Second Night Watch...Alone

Posted by Ed

Liz is becoming very experienced at night sailing since she was on watch again, alone at night for the second time during this winter sojourn. Safety harnesses on, spare safety whistles around our necks on a lanyard and two-way radios to communicate to the off watch person resting in his/her bunk below.

The passage from St Martin to the BVI’s is about 90 miles. We left St Martin at 6:00 PM heading Northwest to the British Virgin Islands. This overnight sail was a little different since it was the time of a “New Moon”, meaning there is not any moon visible at all but the stars and their constellations were absolutely spectacular and somewhat lighting the way.

The path between St. Martin and the BVI’s was very busy with cruise ship traffic, commercial boats as well as pleasure boats like Gypsea. Liz has become very skilled at recognizing the light schemes of the other vessels and determining their direction, even before searching and tracking the night traffic via radar. I’m very comfortable with Liz on watch alone at night and her traffic separation skills are excellent. We arrived in the BVI’s in the early morning.