Into the Wind: Sailing East to Sint Maarten

Anchored at St. Thomas Bay on Virgin Gorda, Connor and Kelly of Sailing Big Lost completed their engine maintenance checks, tightened the alternator belts, and shifted their Vision 444 catamaran north to Prickly Pear Island. The short repositioning placed the crew near Leverick Bay, establishing a staging anchorage to wait for a viable weather window before punching eastward into the Caribbean trade winds toward Sint Maarten.

The upcoming passage marks one of the most demanding directional legs of their seasonal cruising schedule. Having spent four months changing vessels and carrying out boat refits, the family faces a tight timeline to reach hurricane refuge in Grenada. Pushing east into the prevailing trades is necessary before the route turns south past Martinique, requiring focused calculations and direct upwind motoring.

Airlock Installation at Prickly Pear Island

While anchored off the beach at Prickly Pear Island in strong breeze, Connor tackled a boat improvement project in the port hull. Marine air conditioning systems often develop stagnant moisture and mildew odors when left inactive at anchor. To address this, the crew took delivery of an Airlock air purification kit designed for marine and recreational vehicle air conditioning blowers.

Working on the port air conditioner, Connor wired the compact unit directly to positive and negative 12-volt power and mounted it using the integrated magnetic backing plate. The magnetic adhesive pad allowed immediate installation on the air handler without drilling into the boat structure.

“They make these really easy. Just hooked up to a positive and negative. They give you this sticky back on a magnet that makes it absolutely easy to install.”

Connor

Ashore on Virgin Gorda, the family took time to stretch their legs along the island roadways. Daughter Maddie completed her morning mathematics lessons aboard before the family explored the road winding out from Leverick Bay Resort, observing local terrain and emergency evacuation markers before returning to prepare the catamaran for sea.

Night Departure into the Trade Winds

After waiting nearly a week for trade winds gusting between 20 and 30 knots to moderate, a brief easing in the pressure gradient opened an opportunity to depart. Connor and Kelly arose at 2:30 a.m. to run pre-departure checklists, start the diesels, and raise the anchor in total darkness. Navigating out of the reef-strewn anchorage required reliable communication between the foredeck and helm station.

“Start. Headsets. We don’t always use them, but uh we’re leaving at night. I can’t see Kelly up front, and I think it’s important that we’re able to communicate.”

Connor

Underway at 3:00 a.m., Big Lost pointed east into open water. By 5:00 a.m., the catamaran had logged 2 hours of steady motoring, maintaining 5 knots through the water as sea swells leveled out away from Virgin Gorda. With Maddie and Finn sleeping soundly in their cabins below, Kelly took the helm watch as the morning sun broke over the horizon.

Operating on an uncompromising cruising calendar brings constant pressure to weigh safety margins against passage schedules. Watching the horizon from the helm, Kelly reflected on the practical demands of navigating a family catamaran across long stretches of open water without shore support.

“Everything takes longer than you think. Weather windows are rare. Boat repairs pop up unexpectedly. Parts get delayed. Plans change.”

Kelly

Sargassum Weed and Headwind Motoring

As the passage progressed through the morning, dense patches of floating sargassum seaweed created continuous operating hazards. The heavy weed mats fouled the keels, rudders, and propellers, dragging down boat speed and placing extra strain on the running gear. Connor actively hand-steered around the largest mats to keep the underwater surfaces clear.

When weed buildup on the port propeller caused the engine RPM to drop sharply, Connor immediately pulled the throttle into reverse. Backing down through the water spun the tangled grass off the propeller blades, restoring proper drive and avoiding the dangerous alternative of swimming under the hull in open ocean swells.

By 10:27 a.m., Big Lost had recorded 7 hours of running time. The catamaran logged 10 knots of true wind and 17 knots of apparent wind directly on the nose, maintaining 6 knots through the water. While Connor cleared weed off a trailing trolling line, Kelly prepared softboiled eggs in the galley, using locking stovetop clamps to keep pans secured against the rolling swell.

Arrival in Simpson Bay and Alternator Upgrades

At 3:00 p.m., Big Lost completed the 12 hour eastward run, safely dropping anchor in Simpson Bay on Sint Maarten. Averaging 6 knots across the passage, the catamaran arrived with ample daylight to establish a secure hold. Throughout the passage, Finn slept continuously in his bunk, emerging on deck just as the anchor chain rattled into the seabed.

Simpson Bay provided strategic advantages for the vessel: immediate dinghy access to customs and immigration clearance, and entry into Simpson Bay Lagoon for chandleries and services while the crew awaited freight delivery of a new dinghy to Philipsburg. After chaining the tender to the dinghy dock and taking the family to breakfast at Miranda, Connor turned his attention to mechanical upgrades in the engine compartment.

The catamaran’s factory alternators had been operating at their maximum thermal and amperage limits. To eliminate the risk of alternator failure experienced by earlier production catamarans, Connor unpacked high-output replacement units. The installation revealed an unexpected wiring variation: the new units were case-ground alternators lacking an isolated negative post.

“It’s called a case ground alternator where I need to hook the ground up to the engine uh block.”

Connor

Connor headed ashore to the local marine chandlery to source specific mounting bolts to complete the engine block grounding, preparing the electrical charging system for the next leg southward toward Grenada.

Passage Metrics

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