"All At Sea"

Has anybody picked up the latest issue of "All at Sea" magazine distributed  free all through the BVI's? Lots of coverage of the BVI's, Sailing reports, Racing, Cruising, Events etc. A great cover photo on the January issue - Mount Gay rum should get some mileage for advertising from the skipper helming the island sloop with one of their shirts on! Every cover shot is awesome.

I just went to the redesigned web site for "All at Sea" www.allatsea.net, very nicely done, easy to navigate, and very informative. The events calender is great, you can pick most water sports events at different island locations, and the links to the sponsors are right there.

I put an add in the classified section which came out this month and have had great response from it, and the add is free! Can't beat the quality of the magazine, coverage all over the Caribbean, and how well it is laid out. Looking forward to  next months issue.

"A Vuilliard Reference in the BVI"
By Susanne Yardley Mason

We at Escape-BVI.com are proud to announce the addition of our new "Artists and Arts of the British Virgin Islands" section to our web site! The BVI's are a melting pot of different artists, some born here, others bringing in their own style and culture from down island, many artists from all parts of the world, bringing their artistic talents to the British Virgin Islands. Probably one of the most beautiful places in the world to depict in their artwork, and the beauty of nature that surrounds the artists.

Many galleries and small art studios of local artwork are displayed, all through the British Virgin Islands. The islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, Beef Island, and Anegada all have artist’s renderings on display at different locations. Many restaurants, government offices, and markets, display the local artist's works on their walls depicting all the different artists and techniques of painting, pottery sculpting, palm frond weaving and much more. On Tortola David Thrasher's "Caribbean Landscapes Gallery" in West End, Lisa Muddiman Gray's "The Gallery" in Road Town and Aragons's Studio" on Beef Island just to name a few.

Every artist is so different from each other in their artwork, sometimes bringing out their own personalities in their work making them very unique. Some very stunning computer graphic artwork comes from Susanne Yardley Mason of West End, Tortola. Every year there are several art shows in the British Virgin Islands, and the BVI Tourist Board has a showing of local artwork from various artists in the BVI's on display at their London office, a gesture of pride in the people of the BVI's, keeping the heritage and culture of the British Virgin Islands alive around the world.

Sam T and Molly T

   A few weeks ago I attended an event / commemoration for a young boy who had been tragically killed here in Tortola, while on vacation, in an automobile accident about a year and a half ago. At the time of the accident, passers by came to the aid of the injured family of four. Among those that helped were members of Rotary Club of Tortola and the KATS program. A devastating blow to the family to lose their son, who was 11 years old and loved the sea and sailing. Apon returning back to the states, the family sent out thank you notes to all that helped during a very stressful time, not to mention the police, EMT's and doctors. Sam's sister, Molly, came up with a fund raising program after the family returned home to bury Sam, to raise money for the KAT'S program, to somehow show them the family's gratitude. Molly raised over $ 10, 000 so that the KATS program could buy two brand new Laser sailboats which they train on. The ceremony was both a celebration of Sam's short life, but also a heart felt thank you from the KATS sailing program.

Two boats were purchased with the funds, fully race rigged,with shore dollies. The KATS program held the event to Cristen the boats and unveiled the names painted on the hulls, "Sam T" and "Molly T". Truly a kind gesture on the part of the family who was here to vacation in the BVI's, who faced a tragedy in there lives, but still returned to the BVI's to thank the people of the BVI's once again.

This type of generosity is what keeps the program alive and thriving, teaching the kids a love of the sea as Sam had. Over the past 15 years, there have been many personal donations but this one from Sam's family will never be forgotten.

The KATS Kids

Kids And The Sea is a water sports program developed in 1987, on the Island of St. John, USVI. The program in the British Virgin Islands was started in 1990, mainly backed by the Rotary Club of Tortola. The KATS program has many types off classes offered to anyone that wants to participate. The program does have some parameters that must be met before a child can move on from one class to the next.

Number one is that the child must first take a swimming course, successfully pass, and then can move onto the rowing / boat handling course where knot tying is also taught. The next level is sailing courses, in which there are three levels. Level one is for the complete beginner who is given course books to read and is tested on, on the water sailing with either a volunteer instructor or a level two or three-student as their on board coach.

From there, a student moves to level two, which means that they are qualified to sail the boats on their own. They are taught to capsize the boat, re right the boat and continue on sailing, and having fun! The third level of students are kids that have started out in the program when they are eight years old and can continue on in the program until they reach their eighteenth birthday.

These are the very advanced kids that race our fleet of Lasers here in Tortola, and also compete all through the Caribbean. Another boat that the KATS program is very proud to own and race is the IC 24, which is a newly founded fleet of old J24's that have had major modifications made to the cockpit and down below bulkhead layouts. The company that does the conversions takes a J24 in nearly any condition and makes it into virtually a new yacht.

The grand finally of the KATS sailing season, which starts in January, is the coveted Chief Ministers Regatta, held here in the British Virgin Islands, and consists of up to ten teams from all over the Caribbean, for three days of really exciting sailboat racing. The regatta is also when all KATS sailors receive their certificates of achievement for the past year.

Enough cannot be said about the all volunteer instructors, The Rotary Club of Tortola and all of the donations, personal and corporate, that are made to the KATS program, to keep our kids safe on the water, have great fun and meet kids from other parts of the Caribbean for friendships that last a life time. Truly a program that keeps the community of the British Virgins Islands a shining star in the whole of the Caribbean.

Surfing Apple Bay

I've been surfing Tortola and the outer islands for past 15 years. So many really good days, intermingled with great swells, but with North winds which blows out most spots except Cane Garden Bay, which if you haven't been here before is a point / wrap around break, with generally an easy paddle out. Getting caught in the impact zone is less than fun though. From the inner harbour there is a low pier to jump from, then out to the line up. Depending on the swell direction, usually North, but if there's some West to it, it will section out, and pretty much split the point into 3-4 line up areas.

I've surfed the "bay" 8 to 10 feet sometimes barreling, for hundreds of yards. The inside can be radical at times, with the water sucking out from the line reefs close to the rock beach. I've seen guys eat it on the inside, not bailing out soon enough or just going for it, coming out of the water looking like minced meat.

The bay needs a good solid swell for it to go off, and the crowds, even these days are tollerable when it's happening.

I think it was '95 or '96 when we were hit by Hurricane's Luis and Mayilynn, with a week between them. I called a buddy of mine who was living in the hills of Cane Garden to see how he was hanging. The eye of the storm was just passing. He was on his cordless phone outside, screaming when he answered, I thought his roof might of blown off or something  really bad had happened. He could barely talk. He finally sputtered out the point! It was a perfect 20' plus, no one out of course, and he was all ready to load his sticks and go for it, until I reminded him that the party wasn't over yet as we still had the backside of the storm to deal with. He was pissed, but there's times when nature wins. He sat out side for a half hour calling out every set till It was time to hunker down for part 2 of the hurricane.

The problem with the storms that pass close to us, is that they don't generate swells for very long time, but we'll take what we can get.Most of the clean swells come off the U.S. during the winter when there's a nasty cold front coming off the east coast. During the summer if there is a Hurricane or large tropical depression, 2 to three hundreds of miles to the North of us we'll usually get a nice 3-6 foot swell out of them.

 I have another friend of mine , a transplant from California, that lived here for more than 23 years and has surfed the bay as big as 15' with 5 guys out, that swell lasted about 5 days. Anybody have photos of the bay going off? Stick em here, or stories about sessions anywhere else in the BVI's? How about Anegada, or the Sand Spit off Jost?

The best racing in the Caribbean takes place ay Nanny Cay in Tortola every Saturday afternoon whith the IC 24 one design racers. Boats can be leased through "racing in Paradise" or just show up at the fuel dock around four o'clock and there's always room for extra crew! Don't miss the action, come on down!