Well, we made it! Going to post the narrative and related pics in several posts rather than one big one as suggested by one of our SBO members. Here we go:
Well, made the trip. No worse for the wear. A couple minor breakages and some significant weather along the way but got the Jeanneau 53, Moby II, delivered to the BVI safely.
Our trip really began with the devastation created by hurricane Irma in the fall of 2017. My great friend from the lake, Jim’s family had a Bavaria 50 which they had kept in the BVI for 17 years. She was totally destroyed by Irma. She was anchored in Fat Hog’s Bay and Irma’s eye went directly overhead. Witnesses tell us that she survived the initial round of hurricane force winds but after the eye passed overhead and the back side of the storm took hold, she broke free of her moorings, was tossed upon a reef and broke in two. In November of 2017, they purchased a lightly used 2011 Jeanneau 53 in Florida, christened her Moby II and got to work from long distance making her ready for a delivery to the islands. In May 2018, they sailed her up to Brunswick, GA from Florida.
We arrived in Brunswick GA (31:09N;81:29W) where Moby II was docked on 11/15, - temps in the 40's and 50's, 3 days of wrapping up the last of the items to deal with on the punch list, provisioning - food $600; beer, wine and whiskey $700; fuel in the tanks and on deck, water in the tanks and much stored in bottles below, fill the ditch bag, go over watch assignments and daily "beer bitch" assignments, equipment checks, crew familiarization with the boat and equipment. We have fuel for about half the length of the trip. Telecon with our weather router delays us a day for weather - have a north wind to deal with crossing the Gulf Stream and would prefer otherwise. Determine nothing is going to change in the near future, we'll deal with it and so it's time to go. Our general plan is to sail east to longitude 65W and then turn south and run downwind to the islands.
Day 1: 9AM 11/18. Weather router expected little to no wind day one but we found a nice 10-15 knot NE breeze once offshore. As we leave Brunswick, we are all dressed in long pants, LS shirts and fleece or foul weather jackets –it’s cold. Sailed in and out of small squalls all day. We did not spot any North Atlantic Right Whales off the GA coast – apparently they winter there and can be a hazard at 55-75 feet long and 70 tons. 5 PM we get to the Gulf Stream. All crew have been feeling a bit puny through the first day. One, our cook, gets sick and goes on injured reserve for the evening while his brother steps in to do the cooking that night. All are good after that.
Day 2, 11/19 – (09:30 – 30:58N;78:36W): Through the GS and were set north as a result, alter course to the south a bit to get back on track. About noon the wind switches to the south at 15 and we tack. Router gave us a waypoint to head toward - 2.5 days down the track and further SE than we planned, distances are huge. Four PM, fish on! Mahi for dinner! Came within a half mile of a 1,099 foot container ship, AIS system alerted us and gave us specifics as to closest point of approach. A good day sailing and no issues. Throughout the trip we see a half dozen big cargo ships and one sailboat coming from the NE US coast when we get close to BVI.