Why We Keep Coming Back to Sail the British Virgin Islands After 40 Years of Cruising | Ep 265

This time on Distant Shores we take you to one of the world's most popular sailing and bareboat charter destinations, the British Virgin Islands or BVI, where Paul and I have returned again and again throughout 40 years of international cruising. We'll show you why we love it, why some cruisers don't, why we think it's a great place to invite guests aboard who are new to sailing or to show your loved ones the joys of the sailing lifestyle especially if they're a bit skeptical about your dream to sail off into the sunset. Throughout, we'll highlight some of our favourite places and the many non-sailing activities to be enjoyed in these beautiful protected islands. ⛵️See Distant Shores IV at the Hiswa te Water Boat Show, September 3-7, 2025 😎 If you are going to be in the Netherlands during the week of September 3-7, 2025 we welcome you aboard Distant Shores IV at stand D38 at the Hiswa te Water Boat Show. This popular in-water boat show is held annually at Batavia Haven on the waterfront in Lelystad. Come and see what an Enksail Orion 49 aluminum sailboat looks like and visit the boat you see in Distant Shores videos. 00:00 Intro 01:14 BVI Sailing Map 01:38 Our first visit to the British Virgin Islands 02:13 Why come back to the BVI? 03:29 BVI sailing conditions year round 03:43 Underwater BVI highlights 04:44 Jost Van Dyke 05:13 The Baths BVI 05:30 Marina Cay Reef BVI underwater 06:47 Sailing Sir Francis Drake Channel 07:26 Anchor Snubber technique Rolling Hitches 09:18 Headsail change to Code Zero 10:04 Halyard System 11:09 How to Flake a Sail 13:42 Sailing Offshore to Anegada 15:21 Anegada Mooring Field 15:43 Reading a Pilot Chart for the British Virgin Islands 16:19 Dolphins at The Bight, Norman Island 17:09 Summarizing the BVI trip #bvisailing #britishvirginislands #precisionsails ⛵️ Our Boat: Enksail Orion 49 aluminum sailboat with variable-draft swing-keel https://distantshores.ca/about-us/the-boats/ Yacht Manufacturer: Enksail Yachts / Gebroeders van Enkhuizen Yachtbuilding https://enksail.gebrvanenkhuizen.nl/en/ ♥️ Partners: Celestaire Sextants: https://www.celestaire.com/ Combi Electric Propulsion Systems: https://combi-outboards.com/en De Vries Sails: https://www.devriessails.nl/ ePropulsion: https://www.epropulsion.com/ Gill Marine: https://www.gillmarine.com/ GN Espace Ocean Chef: https://www.gn-espace.com/product/oceanchef-3-induction-cooker Highfield Boats: https://www.highfieldboats.com/ Lewmar: https://www.lewmar.com/ Ocean Safety: https://www.oceansafety.com/ Precision Sails: https://www.precisionsailloft.com/ PredictWind: https://www.predictwind.com/ Raymarine: https://www.raymarine.com/ Seldén Mast: https://www.seldenmast.com/ Scanstrut: https://www.scanstrut.com/ Super B Lithium Batteries: https://www.super-b.com/en 🏝️ Sail Away Weeks - Join the Crew! Get an introduction to the cruising lifestyle by joining Paul and Sheryl for a week or more of sailing adventure aboard their new Enksail Orion 49 on a leg of their current voyage. Experience life on the water sailing to distant shores, build new skills, get onboard consulting in a beautiful location to help plan and budget for your own long-distance voyage in the future. Learn more here: https://distantshores.ca/sailaway-weeks/upcoming-passages/25-26-schedule/ 🎁 Gifts for Sailors! Own the Whole Distant Shores Collection: All 157 full half-hour episodes of the Distant Shores Sailing Adventure TV series are available as a collectors set as HD downloads (no longer available on DVD) through the Distant Shores website. This is perfect for binge-watching and makes a great gift for the sailor in your life! Info and order here: https://www.distantshores.ca/sailingdvds/catalog/ ⚓️ Join our Community! Distant Shores videos are made possible by the support of Distant Shores Patrons. Join our community for early ad-free viewing of videos, invitations to meetups and other special events as well as member-only livestreams, tutorials and Q&A's. We'd love to welcome you aboard! https://www.youtube.com/distantshorestv You can also connect with us on: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/distantshorestv FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/distantshorestv SPONSORSHIP & BUSINESS INQUIRIES: info@distantshores.ca Thank you for watching! Sheryl and Paul