This was a really fun trip in early December 2006. This family of five needed to get to the Virgin Islands as quickly as possible. With three children (10, 12, and 14) we left Norfolk at night, after completing some last minute repairs. I knew we had to get to Bermuda as quickly as possible to beat a cold front that was heading for the East Coast. The Halberg Rassy 39 is an excellent cruising boat and we made it to Bermuda in 4 days averaging almost 7 knots in the 15-25 knot headwinds. I was glad we had planned to let the "kids" stretch their legs in Bermuda before leaving for St. Thomas. The people in Bermuda are very friendly and it is by far the cleanest island I have visited. We left Bermuda in light air and then met headwinds in the 15-25 knot range for 2-3 days. Finally the winds shifted around to a broad reach and increased to over 40 knots true. For the next 24 hours we saw rain and winds of 40-50 knots with stronger gusts and seas of 16-18'. I was very impressed with the way this boat handled these conditions. Then the sun came out and the trade winds settled in and we had a wonderful broad reach with 25 knot winds all the way to St. Thomas. This 860 mile leg took 6 days and provided a little bit of everything for an exciting offshore trip.