SAILORS LOVE VIRGINS -- meaning the Virgin Islands, of course, both American and British. The Virgins are sailing bliss, a lush mix of modern amenities and 18th-century ambience. The Caribbean air is balmy, hurry is unknown, and the local motto could easily be "no problem."

But anybody eager to sail these emerald waters does have a problem -- expense. If you don't bring your own boat, the least fancy charter with crew starts at about $250 a day. Luxury cruises aboard various mega-sailboats that appear here from time to time also cost each passenger about the same.

Still, persistence pays. After a long search for something between plain and plush, I finally discovered the answer -- the Sir Francis Drake, a spanking white, three-masted schooner whose home port (for booking, anyway) is landlocked Aurora, Colorado. Named for the Elizabethan freebooter who plundered Spanish gold ships, Drake measures 165 feet from stem to stern, giving her maximum 34 passengers yachtlike space for as little as $115 a day, far less than big sailboats charge. And Drake is a delight: Launched 73 years ago, she still slices waves as youthfully as if sheĠd come down the ways yesterday.

Something about her said pack. And I did.

Calm Restored
It was fun to sit in Road Town, Tortola -- BVI's capital -- hearing wild stories about tall ships and short lives in mysterious places like Damned Point, Blunder Rock, Murder Bay, and Fallen Jerusalem. But for me the big joy was being under sail -- a sensation of gentle power moving effortlessly through welcoming water -- Drake leaning to the wind, putting her shoulder into the sea, silent except or the creak of rigging. It is totally unlike power cruising. Engines create force; sails exude harmony.

One example may explain: As we tacked between Leinster Bay and Water Melon Cay, one of Cunard's post mini-liners appeared. Passengers crowded her rails to watch our tall ship's stately parade, sails blinding white, spray flying in crystal showers from her bow. Frantically, they took picture after picture.

For true calm and perspective, nothing beats a week of sailing the Caribbean in a three-master with new friends in fine weather. I did it by call Tall Ship Adventures (tel: 800-662-0090). In a high-season, winter month, DrakeĠs daily rates range from $199 for the ship's one suite to $127 for comfortable cabins with upper and lower bunks (both per person, double occupancy). At either end, it's a bargain.

Evan Welles is a New York-based freelance writer and avid Caribbean sailor.