“It might get a bit bumpy…”

A Dreadful Crossing

Getting to the island of Saba was an ordeal none of us expected

Taking the helm is lots of fun — during the day, within in sight of land, and when there’s no storm threatening to flip the boat upside down. [Image: DTS]

One of my dreams is to sail around the world. Over the years I’ve managed to do a little coastal sailing, but until I joined my youngest brother on a sailing trip in the Caribbean a few years ago, I had never sailed out of sight of land.

That was all to change when we decided to make the passage from Virgin Gorda, an island in the British Virgin Islands, and head to the tiny island of Saba which lies east and south of our departure point. The distance wasn’t that far — about 97 land miles (or just over 84 nautical miles) — we should have been able to manage in one relatively straightforward overnight passage.

See if you can find the little island of Saba. Confession: we didn’t think we’d ever get there… [Source]

Our Captain (my brother) had by far the most experience with more sea miles than all the rest of us who were aboard combined. He had actually crossed the Atlantic, delivered boats all over the Caribbean, owned a boat in the PNW, and done some racing in England. We felt that we were in pretty good hands. To his credit, he is also a good teacher and we had been practicing our skills for several weeks in the…