As I sat on the west porch the other night, the FOS kickoff party was well under
way, and the sun was setting in the west creating another gorgeous sunset at
IHYC.
It made me realize that even though the summer is just beginning, it is time to
firm up plans for the 2017 IHYC Winter Cruise which takes place in just 8 short
months! The Cruise dates are Saturday, February 11, 2017 through Sunday
February 19, 2017
The cruise for our vessel will start on Friday, February 10, after a 4 hour direct
flight from JFK when our planes touch down at Princess Juliana Airport in
Simpson Bay on the island of St Maarten just 1,478 NM SE of IHYC. More
importantly, the average temperature during the day will be about 83 degrees.
At night, it may cool all the way down to 72 degrees. Greenwich will be some
50 degrees cooler which may make one wonder why anyone would want to
Frostbite at IHYC or shovel snow, instead of finding a way to come on the cruise!
The island is split into approximately north and south halves. The north side is
French, and is spelled St Martin, while the south side is part of the Netherlands,
and is spelled St. Maarten.
After a 45 minute taxi ride, we will cross the border and arrive in Oyster Bay on
the French side where we will spend the night at a hotel on the waterfront prior
to taking possession of our Moorings 48’ catamaran on Saturday morning. As
many cruisers at IHYC know, the Moorings Company runs a professional yacht
chartering service in multiple locations around the world. Sailing catamarans
and monohulls of various sizes as well as power cats are available for
charter/purchase. They are available on a bareboat basis, or with a captain and
crew/cook. We bareboat chartered our catamaran last year, and we will do the
same again in 2017. 48’ is the largest bareboat sailing catamaran available in
the Moorings fleet. It sleeps 8 in 4 separate staterooms with king size beds,
with a private head, sink and shower attached to each stateroom. It is
essentially a very large floating barge with a see through trampoline spread
between the hulls near the bow. It was really fun to lie on the trampoline and
watch the water pass by underneath while our esteemed Marine Chairman,
David Melick was at the helm as we surfed downwind from Anegada!
After a safety and navigation briefing and a trip to the supermarket for
provisions, we will pick up our mandatory water toys, ie foam noodles and
paddle boards, and then set sail into the west!
The general itinerary is to spend a day in Marigot Bay which is on the west side
of St Martin. The following day we sail up to Crocus Bay on the island of
Anguilla. After a day there we sail around the northeast side of Anguilla and
back south again to Orient Bay on the east side of St Martin. From there, we
plan on going to Gustavia, on the island of St Barts. We will spend 2 days there
and then move on to Anse de Colombier on the northwest end of St Barts. From
there, we will go back to Great Bay, on St Maarten. Great Bay is only 5 NM from
Oyster Pond where we will return our vessel on Sunday morning.
Most of these ports are between 5-10 NM from the prior one, with 15 NM being
the longest direct sail. That is the same distance as going from IHYC to the
Throgs Neck Bridge. Unlike LIS however, we can count on steady 10-25 knot
winds every day out of the east. Most of our day sails will be in a northerly or
southerly direction so we will be reaching. Accordingly, 15 NM is not a very long
trip. On our 48’ catamaran last year, we found that we really had to be told
how hard the wind was blowing, because the boat was so high, wide and easy to
sail that we just didn’t notice how much harder it was blowing than is customary
for LIS.
We could have the Moorings provision the vessel for us, but we actually liked
going into town and buying the provisions ourselves when we did a similar
cruise last year in the BVI’s. Our crew is generally arriving a day early so we can
see the land side of town, become acclimated to the culture, and not feel
rushed by arriving the same day as our departure for sea.
All of the charter boats come equipped with an 8’-10’ inflatable dinghy with a 510 hp outboard on the back. It is really easy to drop anchor or pick up a mooring
and then motor ashore in the dinghy or over to another boat. The reverse
transoms and stern stairs on all of these charter boats make it very easy to get
on and off at the dock, into the dinghy, and most importantly, into the 82
degree water when you go swimming every day!
Depending on our fellow cruisers interest, we plan on several shore dinners and
activities similar to those on the 2015 year’s BVI cruise. Now that we know the
imagination levels and dressing techniques of the winners of those contests, the
rest of us are busy upping our games!
This cruise will actually provide more on the water or port time and take less
travel time than last year’s BVI cruise. The flights are direct to St Maarten and
take 4 hours. At $450 round trip(now!) the cost is less than it was to the BVI’s.
We have organized approximately a 15% discount with the Moorings which
should make the charters cheaper than last year’s cruise. We have planned the
cruise with the starting and ending port more or less in the middle so that those
members that wish to start earlier, or extend their cruise past the scheduled
cruise dates can do so easily while still participating in some, or all of the
scheduled cruise dates. We picked February 11th for a start date because the
flights are approximately $200 cheaper per ticket than the week before or later.
February 20th is President’s Day. A $10K saving for approximately 50 people
was too much to ignore.
The most important thing that I think our boat crew learned last year is
something we often all take for granted, and don’t realize until we go on a
cruise like the one we took last year, and again on the one we plan for 2017.
After spending a little more than a week sailing and participating in various
activities and shore dinners, I think we all had a great time, and we came to
know those same members on both our boat and other boats much better than
we had before. I enjoy coming to the club much more now when I see those
same cruisers. (I even grudgingly admit I like those unnamed people that took
pains to make sure that everyone else knew about some minor docking
mistakes I might have made, although I would never tell them that!)
I think there is a lot of interest in the upcoming winter cruise for 2017. If you
would like to participate, it is not too early to firm up your commitments.
Before you know it, the best boats will be spoken for, and the flights will cost
more!
There will be another informational meeting scheduled at the club in the next
two weeks. However, if you think you would like to go on the cruise, it would be
smart to reserve a vessel at the Moorings with Barbara Daetwyler at 888-7033173 as soon as you can. It would also be smart to reserve your flights.
If you would like additional information in the meantime, please contact Rusty
McKee or Hans Isbrandtsen via the club or by:
Hans Isbrandtsen 203 625-7000 [email protected]
Rusty McKee
203 722-3080 [email protected]
We look forward to seeing you in the islands in 2017!