Sailfatbottomgirl

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Sailfatbottomgirl Tracking the charter bare boat Fat Bottom Girl as it sails the US and British Virgin Islands The dream has always been to have our own boat.

Owners Anders and Linda have enjoyed sailing the US and British Islands since 1994. The dream finally came to a reality in July 2016 when the 45 ft Beneteau Oceanis was delivered to the charter base in Charlette Amalie, USVI.

Since few appreciated the post about sail reefing... here is some sail p**n instead. Enjoy
11/06/2026

Since few appreciated the post about sail reefing... here is some sail p**n instead. Enjoy

Some sail training/info this morning. This is from a sail last week. True wind speed was at 17.7 knots. But our appar...
10/06/2026

Some sail training/info this morning. This is from a sail last week. True wind speed was at 17.7 knots. But our apparent wind speed (what the boat is feeling) was at 22 knots. The apparent wind direction was at 44 degrees over the starboard rail. You can see in the background that the sails are on the port side. The boat - at this wind speed - will probably do around 38 degrees so we're getting pretty close to the limit in terms of going up wind. The boat speed was at 8.7 knots. We're flying for sure and we're having a good time (except the wife who is trying to read her book). But..... we're having to hang on to our seats, the cushions are sliding out from under us, the cooler is sliding across the cockpit floor, and you can see at the bottom of the instruments that we are dragging about 10 degrees rudder. Now the rudder of FBG is very large so we're probably in no danger of losing control and rounding up but we're heading in that direction. If we had a picture of the shrouds (side stays holding up the mast), you would see that the leeward stay is lose and flopping around. Think about the force it takes to stretch a braided steel cable..... Yes - It is time to reef (reduce the sail area)!

Here is the process - other's may do it differently. We start with pointing the boat downwind and roll up the genoa - technically we don't have to do this, but pointing the boat into the wind with the genoa out will flog the sail, beat the crap out of it, and make an enormous racket - so we roll it up. Next we point the boat up wind and lower the main sail to the first reef point, then point the boat back on course. Now we unroll the genoa to the first reef point and then crank the genoa sheet back in until it's hard to crank. We then let the boat build for a few seconds. Since we're lazy we then have the helmsman do a quick course change to nearly upwind, the crew cranks in the genoa which now has virtually no load, and the helmsman puts us back on course before the boat loses momentum. Our crew greatly prefers this little maneuver vs. cranking on the genoa winch which can be a super workout at this wind speed. The quick upwind trick only takes a few seconds. FBG is a big fat girl and doesn't lose momentum if you do it quickly.

Had we put the reef in the sail at the time we hoisted the main we could have avoided the entire drama. The entire reef process took about ten minutes. The boat speed after this effort was 8.3 knots. The boat was balanced with the rudder nearly neutral, the boat vastly reduced heel, and the wife could now read her book in peace.

Moral of the story - reef early! Preferably put the reef in the sails when you pull them out. It's very little effort to undo the reef and pull the sails all the way out should you find the need for more power. Like when you find a boat you need to race or a catamaran you need to embarrass😁

Doing The Indians thing. Plenty full with angry boaters hovering waiting for a mooring. And plenty boats on moorings t...
03/06/2026

Doing The Indians thing. Plenty full with angry boaters hovering waiting for a mooring. And plenty boats on moorings that appear to have been here past their 90 minute limit. Welcome to the BVI!

In a slip at Peter Island. Never been at the yacht club before. Pretty sure we are not worthy😝 So far the crew likes ...
02/06/2026

In a slip at Peter Island. Never been at the yacht club before. Pretty sure we are not worthy😝 So far the crew likes it.

02/06/2026

Heading to Peter Island. Wind is all over the place. Going from 9 to 21 knot. We are sailing with the main sail reefed. After several minutes of low wind speed Im thinking of removing the reef. Then the big gust hits us to remind me why the reef is staying put. All good!

Trying to earn another star to add to my 2 star rating. Cruising mid eight knots. Sea state is relatively calm so the ...
31/05/2026

Trying to earn another star to add to my 2 star rating. Cruising mid eight knots. Sea state is relatively calm so the ride isnt too lumpy. Its a good day!

Arrived Bitter End after nice sail back from Anegada. As soon as we get here the crew rents a Hoby - can't get enough o...
29/05/2026

Arrived Bitter End after nice sail back from Anegada. As soon as we get here the crew rents a Hoby - can't get enough of that sailing!

Heading back to the North Sound. Looks like my crew is ready to jump?
29/05/2026

Heading back to the North Sound. Looks like my crew is ready to jump?

Nice sail to Anegada today. We started out with full sail. But after a half hour decided hanging on for dear life was ...
28/05/2026

Nice sail to Anegada today. We started out with full sail. But after a half hour decided hanging on for dear life was getting tedious. So took a quick recess and put in one reef. That smoothed our ride out and turned pleasant. It was blowing around 17 knots true and our apparent was a bit over twenty. After reefing we still sailed up averaging mid seven knots.
Saw several cats sailing with full sail. Yikes! I guess that's ok when you rent them. Who in their right mind would own a charter boat?🤣

28/05/2026

Glad I didn't have to ride in the dinghy today!

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Ritter Marina, Wickhams Cay 2

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