My wife and I are readers of all your books, and recent acquirer’s of the MaxSea software (still in set-up). My question is about leaving a boat in the Caribbean for two months in the winter. We are planning to sail from New England (home) to islands in early November 02′. We then need to leave the boat until mid January, at which point we’ll do a six month sabbatical on the boat. Do you have any thoughts on where, or with whom we should leave the boat for that “holiday” period? I have considered both dockside, or hauled out, and was thinking of the BVI, or Antigua. Thanks for your thoughts. Best regards, John
Hi John: Leaving a boat in the water is expensive, has the usual risks of unattended dockage + the problem of maneuvering charter boats. So, we’ve left BEOWULF hauled out for the last two years when we were away. In our case, this has been at Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor. No problems, good security, and we’ve had Geoff at The Workbench (a subcontractor in the yard) keep an eye on BEOWULF. We’ve also left her with a dehumidifier and ozone generator running to keep mold at bay. We are limited where we can haul and store by size. You might have more options. But the consensus seems to be that for the BVI, Virgin Gorda is a better destination than Tortola. There are also similar services available in St. Martin, and Antigua (Jolly Harbor). My suggestion would be to wait until you get down, and then check around and see what looks best. Plenty of space for storage in the winter. Steve
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
