Captain’s Log: An Unforgettable Family Christmas
The Basics
The boat: Speculation, a 2012 Leopard 44
Crew: Captain Jalil (instructor)
ASA Students: Sharlee, Michael, Mason, and Madox
Courses Completed: ASA 101 (Basic KeelBoat), ASA 103 (Basic Coastal Cruising), ASA 104 (Bareboat Cruising), ASA 114 (Cruising Catamaran)
Day 1: Giving Chartering a Chance
Sharlee, Michael and their two sons, Mason and Madox, have big sailing dreams! At home in Arizona they sail their Catalina 16 but the dream is to do some bareback chartering on catamarans in the Caribbean and in Mexico. With this course, they explained to Captain Jalil, they hoped to feel ready for their next big adventure!
Day 2: A Christmas Eve Sail
What better way to start Christmas even than with a sail to Flamingo Bay! Madox, the youngest of the crew, took right to the maneuvers under power to get the sailboat out of Crown Bay and over to Water Island. He “took to it really naturally and easily performed all the maneuvers in the exercise,” Captain Jalil noted in his Captain’s Log. In the afternoon, the family began practicing trimming the sails and trying out different points of sail. By afternoon, they had made their way to Hassel Island. They dropped the sails, picked up a private mooring in Careening Cove, and made their way to Charlotte for Christmas Eve dinner!
Day 3: Santa’s on our Sailboat!
“Santa somehow found us on the boat, and there were little gifts for everybody in the morning,” Captain Jalil remarked in his Captain’s Log. “Thank you Sharlee – I mean Santa!” After Santa’s visit, the crew made their way to Buck Island– over the waves they go, tacking all the way (ho-ho-ho). At Shipwreck Cove, they picked up a mooring and dove in to snorkel the wreck of Cartanza Senora. Captain Jalil found a 4-foot nurse shark in a hole on the nearby reef and he tickled its tail to get it to come out so the boys could see it! In the afternoon, the winds blew E’S about 8 knots so the crew raised the full main & jib and fittingly sailed all the way to Christmas Cove.
Day 4: A Lesson on Good Stewardship
On day 4, Captain Jalil was excited to show the crew the self-guided snorkel tour at Trunk Bay! They sailed their way over, across the north side of St. James Island and into Trunk Bay. However, Captain Jalil’s excitement quickly turned to disappointment. “We found the entire reef completely destroyed,” Captain Jalil remarked in his Captain’s Log. “[I] was deeply saddened to see the devastation and the huge crowds of snorkelers walking all over the coral rubble.” The crew’s experience was a stark reminder of the importance of good stewardship when sailing, snorkeling, and enjoying the Virgin Islands. If only most visitors cared about the beauty of the VI as much as Captain Jalil!
In the afternoon, the wind returned to Captain Jalil’s sails as he took the group over to the wide open space S of Jost Van Dyke to practice reefing and then over to Maho Bay to moor. There, the crew took out the paddleboards and saw some beautiful green sea turtles swimming around.
In the evening, Captain Jalil whipped up a batch of his famous signature cocktail, called the Water Island. It was refreshing and delicious. For dinner, they made fajitas. “Everybody accused Madox of putting too much pepper in, but it wasn’t his fault. The pepper shaker’s holes were really big,” Captain Jalil wrote in his Captain’s Log. “We shared some stories about some of our spicy culinary adventures, and in the end it wasn’t too bad for anybody and the captain really liked it.”
Day 5: Traveling by Pool Noodle
On day 5 the crew learned one of the best sailing maneuvers out there— the heave-to! This maneuver gave the crew the opportunity to relax a bit, enjoy a PB&J and take in the beauty of the Virgin Islands before practicing man-overboard drills. In the afternoon, they picked up a mooring at Henley Cay to snorkel in the soft corals. Mike saw a Hawksbill turtle!
There was a strong tidal current, so Captain Jalil got in the dinghy and kept watch, then towed everybody back on a noodle line. Sharlee remarked, “I’ve never traveled by pool noodle before!”
Day 6: Impromptu Sailboat Racing
On the last full day of sailing, the crew found themselves on a parallel course with another catamaran, a Lagoon named “Sweet Revenge”. Captain Jalil’s competitive side swung into action and he began calling out commands to his crew for adjusting the sail trim. The students performed each maneuver effortlessly and they sped past! “[Sweet Revenge] dropped her sails and went over to Christmas Cove to lick her wounds and nurse her pride,” Captain Jalil said in his Captain’s Log. To celebrate, they picked up a mooring at the Navy Barges just south of Frenchman’s Reef and tried out WayDoo electric underwater scooters. They spotted another Hawksbill Turtle and Captain Jalil tried to tickle some lobsters out of a hole for the crew to see but found them less interested than the nurse shark he had coaxed out earlier in the week!
Day 7: Plotting the Next Course
In the early morning, Mike went snorkeling to check out all the friendly turtles that like to hang out in the shallows around the beach. At the same time, Mason and Madox plotted the course from the previous day’s dead reckoning log and compared it to the track Mason’s handheld chartplotter had laid down. It was pretty close, despite the wind being a little variable in Pillsbury Sound. It was then time to head back to the marina and send this crew off with their ASA certifications so they would be ready for the next adventure!