The next morning we made a very early start, and had a beautiful
crossing to Anegada, the
Forbidden Island. For the first time, we headed out to sea
without a visible destination...at
17 nautical miles it's too far away and too low to be seen from Virgin
Gorda.
It was an amazing
sail...fast and fun. The wind had been high enough the day before
that it the sailing was a
little tough,
so we started the day with a single reef in the mainsail and a full
genny. I figured we could shake
the reef out if we didn't need it, and shaking a reef would be much
easier than
trying to put one
in when we were out at sea. As it was, I was glad to have the
reef
in. We flew across at around
8 knots through three foot seas; the boat was comfy and the helm
steady. On the crossing we
discovered the autohelm was broken; my arms and shoulders got one
hell of a workout!
Anegada is an amazing island. While the rest of the BVIs are
volcanic and therefore rise
fairly high, Anegada is basically a big reef that just barely sticks
out of the water. At its
highest point it is a mere 14 feet above sea level. And, crucial
for the visiting sailor to know,
it is ringed with reefs shallow enough to sink that expensive
boat you're sailing! In fact,
until relatively recently, charter companies didn't allow their
boats to be taken to Anegada
without having a captain along. Certainly, GPS has made
getting there much easier and safer.
We carefully followed some instructions and GPS
coordinates we found on-line that another
sailor had come up with (www.bvipirate.com/NavToAnegada.html).
They worked great, and
seemed to save us some time; some of the other boats
were following some other directions
that took them several miles further out of the
way. The key seemed to be to err to port
until you're sure you know where you are, as the reefs were all to
starboard on this approach.
Arriving there early in the morning (around 10am) after the 17mile
crossing meant the reefs were
very easy to see, and there were plenty of moorings that had just been
vacated by departing yachts.
We selected a nicely placed mooring and headed toward
it...I noticed some strange little things
that seemed to be sticking out of the water around the
mooring and kept a close eye on them...
when we got to within a few boat lengths I realized what I
was seeing...the bowsprit of a boat!
I turned our boat hard to port and we passed by close
enough to see the boat that was sitting on the
bottom, with just a few bits of chrome protruding.
We selected another mooring and approached
with even more caution, just in case. Later that day
we found out that we had seen the powercat
that had caught fire and sunk a few days before...apparantly the owner
had
left the engines going to
charge the batteries while he went ashore for a few hours...that's a
big no-no, and now I see why.
