Sailing yachts for charter in Anegada arrive at one of the most distinctive destinations in the British Virgin Islands, a low-lying coral atoll where the approach through the horseshoe reef requires careful piloting and the reward at Setting Point is turquoise water, fresh lobster, and a quiet that larger charter fleets rarely find. The sailing fleet operating in Caribbean and Virgin Islands waters numbers around 19 yachts, ranging from performance sloops to ocean-capable ketch-rigged vessels built for blue-water passage-making. The trade winds that make the Virgin Islands a premier sailing ground blow steadily from the east across the Sir Francis Drake Channel, giving sailing yachts a natural advantage on the crossing from Tortola or Virgin Gorda to Anegada. The 30-nautical-mile passage is typically completed in four to five hours under sail, arriving with the wind behind and the reef visible as a line of breaking water to the north. Weekly rates for sailing yachts in the Virgin Islands charter fleet start from around 25,000 euros, with larger or more refined vessels reaching 100,000 euros per week. An advance provisioning allowance of approximately 30 percent covers food, fuel, berthing, and crew gratuity. The prime season runs from December through April, when trade winds are reliable and the weather settled. Sailing yachts tend to stay in the Caribbean longer into the shoulder season than motor vessels, making May and November increasingly viable months. Setting Point on Anegada south shore is the only anchorage suitable for charter yachts, and the approach through the reef is managed by local pilots who meet arriving yachts off the western tip of the island. Once anchored, the tender runs to Loblolly Bay on the north coast, where the snorkelling above the coral gardens is among the best in the BVI. Cow Wreck Beach at the western end of the island offers lunch in the shade with a rum punch, and the evening at anchor in the company of just a handful of other sailing yachts captures exactly what the BVI charter circuit was before the crowds arrived elsewhere.
