Arrival in the Virgin Islands aboard Valkyrie

12/1/2014
After packing every nook and cranny aboard Valkyrie with provisions for the winter – time to leave the dock at Deltaville, VA.  The inevitable unplugging of the electric heaters was the last task.  No more heat.  We bundled up and took turns standing in the galley in front of the stove to make tea, coffee, meals.  The shakedown cruise from Deltaville to Beaufort, NC took about 39 hours.  It afforded the opportunity to hoist the sails, start the engine, find out what needed attention before our sail to the Caribbean.  Light winds for the majority of the trip meant motor sailing. 

The watch schedule worked well – Kari 6-9 am & pm, Ryan 9-12, Jerry 12-3, and Karen 3-6.  Jerry and I thought last year’s trip with Jerry Luh was a breeze having 3 instead of 2 to keep watch.  This trip with 4 people was a piece of cake.  When you’re on watch 8 out of 24 hours that provides a lot of time to stay well rested.  As long as the conditions allow.

Our 1 week in Beaufort – cold!  Work continued aboard as we waited for a weather window to leave.  Donna and Jerry, about a 2 hour drive away, came and spent our last day in Beaufort with us.  They brought us all kinds of goodies (chocolate!) and drove us all over Beaufort for last minute provisions (like frying pans and a gaff hook for fishing).  We enjoyed a southern bbq lunch at a place called Fat Fellas while it POURED outside.  Another cold front coming through.

There’s nothing that motivates leaving for the tropics on a sailboat like a forecast low of 28 degrees.  That’s what the temperature would be on Wednesday morning.  We were off by noon on Tuesday just after the front.  We had plenty of wind behind us as we whisked away from the coast and across the gulf stream all bundled up.  It may have been a low around 45 degrees Wednesday morning – much better than 28.  On watch means sitting in the cockpit and watching for ships, watching the wind strength and direction, watching  the sails.  Valkyrie, at 57’, is a tank compared to Persephone at 37’.  Valkyrie was built for the ocean.  With a mast height of 77’ and a draft of 9 ½ feet it is difficult to cruise the ICW on the east coast but she cuts through the water and races along with the motion of a race horse.  In only 2 days we started shedding layers.  Jerry came out one morning when I was on watch and I told him I felt like I was flying a space ship on the ocean.  We’re not used to sailing at 8-9 knots. 

Conditions couldn’t be better the first half of the trip – going east with west winds and then clocking to north, then east.  We had the wind on the beam or just ahead of the beam around 25 knots gusting higher for the last 4 or 5 days as we made our way past Bermuda turning south at that point.  It warmed up nicely though we continued wearing full foul weather gear pants and coats.  As Valkyrie speeds along the wind more on the beam, the waves slap the hull and send spray up and over everything.  Guaranteed you were going to be salt water soaked at the end of the watch.  At least it was warm!

Off-watch down below can be like an amusement park ride.  The boat heeled over to starboard requiring an angled walk finding a place to grab hold with each step.  When a wave lifted the boat it would lurch over a little more and send you flying.  And imagine cooking in the galley, the stove gimbaled and swaying back and forth to prevent the pots and pans from falling on the floor.  Kari ended up doing most of the cooking due to the watch schedule.

At 22 miles from the Virgin Islands we could spot the land lumps through the haze.  That’s when Kenny started having issues.  Have you ever seen the Southpark cartoon?  I haven’t but Ryan is a fan and years ago named his autopilot Kenny.  Kenny’s character dies at the end of every episode.  And, true to his name, with 4 hours to go on our passage, Kenny was dead.  Ryan and Jerry hand steered the rest of the way.  (Which included a chance to use the new gaff on the mahi we had on the line.)  Last year Ryan and Kari had to hand steer for 7 days!  Tiring!

It was 8:30 by the time Ryan navigated past Jost Van Dyke toward St. John and Caneel Bay to the national park mooring field.  Fresh fish for dinner to celebrate a great passage and a still boat.  In the morning we came on deck to admire the sandy beaches and palm trees on shore, the turquoise water surrounding us.  Talk about warm!