Had a cracking upwind sail North East from Christmas Cove on Great St James Island in the US VI up to Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke Island, British Virgin Island. Harbour is filled with many mooring balls, all occupied by mostly “condomarans”, most of which are charter boats. There are boats constantly coming and going and ferry traffic too.
Since I single hand, I don’t ever try to pick up mooring balls (and don’t trust them anyway) but I understand one has to download an app, create an account and reserve them in advance. I think they cost about $50 per night!
The new self-tacking staysail traveler track worked very well. I beat upwind in 25 kts (guesting to 28) with a reefed main and just the staysail, managing 4.5 – 7 kts, without having to touch a sheet or grind.
It wasn’t easy anchoring outside of the mooring field. It took three attempts before my 45 KG (100 lbs) Ultra Marine anchor bit, was dragging towards the mooring field of charter catamarans. Now I’m anchored so far out, in 10 meters of water, that I’m exposed to a lot of ocean swell and high winds, but she’s holding so far and I’ve set the anchor drag alarm.
I went ashore and cleared in, which was easy and friendly but required going to four different people, two of whom were tellers who collected different payments from me.
