2025 BVI Sailing Trip

 This is the index page for the 2025 BVI Sailing trip that I organized. Joining my family this time was Arturo and Massi Crespo, Mark and Kathryn Brody, Ying, her husband Stone, and their son Mingkuan. The trip happened over Thanksgiving break, and included 4 dives, lots of snorkeling, and many of the highlights that we had done on previous trips. Set against that were changes in the BVIs that were for the worse --- a new mooring ball reservation system that was a money grab and made mooring at Cooper Island and Marina Cay very iffy propositions, and over-crowding that made the mooring balls at the Baths a highly contentious affair.

This was Boen's first trip to the BVIs since he learned how to swim. This is the index page for the day by day trip report, videos, and picture links.

• Shared Photo Album
• Bubbly Pool at Jost Van Dyke
• Wreck of the Rhone
• Diamond Reef

Trip Log

• Nov 21-22: Prologue
• Nov 23: Nanny Cay Marina, Tortola to Kelly's Cove, Norman Island
• Nov 24: Kelly's Cove, Norman Island to Deadman's Bay, Peter Island
• Nov 25: Deadman's Bay, Peter Island to Marina Cay
• Nov 26: Marina Cay to Long Bay, Jost Van Dyke
• Nov 27: Long Bay, Jost Van Dyke to White Bay, Peter Island
• Nov 28: White Bay, Peter Island to Privateer Bay, Norman Island
• Nov 29: Privateer Bay, Norman Island
• Nov 30: Privateer Bay, Norman Island to Nanny Cay Marina, Tortola
• Dec 1: Epilogue
• 
  

Building Xiaoiqin's Ritchey Montebello

 Last year, we purchased a Lynskey GR300 for Xiaoqin. But she never really liked the bike that much though she appreciated the SRAM Force electronic shifting, which was quiet, fast, and consistent. There were probably many reasons for this -- the frame was probably too overbuilt and stiff for someone in her weight class. The bike was about 4 pounds heavier than her Ritchey Road Logic (which at this point has nearly 8000 miles on it!), the fitting never quite got there. Furthermore, the SRAM Force gearing bottomed out at 30/36, which is still a higher gear than what her Road Logic had --- that along with the bigger tires meant that the highest gear was much too high and the lowest gear wasn't as low as what was on her Ritchey logic. I've long been convinced that manufacturers design road bike gearing for fit 25 year olds with good knees and SRAM while much better than Shimano in this regards is still inadequate.

So we sold it. We had several ideas for a replacement, since having wider tires would enable her to do rides that her Road Logic (with its 32mm max tire clearance) don't quite have sufficient clearance for. These were the Fairlight Strael, the Ritchey Montebello, or the David Kirk Onesto. The Montebello won because it was most available (the other frames had at least a 6 month wait). The Trump tariffs also made the Fairlight much more expensive than it otherwise would have been.

Taking advantage of some black friday sales, I bought a bunch of parts and had Velotech in Palo Alto put the bike together:

• Ritchey Comp Zeta Disc Wheels
• Shimano Duraace BB paired with 160mm Shimano 105 Cranks
• Wolftooth 38t narrow wide chainring
• SRAM Force Mullet Groupset (Force brake levers and brakes, X01 Eagle Rear Derailleur, XX1 Rainbow Cassette 10-52, SRAM Eagle XX1 chain)
• Thompson Elite Seat post
• Ritchey WCS Skyline handlebars
• Ritchey RL-1 84 Stem
• Specialized Power Arc Pro Elaston saddle
• SRAM Force 140mm brake rotors
• Rene Herse Barlow Pass tires 700x38

I used the Stem Reach Calculator to compute the correct stem length to bring the reach and stack as close to her Ritchey Road Logic as possible, but didn't realize that Wade had shortened her stem on the Ritchey logic on a previous visit. It turned out that the Montebello's stack height was tall enough, however, that she wanted the extra reach, and we ended up not having to leave as much of the stem stick out as we thought we would need.

I tried to stick to as many Ritchey parts as possible on this build, save for the stuff that I knew worked well or were similar to her Road Logic. In particular, I had noted that the Lynskey's SRAM Force BB and Crankset were painful to extract compared to the Shimano cranksets I was used to, so stuck with the Shimano. The 12 speed gearing also allowed me to use a slightly smaller chainring (38t) to grant both a lower low gear and a higher high gear than her Ritchey Road Logic. I also decided to go for 140mm brake rotors for more weight reduction, saving weight not only by using smaller rotors, but also by eliminating the need for the adapter required to match the rear brake with 160mm rotors.

I considered the Shimano Di2 wireless system --- now that they have a wireless rear derailleur that can handle a 10-51 cassette they were actually worth considering. But I ruled Shimano out because the microspline standard makes it hard to get standard road wheels (once again, Shimano makes life hard for people who like low gears on road bikes), and the Ultegra level road brifters on Shimano components comes not with carbon fiber blades but with metal blades. Over the years, I've discovered that carbon brake levers act as insulators instead of conductors and are key to being able to use short finger gloves (or no gloves) while riding in cooler conditions. I do not believe I can recommend modern Shimano components to anyone who's not racing. I've been watching fellow tourists all switch one by one to SRAM setups, and I think Shimano has seriously screwed themselves by deliberately segregating their road and MTB gearing systems.

The net result was that the Ritchey Montebello came in only 1kg heavier than her Road Logic, no mean feat given that disc brakes, wireless electronic shifting, and hydraulics all contribute significant weight to a bike, not to mention the heavier frame, which came in at a hair over 2kg, which was disappointing as her Road Logic came in at 1600g, which was 150g lighter than specified.

What impressed me the most about Velotech was the master mechanic, Tom (who's the only mechanic in the shop) assembled the first bike with disc brakes I've seen that doesn't squeal, no matter how sharply I braked on my test ride.

Xiaoqin reports that the bike felt very smooth and comfortable, but the true test of any bike is whether you ride it a lot, so we'll have to see what the long term outlook likes like.

BVI 2025: Nov 22 Prologue

 We boarded the red eye on November 21st, switching planes in Chicago at 6:00am and making it to STT airport at 2:00pm, too late to make the 2:30pm ferry, but within striking distance of the 4:30pm ferry. Once of the plane we walked rapidly through the airport since we didn't need luggage, and got a taxi that delivered us to the ferry terminal within half an hour.

At the ferry terminal, we discovered that ferry ticket prices had gone up dramatically since our last visit to the BVIs --- for a family of 4 it now cost over $300, and bag fees were mandatory. There was also a new electronic entry system for the BVI, so rather than filling out a paper form I had to use my phone. We met with our neighbors who were coming along on the trip, Ying, Stone, and their son Mingkuan. Arturo, Mark, Kathryn, and Massi had made it onto the 2:00pm ferry, so they would get to the boat first and start provisioning.

On the ferry, we received word that we needed to be first in line to get off the ferry, as the electronic system had made things slower instead of faster. Our boat, the La Badine (a 45' Lagoon Catamaran) was not ready yet, so Mark and Kathryn had to watch the luggage while Arturo went to provision the boat. The ferry ride was slow, but uneventful other than the constant exhortations to sit down instead o moving around and taking pictures, a far cry from past visits where we could do whatever we liked. Arriving at Road town at 5:15pm, we were not let off until at least 5:30pm, and despite being 4th in line to get to the customs and passport controls, it took 30 minutes to exit!

We got to the boat just in time for them to let Mark and Kathryn in, and we moved into the boat, learned where the showers were, and then Arturo and Massi showed up with the provisions! That took us a good 30 minutes to organize, but then after that we went to the Peg Legs restaurant for a group dinner. As is usual in the BVIs it takes a super long time for the food to be served but eventually it was served, we had dinner, did our shower things, and went to bed. We were told that the boat next to ours, the Lili was being worked on (Mark would later tell us that they'd taken the steering rod out and straightened it out by having multiple men stand on it!) and we'd be awakened early anyway even if we slept badly.

Arturo discovered that the generator was running despite us being at dock. Since it made it impossible for those in the V-berths to sleep, we turned it off. We wondered why the generators were on even though the shore power cable was plugged in, and concluded that the power delivery at the docks must have been so weak that running the ACs (which was necessary during the day for the comfort of the cleaning and repair crew) would blow the fuses dockside. This is the kind of thing you encounter frequently if you charter in the Caribbean but would mystify a first time charter client.

2026 Book Reviews

 Non-Fiction

• Science Under Seige
• Cosmos

Fiction

• Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Graphic Novels

• Batman by Grant Morrison

Re-read: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Mainteneance

 One of the perils of reading books to your kids in an effort to mold their tastes is that while they might not take to the reading, you're going to get sucked in and re-read the book. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was something I started reading to Boen in an effort to get him to stop reading easier books. I got him a couple of chapters into it and to my surprise it was surprisingly easy reading --- the thing about having done many bicycle tours by this point in his life, the touring aspects of the book were completely comprehensible and enjoyable for Boen.

I enjoyed the book on this reading, even getting into the section on the various philosophers that I'd always tried to zip through as fast as I could. What's interesting for me on this reading was the considerable emphasis on academic life. At no point do we get any motivation from Pirsig's narrator as to why he spent all that time teaching. It's quite clear that after his nervous breakdown he was capable of holding on to other jobs like technical writing.

Another aspect of the book that comes to mind was how uninterested Pirsig's narrator was in systemic answers. At the time of publication the United States was comparatively wealthy compared to the rest of the world, and hence the narrator had the luxury of assuming that physical well being could be taken for granted. In the current political environment that's not quite possible, and the book provides no solutions and even seems to try to move away from seeking such solutions.

To the extent that craftsmanship has become devalued in modern society in favor of an ever bigger emphasis on the use of AI to achieve goals with minimum effort, it's quite clear that the book failed to influence society in a better direction. I suppose it's too much to expect a book, any book to influence society to any such extent. One can only fantasize about a society that takes the tenets described by the book to a greater extent.

Review: Cosmos

 Boen was resisting learning math, so I bought him Cosmos, A Spacetime Odyssey and we started watching it together. Bowen got really into it, and I bought him Cosmos: Possible Worlds as well, and all that reminded me that I owned the original Carl Sagan book and then I read that as well.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that my interest in science and decision to become a scientist was driven by the original TV series. I will say that there's an elegance and sense of wonder conveyed by the Cosmos TV shows that I do not find in other documentaries. Xiaoqin's been watching various PBS series, and nobody comes close to Carl Sagan or Neil Degrasse Tyson as hosts. Their enthusiasm for science comes right through.

Not only is Cosmos a science documentary, it's also a history of science documentary. I love the episode about Clair Paterson fighting the oil/gas industry to make leaded gasoline a thing of the past. The obvious parallels to the failed climate change accords is stark. It's also how prescient Carl Sagan was about the need to popularize science in this parable about the library of Alexandria:

The permanence of the stars was questioned; the justice of slavery was not. Science and learning in general were the preserve of a privileged few. The vast population of the city had not the vaguest notion of the great discoveries taking place within the Library. New findings were not explained or popularized. The research benefited them little. Discoveries in mechanics and steam technology were applied mainly to the perfection of weapons, the encouragement of superstition, the amusement of kings. The scientists never grasped the potential of machines to free people.* The great intellectual achievements of antiquity had few immediate practical applications. Science never captured the imagination of the multitude. There was no counterbalance to stagnation, to pessimism, to the most abject surrenders to mysticism. When, at long last, the mob came to burn the Library down, there was nobody to stop them. (kindle loc 5565)

 Obviously, I'm very happy to see my kids being exposed to the influences I was when growing up. I'm really sad that the US is trending to become an anti-science society as warned by Carl Sagan. But as long as we can find scientists who're willing to stand up and explain to the general population why this stuff is relevant I can hold out hope that as the consequences of ignoring science become more and more obvious we can have a return to sanity. One thing that the scientific community has completely fallen down on is its failure to reward and award prestige to the people doing the important work.

For the newer TV shows, I found Possible Worlds to be less interesting --- it has quite a bit more speculative stuff, and I didn't feel like it was as strong about science history. Nevertheless both kids watched both shows and it was a good use of my Google video credits. Recommended!

Review: Science Under Seige

 Science Under Siege is the account of the authors' experience working as researchers in both climate science and vaccines, both of whom have suffered death threats (both authors have needed police protection at their houses), widespread industry attempts to discredit them and attempts to intimidate them (not to mention online smear campaigns and publicity aimed at causing them to lose their jobs).

As you can imagine, this is a depressing book to read, and it took me many days and multiple pauses because it was distressing. The book points out that there are several actors that have to get rid of the professional science/educated class in order to achieve their goals (which are largely to retain their wealth):

• plutocrats (rich people)
• petro-states (Russia, the Arabic states, and obviously oil producing states such as Texas, Alberta)
• propagandists (who make their money off being paid by the above as well as by hawking alternative medicines)

It's very interesting to me that after hearing Carl Sagan and Neil Degrasse Tyson continually dispasraged by science snobs, these are the first two bona-fide scientists who referred to Carl Sagan as "great." I agree with them. In a world where the public has little to no science education in school (even in Singapore, the science education was abysmal), TV shows like Cosmos was what got me into science and enthusiastic about science. Science communications and education is essential or the electorate will lose their support for science, given how much more powerful these other agents of society are.

The details in the book are pretty telling, where the one of the authors were accused of making money off selling vaccines even though their vaccines were given away for free for no commercial return. And obviously climate denial has been a thing for ages. The authors do point out that despair is not an appropriate reaction --- that's what the opponents want you to do --- is to give up and do nothing. They also point out that mainstream newspapers like the New York Times have in recent years gone from caring more about accuracy and correctness to only caring about "balance." As a result, the lab leak theory (which apparently does not have much support from real scientists) for COVID19 was given more credence than it should have been.

The end of the book has the authors showing off their geek creds by analogizing their battle against misinformation and anti-science with the plot of The Lord of the Rings --- except in this case they're not expecting the white wizard to come in and save them.

On reflection, ultimately the reason science will eventually win is that nature doesn't care whether you believe in scientific theories. The consequences of ignoring climate science is already being felt today, and the consequences of not getting vaccinated are going to be pretty severe as well. The American public that has bought into anti-vaccine and anti-climate propaganda are going to be in for a very painful few decades.

You should read this book. It's not going to be fun reading but it's essential.