Paddleboarding from the catamaran while moored in Great Harbour, Peter Island
In many ways, the British Virgin Islands are a sailing paradise. Located smack dab in the middle of the trade wind belt, the archipelago is blessed with steady winds nearly the entire year. Whether it’s early in the morning, mid-afternoon or overnight, the winds blow a steady 10-15 knots.
Allen takes the helm on the sky bridge
In the winter, the direction shifts a little bit to the north of east and the wind strengthens a bit; in the summer, the winds may be a little bit south of east. But overall, the islands have been placed in front of what seems like a fan of fresh, warm tropical air.
Sure it is a 12 person dinghy…never mind that we are a low, low rider
Steady trade winds like this normally build up a choppy sea state, but here the BVIs have an advantage, also. Most of the islands are arranged in a large oval ring – this alignment means that the choppy wind waves are mostly cut down by the outside islands. Sir Francis Drake Channel is about 10 miles long and 5 miles wide, and it runs right across the middle of the oval of islands. With flat warm water and steady warm wind, the sailing conditions are near perfect.
The crew enjoying a sundowner on the upper deck of Willy-T
We spent the first couple of days of our week-long charter enjoying the beach club at Cooper Island, the infamous Willy-T floating bar moored on Peter Island, the natural water park of The Baths, and the world famous superyacht anchorage in North Sound on Virgin Gorda. And doing it all with friends made it even better!
Thanks to Chris Bacchus for the all the drone photos & videos
