Fall 2011.indd - Annapolis Yacht Club

Expanding Horizons
Cruising the British Virgin Islands
Scott Parker
The crew ashore at Saba Rock, Virgin Gorda (left to right, Bret Hovell, Charlie Bauer, Cam Bowdren, Scott Parker, and Greg Bauer).
It all starts in October, when
the leaves start to change and the
crisp air carries their scent to
downtown Annapolis.
My friends and I are at the United States
Sailboat show and we begin talking about
“the trip.” As we spend the day walking
around the different boat displays, we’ve already started
to rehash past years sailing in the British Virgin Islands,
and talk about what will be different this coming year.
As with most things that come with friends you have
had since high school, there is a great deal of regularity,
and our yearly sailing trip is no exception.
We took our first cruise around the BVIs a couple
of years after college, with a crew of friends all from the
Annapolis area. The idea of a week bareboat cruising
around the islands was too good for us to pass up, even
if it wasn’t the cheapest idea. Everyone had sailing
experience, but only one of us had ever bareboat chartered
before so this was somewhat of a thrilling idea. Pieces
of the plan began falling in place, and soon enough the
airfare was purchased and the boat was booked.
When I look back on that first cruise in 2007, I can
still remember how exciting every day was for us. Over
the course of that week, we noticed our roles transition
from those which we play in our careers to our positions
on the boat. Our float plan was a list of places I’d only
heard in passing from sailors in Annapolis; from the
Baths at Virgin Gorda, to Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke, we
were on a vacation like no other. Every day was a new
mooring with a new place to snorkel, and a new bar
that would inevitably keep us out way too late. Calling
a 47 foot yacht home for a week was unlike anything
that I had experienced before, and something I knew I
had to have again. While cruising, daily life is obviously
very different from on shore. One great example of that
difference happened during our first trip, and became a
night we all still talk about years later.
The BVI’s are closely grouped island chain, with
the exception of Anegada, which can only loosely
be considered an island at all. It is stretched about 12
nautical miles from the Sir Francis Drake Channel, and
is only visible when you finally approach its one main
harbor. Anegada is the furthest island to the east, and
boasts a view straight out into the vast Atlantic Ocean.
VOLUME 3, NO. 2
AYC BEACON
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