Last Night in Sint Maarten

After the 12 Metre Regatta in Phillipsburg, Don's hand was bothering him, so him and Judy took a cab back to the condo.

Rita/I  and Debbie/Hans toured through the retail shops of Phillipsburg.
They were fairly busy as there were THREE cruise ships in port.

We stopped for lunch at one of our favourite places in Sint Maarten, the Holland House.
Rita and I have stayed here before.
Great food, great rooms, great service, great location.

Holland House Website

We took a cab back to the condo to meet up with Don and Judy.

After a couple of cocktails, we walked up the road to a really nice Italian restaurant called ISOLA Authentic Italian Restaurant.

Nice dinner was had by all.

Sorry no photos.

NOTE: This restaurant is now closed (Mar 20, 2020) because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

12M Regatta Sint Maarten

Yesterday was a long day of travel, and we were in bed by 10:30pm our time 09:30pm Sint Maarten time.

We were up slightly after 7am, and had a nice breakfast of bacon and hard boiled eggs, and yummy Dutch cheese.

We called a cab for 10am, as we had to be in Phillipsburg by 11:30am to do a sailing experience

https://www.12metre.com/

We got dropped off at Dock Maarten Marina and had about an hour to kill.
There was a excellent Dutch shoppe there:

amsterdam-cheese-and-liquor-store

We got a bunch more Gouda cheese for the coming week.

We went over to the 12 Metre regatta store and bought a bunch of merch.
I got a really nice pair of blue sailing shorts and a crew T-Shirt.
Rita got a really nice sleeveless golf shirt.

We boarded a 40ft pontoon boat with about 12 other people, and motored over to the docks where the two LARGE cruise ships were docked.  Another 20+ people go on. 

We asked to be on Canada's True North IV (vs Stars and Stripes).
I was made crew chief (probably because I had my red Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race hat on).
The six of us were the only Canadians aboard.

Interesting story/history on True North IV:

https://www.12metre.com/yacht/true-north-iv-kc-iv/

We had commissioned Steve Killing to design our replacement mast on ACE in 2018.

We went out into the harbour, and pulled up alongside our 12 Metre yacht True North IV.
The previous victims/crews unloaded, and we boarded.

Captain Morgan (that was his name!) delegated out the various duties on the boat:
Running backstays (2)
Mainsheet trimmer
Mainsheet grinders (2)
Primary grinders (4)
Countdown timer

Hans was the countdown timer
Rita/Debbie were on watch by the mainsheet.

Don, Judy and I (along with another American) were the primary grinders.
The winches were bigger than our heads, and had 3 speeds.
The two crew members did all the jib sheets and called for us to grind.
We weren't allow to touch the sheets.

The lady on the mainsheet had NO IDEA what she was doing.
We had a couple of crashing gybes. where she let the mainsheet go!

It was blowing maybe 20 knots from the north from onshore so the sea state was not bad.
The two boats had a reefed main and a conservative #3 roller furling jib.
We got the boat going 9+ knots upwind closehauled.
Heeled over pretty good, but rails NOT in the water.

Captain Morgan at the helm

You can see the cruise ships in the background.
Hans is just beside Rita, while Debbie is opposite her.

The race was four windward/leeward legs in Phillipsburg harbour.
We trailed Stars and Stripes for the first 3 legs doing several crosses just off their transom.
On the first downwind leg a storm cloud came through and we had wind gusts over 30 knots, and all got completely drenched!

I convinced Captain Morgan to go right instead of left at the last leeward mark because their was more wind inshore.  At this point, I had to give a inspirational speech to the crew.  I forgot what I said, but we all chanted "We The North" in honour of the Raptors NBA Championship!

We were winning going into the final tack to the finish line, when we got a major override on the new windward sheet, and were hoveto about 200ft from the finish.
We had to run the stuck sheet to the other winch and grind it out.

We enjoyed a couple of beers after we finally crossed the finish line in 2nd (last) place.

The funniest part was when we went to furl the headsail.
Crew Dude threw the furling line down the middle of the cockpit and said:
"Pull like you are trying to get your wife out of the jewellery shop in Phillipsburg"
LOL

Nice Sail!

Grinders Extraordinaire
Jon and Dude

Race started at 11:43am and finished at 12:37pm

Moving Time: 00:54:13
Trip Odometer: 6.4 NM
Avg Speed: 8.7 knots
Max Speed: 11.2 knots

GPS Track
Click for BIGGER
Yellow is where we had the override

Great to see these four 12 Metre yachts actually being sailed instead of being cut up.
The crew was saying that all four of the boats are going to do the Heineken Regatta in March.

Twas a great experience... the cost was $90US per person, but it was worth it!

First Night in Sint Maarten

At the airport, we picked up some duty free booze and wine for the condo.

We had a quick cab ride to the condo on Simpson Bay.
Sint Maarten has a flat rate for cab rides @$7 per person.

We booked a 2 bedroom condo off AirBNB:

https://theatriumresort.com/


The condo had a pullout bed in the living room.

The place was clean, but was a little tired and could use some updating.

We walked to a local grocery store and got something to snack on, and breakfast for the next morning.

Black Russians and wine were enjoyed by all!

Also seen at the store:

After a couple of cocktails, we walked over to a seafood restaurant recommended by our cab driver:

https://www.skipjacks-sxm.com/

Don/July/Rita had the lobster, which they had to pick out live from a salt water pool:

https://youtu.be/PckXgx9KVzE

Before our dinner came to the table, a storm cell came through, and the staff SCRAMBLED to close up the enclosures adjacent to our table.   The wind picked up and MAN did it rain.  Good thing the enclosures were down!

Great dinner overlooking the lagoon with several MEGAYACHTS.

The sisters seemed to like Jack:

Flight YYZ to SXM

Woke up BEFORE the alarm at 4am.

We said goodbye to our Shadow

House/Pet sitter Charlene would be coming to the house later in the morning.

Our Westjet flight was at 9:21am, but we wanted to avoid traffic and weather.
We would rather be relaxed at the airport than stressed being stuck on the highway.

Don and Judy showed up a little before 5am, and the limo shortly after.

We got to the airport a little before 6am.

Rita's sister Debbie and husband Hans flew in from Victoria the night before and stayed in a hotel by the airport overnight.  We met them after security checkin.

We all had breakfast at a restaurant before the gate.
We also had some drinks at a bar before boarding.

Flight was ontime and uneventful.

Trip Odometer: 1838 NM
Avg Speed: 451 knots
Max Speed: 563 knots
Moving Time: 04:04:00

We passed right by the BVIs:

The airport at Sint Maaten is famous for having a beach called Maho Beach were you can watch planes land just above your head.  You can see the people on the beach in this video:

https://youtu.be/RBWkIQFwcXw

The landing was a little rough.

2020 BVI Countdown

When we booked the charter and flights so long ago, the excitement was building as we got closer.

Don kept texting me every morning for the number of sleeps.

He started at 15 sleeps!
Since we had to get up at 4am to get the airport, he texted "one and a half" LOL


Day before Rita and I packed our suitcases.
Clothes, water shoes, bathing suites, couple of towels, the usual stuff.
However, we also loaded our check bags with some groceries to save some money on the trip.
Smoked oysters, canned chicken, spices, crackers, bitters for "old fashions".
We were careful to not be over 50 lbs for our two checked bags.

I had to pack for my carry on:

• lappy
• gopro
• point and shoot waterproof camera
• various charging chords
• batteries
• flashlight
• handheld gps
• handheld vhf
• CPAP machine
• playing cards

We had to arrange for travel health insurance.

Also made a stop to get some US$:

The day before leaving, we got a dump of snow:

Lovely Rita shoveling the sidewalk

And in the meantime:

Walter and Colleen got contacted by Conch Charters saying they had a cancellation on a larger/newer catamaran.  We decided to go for it

https://conchcharters.com/yachts/leopard-48/

Just a little bit bigger, with air conditioning and generator.

The 48 was 3 years newer, which is huge on a well used charter boat.

The extra cost of $300 per couple was worth it in the end (more later).


Lastly, we arranged for a girl to stay at the house and look after our 2 year old CockAPoo Shadow while we were gone.

2020 BVI Provisioning

In early January, we hosted a dinner with the three Ontario couples to answer any questions, and get our provisioning list together.

I put together a shared spreadsheet, where every couple put in their orders.

I created an account with a local BVI grocery chain call Riteway:

Riteway Food Markets

These guys cater to the charter boat market.
I was able to download a spreadsheet, fill it out, and upload my order.

It was easy to do, and our order would delivered to the boat the night we arrive (for free).

Here is a sample of some of the stuff we ordered

• 24 1Gal jugs water
• Charcoal brickettes and starter fluid
• Olive oil
• White vinegar
• 16 lbs frozen chicken breast
• 4 dozen eggs
• 4 packages breakfast sausage
• 4 lbs bacon
• lemons/limes
• pancake mix and syrup
• canned beans for salads
• canned mix coke/diet coke/ginger ale/tonic water
• pineapple juice (tetra pak)
• orange juice (tetra pak)

And some party raw materials:

• Kahlua
• Baileys
• Vodka
• Whiskey
• Rum
• Coconut rum
• Gin
• Canned Beer (Heinekin/Corona/Red Stripe)
• White Wine
• Red Wine

Total came to over US$1,200

The idea was to get all the bulky stuff delivered to the boat.
Nothing worst than having to lug that stuff via cab, or worst yet, run out of rum!

We would still do a provision once we got there for fresh food and other stuff.

2020 BVI Planning

In May 2019, we booked a bare boat charter in the British Virgin Islands for Feb 2020.

• Rita and I
• Walter and Colleen
• Hans and Debbie (Rita's sister from Victoria)
• Don and Judy (sailing friends from Newcastle)

In June, we booked flights to Sint Maarten on Air Canada.

We could not book the connecting flights from Sint Maarten to Tortola, as LIAT Airlines did not publish their schedule until late fall.

Seems like so long ago that we committed to the trip.

So we would fly by the seat of our pants.

Walter and Colleen have booked with https://conchcharters.com/ for the last 16 years.
Rita and I have been with them twice to the BVIs.
Hans and Debbie had been to the BVIs 22 years ago.
Don and Judy are BVI virgins.

We booked a Leopard 4600 catamaran from Conch Charters:

https://conchcharters.com/yachts/leopard-46-3/

Click for BIGGER

The charter would start on Fri Feb 13 2020 and end on Tue Feb 25 2020.
We would stay aboard the boat the night before.

Walter and Colleen were spending 2+ weeks in Barbados beforehand and would meet us in Sint Maarten for the LIAT flight to Tortola.  So in November, we booked our LIAT flights to join them.

Our Air Canada flight was on a 737 MAX 8 plane, which had since been grounded due to two fatal crashes.  Air Canada emailed us a change of itinerary, changing the date to Sat Feb 15, which would make us late for the charter.

So we cancelled, and booked on Westjet for Tue Feb 11, and booked a condo on the water in Sint Maarten for two nights.

Also took the opportunity to book racing on 12 Metre boats in Sint Maarten (more later).


Return flights after the charter were also difficult to figure out.
Air Canada only flies out on certain days.
WestJet flies out on Tuesdays at 4pm.
However, the LIAT flight from Tortola leaves at 2pm and would be tough to connect with WestJet

So we ended up booking a private flight on Island Birds for the 8 of us.
It was more expensive @$700US a couple (vs $400US on LIAT), but gave us the flexibility we needed.

We booked an airport limo with Lux Limo from Hampton.
Great to deal with a local company!