First of all delay departure until November when the risk of hurricanes
drops. Then you have two choices. Motor sail out to between 68 and 65 West
and turn south. That takes about 10 to 12 days out of Charleston. Probably
the same out of Miami as the wind is not as favorable that far south. That
route is very dangerous before late November because the majority of
tropical storms and hurricanes veer north through that area.

The other is the Thorny Path through the islands. Van Sant's book is the
bible for that route. That breaks it up into a lot of day sails and a few
over nights but you have to play the weather to get easting so it can take a
month or more. Possibly a little faster that time of year as the fronts
start coming off the continent more often. You can bash into it and make it
in two weeks but you will likely be ready to sell the boat as soon as you
get there. If you can't take that much time all at once you can leave the
boat in George Town for a while. There is a pretty active group of cruisers
who have lost their taste for open water sailing there that watch each
others boats.

Again though, August through early November is a very bad time. There are
no good hurricane holes until you get to the north coast of the Dominican
Republic.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"BeeRich" wrote in message
...
Hiya folks.

Anybody done this trip? Any recommendations, cautions, stories? I'm
wanting to take a sailboat with a crewmate from Florida to BVI via
Abacos, along the islands.

Any input appreciated.

Cheers

On 2008-05-06 07:44:47 -0400, Wayne.B said:

On Tue, 06 May 2008 11:31:50 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

As long as the OP pays attention to local weather, they'll be just fine.

Bad advice Jere. LIS experiences very few hurricanes, about the same
frequency as the Chesapeake. The area in question by our intrepid
cruise planner experiences multiple hurricanes every season. He is
talking about sailing hundreds of miles off shore in a sailboat with no
time or opportunity to seek shelter.

Sorry to directly disagree, but I been there, done that, and know both
areas intimately.

LI gets more storms and hurricanes than the BVI or any other single
"Caribbean" island group ("quotes" allow for including the Bahamas and
Bermuda, which aren't in the Caribbean.)

As a BVI "expert" for more than a decade, I get many reports. To date,
I have fielded exactly one 'cane experience in the BVI, and their
experience was that they were "forced" into a hurricane hole for one
day. They listened to the local forecasts, chose that day to shop
onshore, and were paid to enjoy the experience. They cared not that
they had to wear their foulies as they walked around.

A typical Chesapeake squall line is more "interesting" than their
experience. Chesapeake squall lines are a wake-up call for world
cruisers who have been through 'canes or brushed by them. We often
experience 110+ knot winds for an hour or more. A fairly recent one put
28 boats on a local anchorage's beaches.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-à-Deux -- Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

On Thu, 08 May 2008 02:21:52 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

LI gets more storms and hurricanes than the BVI

Maybe so but he's got to get to the BVI first after about 1200
nautical miles underway in prime hurricane season. I wouldn't do it,
and I don't know anyone else with experience who would either.

Jere Lull wrote:
....
Sorry to directly disagree, but I been there, done that, and know both
areas intimately.

LI gets more storms and hurricanes than the BVI or any other single
"Caribbean" island group ("quotes" allow for including the Bahamas and
Bermuda, which aren't in the Caribbean.)

This seems very doubtful indeed if you're just counting hurricanes and
tropical storms. Lets look at the data:

Since 1851, New York has had 12 strikes from hurricanes, 6 cat 1, 1 cat
2, 5 cat 3, and nothing stronger.

http://www.stormfax.com/hurstate.htm

How about the Carribean:
For the same period, Virgin Gorda had 28 hurricanes, of which 4 of the
were cat 4, stronger than any that hit NY. The Bahamas faired worse,
with 40 hurricanes. In fact, most of the Carribean/Bahamas (and even
Bermuda) has more hurricanes than any place in the US Northeast.

(It is true that the Carribean strikes are measured a bit different, but
since the NY coast is about 120 miles this seems like a fair comparison.)

http://www.stormcarib.com/climatology/freq.htm
which is extracted from:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-TPC-5.pdf

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/deadly/index.html

As a BVI "expert" for more than a decade, I get many reports. To date, I
have fielded exactly one 'cane experience in the BVI, and their
experience was that they were "forced" into a hurricane hole for one
day. They listened to the local forecasts, chose that day to shop
onshore, and were paid to enjoy the experience. They cared not that they
had to wear their foulies as they walked around.

Their memory is rather short, since the BVI had a number of serious hits
in the late '80s and '90s. Of course, that's the problem with being an
"expert" for the last ten years; the major storms average every 15 years
or so.


A typical Chesapeake squall line is more "interesting" than their
experience. Chesapeake squall lines are a wake-up call for world
cruisers who have been through 'canes or brushed by them. We often
experience 110+ knot winds for an hour or more. A fairly recent one put
28 boats on a local anchorage's beaches.

I certainly wouldn't deny that thunderstorm squalls can be very intense,
but I seriously doubt they sustain 110+ knots for over an hour, and that
this happens "often." I've tried to find any record of extreme squalls
and in fact only one reporting station on the Chesapeake reported record
gusts of over 100 mph.

I have no doubt that "hurricane force gusts" occur somewhere in the Bay
several times a year, but that's not the same 110+ knots sustained for
over an hour.

jeff wrote:

A typical Chesapeake squall line is more "interesting" than their
experience. Chesapeake squall lines are a wake-up call for world
cruisers who have been through 'canes or brushed by them. We often
experience 110+ knot winds for an hour or more. A fairly recent one
put 28 boats on a local anchorage's beaches.

I certainly wouldn't deny that thunderstorm squalls can be very intense,
but I seriously doubt they sustain 110+ knots for over an hour, and that
this happens "often." I've tried to find any record of extreme squalls
and in fact only one reporting station on the Chesapeake reported record
gusts of over 100 mph.

I have no doubt that "hurricane force gusts" occur somewhere in the Bay
several times a year, but that's not the same 110+ knots sustained for
over an hour.

Thanks for the research Jeff, I was rather incredulous about the
sustained 110+ knots, (125 mph) myself. Fortunately I had to go and
spend several hours on the water in a Zodiak helping to move moorings by
attaching and detaching lines from a big crane to said moorings before I
had time to look into the veracity of this claim.

Cheers
Marty

Ch

On Thu, 08 May 2008 19:03:21 -0400, jeff wrote:

I have no doubt that "hurricane force gusts" occur somewhere in the Bay
several times a year, but that's not the same 110+ knots sustained for
over an hour.

On open water.

On 2008-05-08 19:03:21 -0400, jeff said:

Jere Lull wrote:
...
Sorry to directly disagree, but I been there, done that, and know both
areas intimately.

LI gets more storms and hurricanes than the BVI or any other single
"Caribbean" island group ("quotes" allow for including the Bahamas and
Bermuda, which aren't in the Caribbean.)

This seems very doubtful indeed if you're just counting hurricanes and
tropical storms. Lets look at the data:

Since 1851, New York has had 12 strikes from hurricanes, 6 cat 1, 1 cat
2, 5 cat 3, and nothing stronger.

http://www.stormfax.com/hurstate.htm

How about the Carribean:
For the same period, Virgin Gorda had 28 hurricanes, of which 4 of the
were cat 4, stronger than any that hit NY. The Bahamas faired worse,
with 40 hurricanes. In fact, most of the Carribean/Bahamas (and even
Bermuda) has more hurricanes than any place in the US Northeast.

That is why I carefully wrote "storms and hurricanes". Include spring
storms and nor'easters (sp?) with storm-strength or greater winds and
the complexion of the areas change.

But I did mis-edit. We've experienced only the one squall where several
neighbors reported their anemometers pegged at 110 for over an hour
that put 28 boats on the shore. That was September '04, I believe. Two
or three times a season, we get squalls of significance that startle
world-travellers, more in the 70+ knot range, and usually over more
quickly.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-à-Deux -- Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

I've done this route three times, two to Roadtown and one a little
further on to St. Marten in a 40 foot cutter. Each time it was 11 to
13 days overall, starboard tack for first 6 days or so, then port tack
on in. Did them in Feb, Mar, and April. Might try it in early June,
but no later. Will be sailing in early June, Lauderdale to the
Abacos, and then hanging it up until November. Suggest you time your
trip accordingly.

On May 5, 7:46 am, BeeRich wrote:
Hiya folks.

Anybody done this trip? Any recommendations, cautions, stories? I'm
wanting to take a sailboat with a crewmate from Florida to BVI via
Abacos, along the islands.

Any input appreciated.

Cheers