Rainy Days in St. Croix
Saturday, November 5th, 2016
After a 16-hour flight, we finally made it to St. Croix on Wednesday to pick up Trilogy’s new 65’ Catamaran and deliver it back to Maui. It was raining so hard that the pilot had to make two passes at the runway. On the first pass he said he would give it another shot but if we didn’t have any luck we would be headed to San Juan Puerto Rico. Luckily we made it on our final pass.
Between the six of us, we had about 14 bags. Though I had rented a crew cab F-150, I had not expected it to be raining, so I pulled out our sail cover and used it as a tarp to cover all of our bags. To help with the provisioning and staging, I rented a house in Judith’s Fancy just up from Salt River where our boat is docked. The house is so nice that the crew joked they are not very motivated to leave.
Before I go any further, I had better introduce the team. First off we have the Trilogy Crew: Captain Seth, Captain Carrie, and Captain Kama. Captain Seth made his first delivery for Trilogy when he was 12 years old on Trilogy VI from Washington to Hawaii. He arrived in St. Croix with a full Captain’s beard but decided to shave his head and face to see how much he could grow it out during the trip. Captain Carrie has been working for Trilogy for over 10 years. She plans on only doing the St. Croix to Panama leg, but is now considering staying until Cabo. She is really enjoying the break from Capt. Kevin’s jokes and memorizing guests names. Captain Kama is the “young salt” in the group. Born and raised on Lana'i, Kama has only left Hawaii once on a trip to Vegas, until now. He almost lost a hand last night when the crew held his legs and dangled him over the water to try to catch a 4’ Tarpon with his bare hands. I don’t think he realized they could attack.
To round out the delivery Crew, we also have two seasoned veterans, Captain Gary Hoover and Captain Jim Whipple. Most of the Trilogy crew know Capt. Gary as the rigger from all the dry docks on Kona, but he is also a seasoned delivery Captain delivering vessels all around the Pacific. Captain Jim hails from Boston and I think the first thing he said when he met the team was how much of a crush he has on Tom Brady (maybe he didn’t say that but it was something along those lines). Capt. Jim has been delivering vessels for the past 18 years, and just did a delivery on the East Coast in snow, so I think he is enjoying thawing out in the Caribbean.
I round out the Crew of six but don’t plan to join the Crew on the trip, I’m just here to pay the bills and make sure they have everything they need.
We are extremely happy with the new boat. The joke is that the boat looks like it’s going to Miami and not to Maui. The aft tables can convert into day beds, there are LED backlit letters on the aft wall, a pull out shade canopy on the aft deck, a 4’ stainless propane grill, courtesy lights throughout, a urinal in the men’s head and much more.
Over the last few days, we’ve been provisioning at Kmart, stocking up on tools and spare parts at Home Depot, building bunks in the main cabin, setting up our electronics, tuning the rig, checking weather reports and trying to stay dry. There is obviously a lot of planning that goes into a 6-week delivery to Maui. This is different from cruising because we are essentially racing to Maui, no stopping for surf and happy hours. Although I’m sure the boys will find something to break on their way into Cabo.
Our goal is to depart on Wednesday and actually head north to St. Thomas. This gives the crew a chance to give the boat a shakedown and if there is anything wrong they can cruise back to Christiansted and have the Gold Coast Team have a look. When we set up our spot tracker, we will keep everyone posted on our location. Wish the crew luck!
By Director of Operations, Captain Gabe