorkeling. It doesn’t seem to be mentioned in guidebooks, and thus sees rather few visitors.

For really adventurous snorkeling, consider Cockroach Island (18.4950/-64.4636). To get there, you should anchor near the south point of the island that’s about a half-mile southeast of Cockroach I. (18.4906/-64.4581 - I think it may be called George I.) and travel by dingy to Cockroach I. You’ll want reasonably calm weather, and the snorkeling will be noticeably better after a stretch of 3 or 4 days without serious winds or swells. You’ll need to be a good snorkeler - this is not for newbies. You can do a circuit of the entire island in about an hour. We saw giant turtles, manta rays, sharks and other deep-sea-type critters that are not common in the more normal shallow-water snorkeling sites.

Everyone goes to The Baths (18.4304/-64.4444) at the southeast end of Virgin Gorda. Not many people know about an underwater cave that can be reached only by diving and surfacing inside it. To find it, start at beach located at the above coordinates and snorkel north, staying about 50 to 75 meters offshore. Check under every large rock until you find one that’s concave. There is room for two people to surface here.

The Baths are perhaps the best-known destination in the BVI and thus are always crowded. Less than a mile southwest lies the island of Fallen Jerusalem (18.4192/-64.4529). This is similar to The Baths, but very much less visited. Anchor near the coordinates provided and snorkel or swim ashore to explore.

Another poular spot is the wreck of RMS Rhone (18.3691/-64.5354 - just west of Salt Island). This is one of the few places deep enough to justify the trouble and expense of scuba equipment. Yet competent snorkelers can also have a good time here. See if you can dive down and swim under the sternpost.

A note on snorkeling: You’re probably going to want to do lots of it (it’s the single best reason to visit the VI). You’ll need to be quite careful about sunburn. As I’m rather sensitive to this, I take a pair of thin pajamas and always wear them - long sleeves and long pants every time I’m in the water. It’s a bit of a nuisance, but not nearly so much as a serious sunburn.

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I strongly endorse TYBTM and anything by Alan Villiers. IMO, his most interesting book (though not the one most relevant to sailing in the Caribbean) is Sons of Sinbad.

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Robot Arm - Thank you again for your input! I’ll tell my wife to DVR that sailing show. It sounds like I might enjoy it (I don’t generally watch reality shows). Once again, sorry about your loss. I imagine being on a boat for a few weeks means you get to know people pretty well.

AHoosierMama - I have heard of this book! It is now on my library list. Thank you!

Xema - Wow! Thank you tons for that snorkeling information! It’s perfect! It was very kind of you to take the time to share this info, much less provide the coordinates. And it was great fun to plug those into Google Earth and zoom around! I have passed on your info to the rest of the team and it will definitely be used on the final itinerary.

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Well I wish I found this thread sooner. I come from a sailing community on the Connecticut coast. We (my wife and I love to sail) and do so as often as we get a chance. We’ve got a 36’ Nonsuch [if you don’t know what that is, just look for a HUGE sail out there on a boat that shouldn’t have one that big. That’s a nonsuch!

See here

You guys will have ablast of a time sailing around the BVI’s very beautiful… One of the most fun things to do on a leisurely sail is what I like to call scupping. Don’t ask where I got the word, but basically, when you are crusing in the crystal blue waters, throw a line (100’) off the stern and grab your mask and snorkle and jump in. Hold onto the rope while the boat pulls you a pace, don’t kick about, just hang on and look down. It’s very very fun. You get to see the ocean floor for prolonged periods of time, and over a great distance. It’s better IMHO than snorkling in one place, because you can see a wide array of different things.

Also for extra reading check outSail Trim it’s about health and fitness whilst sailing on the open ocean. Neat idea, and the woman who runs the sight is very knowledgeable.

Have fun!

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We leave in a couple of hours.

Thank you, everyone! I am sorry for not responding, Phlosphr, but the last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind.

I have listened to some good reggae music and read (or at least started, heh) several of the books/poems mentioned here. I re-watched Master and Commander…I am ready!

Thank you!

Gnomadic

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A capital ship for an ocean trip was the “Walloping Window-Blind.”
No gale that blew
Dismayed her crew
Or troubled the captain’s mind.

Bring me that horizon. Yo ho.