Sailing

Glad to hear the rest of your trip went well.

The 'normal' sailing trip is a week but that's not cast in stone. In an
effort to maximize days sailing and minimize days of vacation taken we
usually fly down on a Saturday arriving in the afternoon or eve., pick up the
boat on Sunday (you get the boat around noon) and bring it back the following
Sunday (by noon), take a shower and head straight for the airport. Because
of the way the flight schedules work it's usually not possible to leave after
work on a Friday and make it all of the way down there. You could do a
shorter trip, of course, but I never have. I've gone for longer (we did a 10
day one-way sail from St. Lucia down to the southern end of Grenada, stopping
in Bequia and Mustique, among others, along the way) but that's a pretty long
trip and certainly not necessary. Most of the charter fleets are based where
there is plenty to do right in the area for a week. One of the reasons for
aiming at Thanksgiving was to reduce the total number of vacation days
spent. I get both Thurs & Fri off so I only have to spend 3 days to get a
whole week - I understand the gov't may not be so generous. I haven't taken
all of my days this year so I can always carry some over to 2001 if that
works better for you guys.

My views on when to go:

January - March
Very fun since you will be sick of winter, very popular so a lot more crowded
(harder to find a place to anchor for the night and have to make arrangements
farther ahead), everything is open for business, high season rates.

April - May
Less crowded (unless Easter or Spring breaks are late), shoulder season rates.

June - August
No crowds (you may have some anchorages to yourself), many places are closed
for the season (think beach bars and meals on shore), low rates.

September - October
See June-August and add in highest risk of hurricanes
(http://www.storm2000.com). My guess is that people who planned their trips
to the BVI for this week aren't having much fun right now but they got GREAT
deals and the Moorings will probably give them a refund. I've chartered
during this period several times and had a blast. One time a tropical storm
came through and we stayed on the boat in port - I still get mileage out of
the stories. You just have to be willing to live with the risk that it may
not go according to plan (not seriously dangerous, though - you're always
within easy reach of the base - if a bad one threatens you just take the boat
back and let them deal with it).

November - December
Hurricane threat drops dramatically. Crowds pick up around Christmas,
everything opens up again, rates start to go up again.

Bottom line: I love the trips so much it doesn't matter what time of year -
just let me know what works best for you guys. Keep in mind that you do have
to make arrangements at least 2 months in advance (more is better) to make
sure you get flights and the boat that you want.

One last thought - it is possible for the main group to pick up the boat on
schedule and arrange to be near the airport on a later day in the trip to
pick someone up. This is definitely suboptimal. You learn a lot about the
boat and the sailing area from the briefings the charter company gives you at
the start and it limits flexibility to have to be by the airport on a certain
day when you might rather have the boat at the other end of the island chain
or wherever. I'd rather put the whole thing off until we can all go at once
but if it's the only way, at least it's an option.

Mark