Joseph Conrad once wrote, “The sea never changes.” And while this may or not be true, something most definitely not open for debate is the fact we sailors, “wrapped in mystery,” as Conrad put it, are continually changing—whether we like it or not.
I found myself thinking these and other equally deep (or silly?) thoughts during a recent charter aboard the Moorings 400 catamaran Siempre Sol in the British Virgin Islands. Being a longtime sailing journalist, I’ve been lucky enough to do more than my share of bareboat chartering over the years with my wife, Shelly, and daughter, Bridget. Many, if not most of these charters have also involved catamarans, especially those that have taken place in warmer climes.
This time, though, was going to be different—very different. It was our first charter in the BVI since Hurricane Irma devastated the area in 2017 and our first post-Covid-shutdown bareboat charter. It was also going to be our last charter before Shelly and I dropped Bridget off for her freshman year of college in the fall—our charter swan song, as it were, given the nature of life and the ever changing exigencies of the modern world. Since I’m the only truly avid sailor in the family, it likely will be years before we charter again, if ever, so I wanted to make it a
