Zanshin Logbook

My final logbook entry for this trip is moving Zanshin from the dock to the Nanny Cay haul out pit.

My last day aboard for this trip was a sunny one, I started off by going to the Indians for snorkeling and soaking up some final sunshine. I then headed up the channel to Cooper Island, detoured across to Hodges Creek and then had a very slow downwind sail into Nanny Cay.

The previous night was rough, the winds shifted and a very heavy swell made life at the dock uncomfortable, with some of the smaller powerboats almost being washed over the dock. I got up every hour or so to check the lines and fenders. By morning the heavy winds had died down and now the wind had become fickle, staying at NE but changing in speed and thus my sail was partially very fast at over 8 knot GPS but at other times much slower, so my average speed ended up being rather slow.

Winds of 10-15 knots coming almost from due east made the trip a wonderful one. The winds were constant and at one point I shut off the autopilot by mistake and didn't notice it as the boat balanced perfectly and held course. I arrived at the dock early and spent most of the day cleaning up and doing laundry.

With some great winds the trip to The Bight was a fun one; but due to the winds coming a bit south of east I had to tack several times, which added greatly to the distance traveled. The speed sensor was jammed, which caused the autopilot's "Auto Tack" to malfunction and made tacking a lot more effort than normal.

With mixed winds it was a long sail from Anegada past the northern headlands of Tortola and into Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke via a stop at Sandy Spit. At times I had 8 knots on the chartplotter and, only minutes later, would be reading 2 knots with a big change in direction and I would debate turning on the diesel engine - I finally succumbed to the temptation and motorsailed much of the way.

Slow winds forced me to drop my sails and motor most of the stretch from the North Sound and into the Anegada anchorage. I wanted to use my chartplotter to enter and navigate the difficult entry channel but it was very far off and I used old-fashioned pilotage and compass courses instead. I documented some of the issues on my daily diary page (see the link at the left with today's date on it for details).

With strong winds at over 20 knots blowing up waves in the channel, I set 3 reefs in the Genoa and even more in mainsail so that I could get a well-balanced boat to tack upwind to the Baths. Zanshin hardly heeled at all but still made in excess of 7 knots. I shouldn't have been surprised, but was, that the Baths were again flying red flags and were closed. I opted to head back to the protected waters of the North Sound and anchored off Saba Rock.

While the wind was back at over 10 knots from the NE, the northerly swell remained quite high. We went to West Dog island to pick up a mooring and do some snorkeling, but the swell was very high and the mooring was quite close to the rocks. We could see a squall line approaching from the east and opted to forego snorkeling and head into Trellis Bay early. In retrospect this was a good choice, as we snagged one of the few remaining mooring balls and got to watch some amazing feats of seamanship in the late afternoon as charter guests attempted to pick up nonexistent balls for hours on end (in the rain).

We had an appointment to view catamarans at the Moorings, so motored into Road Town and in the afternoon we decided to sail to Peter Island and anchor for the night, but the anchorage was crowded so we used the perfect winds to sail around and finally anchored off Prickly Pear island in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda, entering and transiting the entrance channel in the dark.

After snorkeling in the morning we enjoyed nice winds and calm seas to sail around the Sir Francis Drake channel, past Peter Island then Road Town and finally towards Nanny Cay; we were in no hurry to get there as they didn't have a slip available for us until later.

Light to medium following winds made for a comfortable trip along Virgin Gorda. The sky was overcast the whole day and soon after we arrived at Cooper Island the rains set in and we watched mooring ball antics; free and amusing entertainment for those with a mooring ball.

Today was all about diving and not sailing, we motored and motorsailed from our anchorage off Saba Rock and went to get dive gear at Leverick Bay and proceeded out to the south side of Great Dog Island for a dive at Coral Gardens. After that dive we went to The Chimney on the northwest side of the island and the swell coming around the island was quite strong. We motored against the wind to get back inside the North Sound and took a slot at the dock at Leverick Bay.

With a 15knot breeze and relatively calm seas in the Sir Francis Drake channel we had a fast and exhilarating sail. Initially we thought of visiting either Salt or Cooper islands but the sailing was so nice that we continued to The Baths and saw the red flags ashore there and just changed course and headed to the North Sound.

We detoured at Soper's Hole in order to go shopping for groceries and otherwise had a calm and comfortable sail through the pass and up the Sir Francis Drake channel to The Pelicans and The Bight.

Via Monkey Point and Cane Garden Bay (we took a mooring there, but it was far too rolly from the north swell.

Very mild winds I motored all the way from Trellis to pick up Carmen and Bernd at the airport.

With mild winds I opted to motorsail and hove-to in the channel and put the engine in reverse in order to get it into "overdrive". This might have worked had I not run over and cut the painter to the dinghy. After much work I got the dinghy attached back to the boat but subsequently noticed that I wasn't getting any speed at all and guessed that I still had some rope attached to the propeller which prevented it from extending fully. After arriving at Leverick Bay and taking a mooring I dove on the prop and found that it was, indeed, fouled. I then went ashore and rented a tank of air and proceeded to cut away the remnants of the rope. Some pictures are to be found at 21/12/2009 Diary page.

The run from Great Harbor to Soper's Hole was straight upwind, so I motored in cruise mode at 1600RPM doing just 5 knots. Once I made it through the pass at 10:35 I headed parallel to Tortola with both sails up, doing 6 knots in very smooth waters and light winds of under 10 knots. I tacked once off Peter and made it to the Pelicans and dropped sail. Unfortunately all the moorings were taken so I motored into Great Harbor and took a mooring ball, as my normal anchor position is prone to being back winded and the winds today were doing just that.

With just the main up and the wind slackening, this short trip took a while, but I wasn't in a hurry and was too lazy to unfurl (and then pull back in) the genoa. There are now mooring balls in Great Harbor on Jost van Dyke, but the ones left open were far outside and I anchored close in, the anchor set the first time around and I put out 100 ft of chain in 25 feet so feel comfortable. I should keep a log of how many attempts boats have at anchoring. While I've had a bad day here where the anchor just didn't want to hold I think the problem that the charter guests have is that they just drop the anchor until it hits bottom and then think that somehow, magically, the boat is anchored and won't budge until the lift the anchor at some later point in time.

After motorsailing with just main and 1600RPM out of the North Sound channel I unfurled the Genoa and stayed on the same tack and heading most of the way. The sail was great, fast and comfortable. Overall it was even faster than indicated, but I sailed too close to land and was hit by some lulls. Once I arrived at Sandy Cay I was about to drop anchor but realized that the swell was uncomfortable and decided to head straight to Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke. The waves crashing on the beach at Sandy Cay also precluded any landing attempts.

The sail back to the North Sound from Spanish Town was against the wind and seas. With heavily reefed main and genoa I still made good speed, always over 6 and sometimes over 9 knots. Other boats gave up beating (including a 80 or 90 foot schooner which just couldn't get a good angle on the wind) and took down their sails and motored. I was in no hurry and found that my underpowered boat made good speed and was still comfortable to sail. The big cruise ship was still anchored in the middle of the North Sound.

I sailed from the mooring ball off Saba Rock to just short of Spanish Town with just the Genoa with 2 reefs in it and no mainsail. The wind in the North Sound was variable but once I made it to the North Sound channel exit it was up over 20 knots and the sail to Spanish Town (in order to clear customs & immigration) was a quick one. For part of the trip I was accompanied by frolicking dolphins, my first such experience and a great thrill.

The start was a lot tougher than I thought, as my anchor fouled and I also woke up a bit late, expecting to depart by 3am I didn't get going until after 4am. Motorsailing much of the time with following seas and heavily reefed Genoa and a reefed mainsail that was held by a preventer I still made good speed at 1600RPM on the engine. The radar and AIS worked like a charm and I was surprised by how many tanker, freighters and other commercials cargo vessels went by relatively close by in the night. The wind came from almost due E and at times was 25+ knots constant with waves confused at first but becoming calmer towards arrival.
I missed being able to check in at customs by an hour, so motored up to the North Sound for a protected anchorage from the winds and storms coming through that night.

Since storms were moving through, I had more than 3 reefs in both sails and, even with a heavy and deep swell coming from the NE I had a comfortable and fast passage, at least until the downwind leg on the north side of St. Martin, after going at 4 knots for a bit I turned on the engine and motorsailed at 1800RPM and 8 knots. Just one squall came through with 40 knots of wind and a bit of rain. By the time I had the dinghy ready and got ashore, it was 12:15 and customs & immigration had closed until 14:00, so I am now at the Banette coffee shop enjoying croissants and coffee and have 45 minutes left before I can clear in and officially arrive in St. Martin.

I motored into Gustavia and back in order to check out of St. Bart with the intent of sailing to St. Martin tomorrow morning.

I didn't bother raising the sails for this short trip, not only is it too much effort but I needed to replenish the batteries since I don't have the generator and the wind generator isn't enough to compensate for all the power drain.

The wind was roaring at 20-25 knots through the shallow waters between St. Kitts and Nevis and due to the <20 depths the waves were kicking up as well. I put 4 reefs on both Genoa and Mainsail going through with engines running at 1800rpm as well, just in case the actual depths and those on the chart weren't identical. I made it through at about 4 knots but once in the clear air to the windward side of the passage the wind shifted a bit and lessened to 20knots on average, so I shook out 1 reef per sail (still over-reefed) but with the wind at 60°-70° off my starboard bow the sail was a fast one, over 8 knots indicated on the GPS for the whole passage. Lots of green water broke over the decks, though, as the waves had picked up overnight and had a shorter wavelength. But it was a faster and more comfortable sail on the previous day due to the wind angle.

The wind was variable and course directly downwind, so motorsailed 5hrs; waves were 2m and from 30° north of the course line so the trip wasn't the most comfortable one. I motorsailed so that I could be in the shallow waters around south and west Nevis during daylight hours to avoid the numerous fish traps. I only altered course by about 10° a couple of times to account for wind shifts, otherwise it was a straight shot from leaving Jolly Harbor to the southwest tip of Nevis. As the chart shows shallow waters and uncharted obstructions close inshore, I stayed well off; which also gave me a stronger and cleaner wind for the last hour. I took a mooring ball off the closed 4 Seasons hotel and right offshore from Sunny's bar and actually managed to grab it on the first pass. Only 2 other boats in the whole anchorage which has over 100 new mooring balls.