Chillin’ In The Sunny Caribbee?

The Wanderer and Dona de Mallorca are currently in Tortola aboard the Wanderer’s Leopard 45 cat ‘ti Profligate to begin our annual editorial investigation of the Caribbean. So far it’s been mostly all work behind our keyboards in less than optimal working conditions — at steamy bars, restaurants, tennis clubs, and such with often dubious internet service.

One of the best places to work so far has been Southern Trades Yacht Center, which is owned by ex-Californians Bob and Denise Carson. They do the bookings for mid-to-high range charters, and Carson tells us business has been off the graph this year. This echoes what we’ve heard from BVI Yacht Charters, our management company. Yacht sales, on the other hand, are coming back, but still slow. Carson listed off several incredible deals waiting for buyers. We have no idea how he has time to run his yacht sales and charter business because he builds so many custom surfboards at his place at Cane Garden Bay. "One family just ordered six," he tells us, "and I had to build 30 for Christmas.

Anybody remember Charlie Herndon of the Corinthian YC? As we recall, he built a Freya 39, cruised her to Greece, then came back to the Virgins to found Southern Trades in the early 1980s. Small world.

We’re so sick of sitting behind a keyboard in strange places instead of sailing that we’re going to try to hook up with Steve Schmidt of the SC 70 Hotel California, Too, tonight so we can crew for him in the Sweethearts of the Caribbean Regatta on Sunday. Schmidt is originally from Saratoga or someplace in the South Bay, and we sailed with him in last year’s Voiles de St. Barth. Although it’s the only cruising version of an SC70 ever made, HCT has done far more races than any other SC70. Steve will be singlehanding the 70-footer in a race tomorrow, with Laura Greces of BVI Yacht Charters as his observer.

If you cruised Mexico many years ago, you might have met Laura when she was the manager who helped set up The Moorings bases in Puerto Escondido and in La Paz. When we told her about the recent impoundings in Mexico, she just laughed. "Well, that’s Mexico," she said. She remembers that armed marines once stormed the charter base in La Paz for no good reason, scaring the bejesus out of clients.

One of our main reasons for coming to the Caribbean this season is to take photos of anchorages and other yachtie points of interest with our latest version of the DJI Phantom quadcopter with a GoPro camera. The combination of the quad, the gyro, and the camera can get pretty confusing. Indeed, a good friend who was a 737 and Citation 10 pilot lost his on a ‘flyaway’ on his second day using it. Anyway, after much frustration in the States and in the Caribbean, we finally got our quadcopter up and working properly this morning. Wow, wow, wow, wow! Despite being buffeted by 15 knots and more of trades, it took broadcast quality stills and video.

We were hoping to head down to St. Martin and to check on our Olson 30 La Gamelle, then on to St. Barth as quickly as possible, but life has conspired against us. First of all, there is the magazines’ February deadline. It’s impossible to enjoy yourself on a boat if you have uncertain internet and a short month deadline hanging over your head. Secondly, we found out that a recent charterer had put ‘ti Profligate up on some rocks at White’s Bay. Nobody knew how bad the damage was until the diver went down with a camera yesterday. It’s pretty bad, with all kinds of fiberglass shards. The keelets are sacrificial because charterers are notorious for putting boats on reefs. So the plan is to haul on Monday, and relaunch on Thursday after repairing the keelet, painting the  bottom and repainting the boot stripe. The BVIs are the center of the universe for chartering, so boats have to be repaired quickly.

Dengue is always a threat in the Caribbean, and now there is also a new African virus that won’t kill you, but is putting people in a world of hurt. Since the boatyard at West End is full of mosquitos, our plan is to take the ferry back to Charlotte Amalie in the U.S. Virgins and impose on our friend Warren Stryker. Back in the ’70s, both Warren and the Wanderer both had Bounty IIs in Sausalito and we became good friends. Tired of the Northern California cold, he set sail for the Virgins about 30 years ago and has been there ever since. He raced Fifties Girl, his Bounty, very successfully for years. She was sunk in a hurricane, and after a month he raised her to race again. About five years ago he sold the nearly 60-year-old boat for a Hunter 54, not losing a cent in the process. He  christened the boat Botox Betty and claims she’s one of the best boats ever. We’re not sure about that, but a few years back Botox was first to finish the prestigious St. Barth Around the Island race. Every Wedneday night he races with whoever shows up to crew. Usually there are about 30. With any luck, we’ll be part of the crew next Wednesday night just before returning to ‘ti Profligate.

This kind of chillin’ in the Caribbean is exhausting.