TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Alternatives to Cooper if North swell

Hi all - we are planning to spend the night moored at Cooper Island on April 3rd (assuming we get a boatyball or FCFS). If there is a North swell that day (which seems about 30% chance), what alternatives would you suggest? We already have plans for Trellis for the full moon party, and Norman/Peter for our first and last night's. Any other close-by backups that I should be considering that are OK in a north swell?

Thank you!

It’s a very rare north swell that impacts Cooper. In fact I have never seen it happen in 200 plus trips. It would have to be a monster swell out of the NNE. In April I would not even worry about it.
Great Harbor at Peter would be the best all weather anchorage nearby.

Your biggest issue at Cooper (outside of no available balls) will be back winding.

Actually, my experience with Cooper during a North swell has been incredibly bad, especially in a monohull. Impossible to sleep, difficult to stay in the berth.

I am just curious, did you have a North swell or a west wind. There is a big difference. A west wind is bad at Cooper.

We were down this past December during a BIG north swell (wind was also out of the North, like STRAIGHT North, the entire week). Anyway, we spent a night at Cooper during the peak of that Swell on a Catamaran. I would say that the south end of the mooring field would have been less than pleasant- rolly and wind-piled. However, the balls that are tucked in under the point on the north side of the field were not bad at all. The mooring field was pretty empty that night, but those northern moorings were ok. NOT GREAT. But ok. Again, on a Cat.

Just so everyone understands what happens in the BVI and other Caribbean islands regarding the swell. The North swell actually has nothing to do with wind. You can have a massive North Swell with dead calm winds. You will always have waves or what I call wind driven chop that form with the wind and move in the same direction. It’s usually short period waves which can make for an uncomfortable ride out on the water especially bashing into the wind. Swell on the other hand starts in the North Atlantic often off the NE US during nor’easters. That is why it’s predominantly a winter issue. Those storms create long period swells in the ocean that take a few days to move down to the BVI. This is why they can be accurately forecast. Out on the water they don’t cause any real issues. Just a gentle up and down motion on the boat and they are rounded and smooth unlike wind blown waves that are short and steep turn into whitecaps at about 15 knots.
Swells becomes an issue however when they reach shallow water. They carry large amounts of energy and when the hit shallows turn into breaking waves. This is why North facing anchorages can become nasty in a swell. The amount of water moving can also wrap around islands and impact anchorages not north facing if it’s a large swell. They can even reflect off one island back to another. You can see these effects in White Bay JVD in the winter. Sometimes in the winter you get my personal favorite. Christmas winds out of the east with a North swell. Now you can have 4 to 6 foot seas in 20 knots of wind crossing the swell at 90 degrees. Makes for a long week. Here are videos of North swell in CGB. Note there is no real wind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRXHUCc8t4o

https://www.facebook.com/BritishVirginIs/videos/2657169884335209/

Cooper has one of the prettiest sunset views in all the BVI. I love taking some personal gawk time on the beach between cocktails and dinner.

Cooper is also one of the most dangerously fickle mooring fields in the BVI, and giving more money to Boatyball for a reserved ball won't change that metric. When the water in Manchioneel Bay is moving with current and tide in one direction, the evening breeze coming through the saddle of Cooper Island is going to create havoc when it whistles down through the field at 90+ degrees to the boats set. Boats which have been sitting pretty to each other are going to take all kinds of ugly sets opposed to each other,. God help anyone moored if ANY boat (s) decided to spend a night on the hook. 3 AM on deck in BVD's or barely-there PJ's setting fenders round and round is just really no fun at all. It isn't all about being back-winded: you'd wish being back-winded was the only issue.

Considering that the night breezes in the BVI can be highly variable in both direction and velocity, especially when not driven by front or squall ??? Overnighting there is actually like cozying up to Freddy Krueger. You can come up smiling in the morning, but when you aren't smiling-it was a long dang night !

Yep, we have a love-hate relationship with Cooper. Since we're never at a loss for good food right from our boat galley, we've put Cooper on the short list of places OK to bypass. No one seems to complain when we stay at Anegada for a second night.

OH, where would we go that night instead of Cooper ? We'd try to get a look into Benarus Bay, Norman. We'd think about going out around Cistern Point, Cooper, to Haulover Bay. We'd be perfectly fine taking a ball at Marina Cay, or Key Bay, Peter.
Which brings up another tut-tut about BB--if you let that guaranteed reserved mooring ball decide for you when you'll quit for the day, you pretty much deserve being locked onto a ball when it's too late to change your mind.

I am curious how many nights you had like that in Cooper? In general I have not seen any real nights like you describe and I have been there many times with 2 or 3 boats per ball. The one time I saw it really ugly was when a thunderstorm popped up and generated a west wind at 30 knots. If the wind is light boats will move differently but if they bump it’s gentle. Backwinding can also move boats strangely and sometimes you get close but it seems to sort itself out. I have bumped another boat there exactly once. If it is a concern the northern balls have adequate spacing. Boaters can help by tying up with as short a leash as possible. Some leave way to much distance between the ball and boat. I do agree on the anchoring issue but I have not seen anyone anchor in the mooring field in a long time. If they do I let then know if there is any issue they will end up having to move their boat at 1 am!

We gave up on Cooper early season last year. Aside from the sunset it really isn’t anything special - we have had better meals at many other establishments. Backwinding and the issues Breeze describes above. We were out on deck at 3 am last January putting out fenders (with a short leash) as there were monster boats nearby swinging ridiculously close to us. The move to more and more cats in the 50-58 foot range makes many of these fields, especially Cooper, far less than optimal. At least for us. I see a Voyage coming in and cringe if there is an open ball near me. We are choosing locations where we can be on the hook and away from the craziness.