Ripping trip

Brandy L

Left stunning St. Barths in our wake, originally aiming for a quick pit stop in Nevis—but didn’t realize check-in was required, so had to reroute. We blasted out of St. Barths with full sails up, no reef in, and wind right on the edge of manageable. Then—bam—a surprise squall rolled in hard and fast. 😬 No time to reef. Adam stayed on the helm, hand steering to spill wind as we flew along. That squall shifted everything—changed our plan from passing in front of St. Kitts to ducking behind it. Once in its lee, the wind turned unpredictable: swirling, gusting, then disappearing. With Nevis off the table, we had to bash into the wind for 3 hours just to reach tonight’s anchorage. Tomorrow’s forecast? More wind and waves as we push on to Montserrat for another quick stop, then on to Guadeloupe. Kinda wishing we just kept charging to Guadeloupe—we were cruising steady at 8+ knots, and even hit 12 while surfing a wave. Though if I'm being honest, I'm not such a fan of increased wind and waves. I miss Bahama bopping around.

Boat & Crew

Kaikoa

Dolphin, 460

Adam

Owner

Harbor Reef

Child

Aria

Child

Brandy L

Owner