Delta 2 Day 5: Riveting Sail To The Pirate's Bight On Norman Island
written by Delta mate, Luka Walshe
July 20, 2017
Another early morning on the Delta program, we woke after a night undisturbed by rain, much to the joy of everyone on fleet. Blurry eyed from our slumber, we set about making the boats ready for raising the anchor. The sight of the fleet anchored along Dead Man’s Bay is magnificent to behold. We ate breakfast and pondered the journey so far. As soon as the Sail Caribbean Divers’ dive boat showed up, we dropped off the Open Water divers and begin a refresher lesson on raising the anchor. Once we were ready to go, we assumed our positions and brought up the anchors.
We motored out into the Sir Francis Drake channel and raised our sails. A steady wind blew, and with sails at full power, we hit 9 knots of boat speed, truly riveting! Sailing on a broad reach to our destination, we practice jibing safely, and executed some extremely controlled maneuvers. The crews are starting to understand the fundamentals of sailing, making the maneuvers more smooth overall.
After points of sail and rights of way lessons, we reached our destination for the day, the Pirate’s Bight, Norman Island. We dropped our sails and picked up a mooring ball. Once were on the ball, we jumped in the water, before preparing a lunch to fuel us through the afternoon. We picked up the divers for lunch, before dropping them off on shore and shuttling the rest of the crew to shore as well. The divers headed off to continue their Open Water course and the rest of the crew head out for a hike on Norman Island.
At the top of the highest peak of Norman, spread out on the helipad, we play True Course curriculum games in the sun. After the hike, we headed back down to the beach for some volleyball and refreshments at the restaurant. We eventually headed back to the boats for dinner, before shuttling back to shore for an evening social. We enjoyed delectable desserts and drinks from the restaurant and socialized with the other Sail Caribbean program boats.
We held our daily evening boat meeting on shore before sleepily shuttling back to boats. The night time rush for sleeping spots ensues and quickly dies as people claim their plots. The buzz of conversations and laughter slowly fades out as people fall asleep. And so comes to an end, another beautiful day in the BVI.
