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Your Boat is Sinking – VISAR Search and Rescue to the Rescue

Tammy_Kramer
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Your Boat is Sinking – VISAR Search and Rescue to the Rescue
VISAR volunteers in action. Photo courtesy of VISAR
VISAR volunteers in action. Photo courtesy of VISAR

In July of this year, a Mayday was radioed from a catamaran 11 miles off the coast of Anegada. The boat was sinking, and the nine people on board needed help. Virgin Islands Search and Rescue (VISAR), with the assistance of a couple of other boats, got the passengers to dry land and then coordinated medical and crisis care for them. That’s just one example of what VISAR is called to do every week.

“The majority of the calls we go to these days are medically oriented, such as a heart attack, a jelly fish sting, or an accident where someone has sustained an injury,” says VISAR President, Phil Aspinall. “Fortunately, we get very few tragic accidents.”

When the pagers go off, VISAR volunteers are ready, knowing that the types of accidents will be as varied as the people who occupy the boats. Although they don’t get paid for their time and expertise, they are relied upon for their crucial role in keeping the waters safe around the BVI and the USVI. It can be a balancing act for the volunteers.

“We all have regular jobs. When someone is in danger we drop what we’re doing, go out on a call, and then get back to our lives.”

In 1988, the year VISAR was founded, volunteers went out on six calls. Over the years, the numbers have increased steadily, as has the volunteer staff. Now 50 people are on a rotating roster to respond to the two or three calls that come in each week. Nothing short of a hurricane will keep them from helping people. Efforts are often coordinated with the US Coast Guard, Royal BVI Police, the BVI Customs, the Crisis Intervention Team, BVI Medical Authorities, or even nearby boats.

One of the biggest things that sets VISAR apart from the other organizations listed is funding.

“Most people think that we are government funded. They are surprised to learn that we are a charitable organization and are totally funded from donations and fund raising events. We rely largely on the good will of people who sometimes contribute as a method of saying thanks.”

VISAR’s annual operating costs run about $100,000 a year. One of the largest income boosters comes from the ‘Dollar per Person’ campaign. Virtually all charter companies have agreed to contribute a dollar to the program for each of their guests. Aspinall says this method would fund VISAR completely if every chartering visitor to the BVI made a contribution, but revenue collected reflects the donations of only about a third of all guests.

Currently, VISAR is in the middle of a capital campaign to raise a million dollars over the next several years. “We have to raise that by banging on doors,” says Aspinall.

Part of the money will be used to add another boat to the two vessels already in operation. But a new, well-equipped boat alone will cost about $300,000 — three times the annual operating budget of the charity.

“It’s funny, but the focus of our volunteers is not fund raising, they would gladly put themselves in danger to help someone else but find it difficult to ask people for money,” says Aspinall. “Most of our volunteers just want to get out there and help people.”

To find out more about VISAR, log onto their website at www.visar.org

 

A Route du Rhum Tale

Nick_Marshall
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This month is a crucial one for French sailor Jean Allaire. In the coming weeks, the St Martin-based sail maker will find out if his bid to compete in the 2006 Route du Rhum will go ahead or not.

Since May 2003, Allaire has been trying to gather backers and whip up support for a St Martin entry into the famous Transatlantic race from St Malo to Pointe a Pitre, held every four years. Should he succeed, Allaire’s would by no means be the first Caribbean entry – Guadeloupe’s Claude Thelier and Claude Bistoquet have both competed in previous years, but it would certainly be the most ambitious.

First, Allaire needs to secure the use of 60ft Rexona Men for the race, the top-end Trimaran that won the race in 1994 and 1998 as Laurent Bourgnon’sPrimagaz. The boat is currently in the North Sea and is being held for Allaire until this month. To buy her will cost 740,000 Euros, no small feat in itself. Even more surprising is the fact that Allaire, who will rename the boat Ile de Saint Martin, will be 60 years old in 2006.

“In all honesty, I’d have preferred to do it at 30 years old, but the way life turned out I either didn’t have the money or the desire to do it then,” Allaire told All At Sea, from his sail loft, Delta Voiles, that he runs in Saint Martin.

Allaire’s project has been met with considerable skepticism. “There are a lot of people who think I won’t get the money together,” he admits. But settling for a smaller, cheaper boat is not an option. “You have to recognize that the cameras only follow the big boats. When you see the reports, you only see the 60 footers,” he says. The 2006 race will be the 25th anniversary edition, meaning that, “it’s a good thing for the island to participate with lots of parties, lots of spectators, and lots of journalists.”

Using Rexona Men, the only 60ft tri capable of entering the lagoon, as a promotional tool, the plan is to bring the boat to St Maarten in time for December’s Charter Exhibition. This is to be followed by a few months with her on display, then race her in the 25th St Maarten Heineken Regatta in May, where Allaire’s priority is to bring the Round the Island record (currently held by Playstation) home.

He points to the progress the Dutch Side has made in turning sailing into a source of revenue for the island, and thinks it’s time for the French side to catch up. “We’re never going to have a car factory come here and employ 10,000 people, so we need to get round a project that can motivate people to turn their minds to the sea,” he comments. “Everything we’re doing here needs to come back to the marine industry in general.”

The Association Ile de St Martin aims to raise the money through loans, sponsorship and also selling products such as specially branded wine. The search for funds, he says, represents about 90 per cent of the whole project. The 15-day slog across the Atlantic will almost be the easy part, for a man who recently won the Multihull division of the Course de l’Alliance and once managed the world’s largest trimaran, 85’ Axial.

Despite the critics, there is still some high-profile support. “When I called [2002 Route du Rhum winner] Michel Desjoyeaux, who I’ve known since he was little, to tell him I was taking part, he said, “I knew it. I knew you would.”’

Most touching of all for Allaire was, “an old man, 91 years old, who’d done a lot of sailing on the traditional boats, who said to me, “I want to see this boat before I die. I’ll wait to get on it and after that…” He’s waiting for that. That moved me a lot.”

The Cost of Crossing the Atlantic with the Route du Rhum

Caribbean News – Johnson Bay is NOT a Designated Moorings Area

Nick_Marshall
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Time to move on in St John

Johnson Bay is not a designated moorings area. This recent announcement by the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources comes as news to many local boaters who have been mooring there for over ten years. Some 40 boats were recently tagged by DPNR officers and ordered to relocate to any of the island’s designated mooring areas. These are Chocolate Hole, Great Cruz Bay, neighbouring Coral Harbor, and Cruz Bay.

The counter argument from many of those anchored in Johnson Bay is that the DPNR has failed to come up with guidelines for mooring in territory waters – something the authority is obliged to do by a 1992 law. In addition, mooring permits have up until now been granted by the DPNR, even though the Bay is not listed as a designated area.

According to one local resident, “They [the boats] will stay. The boats have invested in moorings and the people are permanent, voting, year-round residents here. The government is not reading its own carefully drafted laws correctly.”

Tragic Collision – man charged

BVI – the operator of a powerboat that hit a dinghy and killed two of its teenage occupants in early August is to be charged with manslaughter. The 36-year-old Dutch skipper of a 22ft Boston Whaler, who was vacationing in Eustatius Island, hit and overturned a dinghy carrying four people just before midnight in the Saba Rock area. Despite rescue attempts by VISAR and a US Coastguard helicopter, Luke Noble, 14 of the UK and Dennis Harty, 19, of the US drowned as a result of the accident. Police believe that the two boys, whose bodies were later recovered by divers, were knocked unconscious by the collision.

SCYE on the web

The inaugural St Maarten Charter Yacht Exhibition is only three months away (Dec 7 to 11), but visitors can register of prepare for the event thanks to a smart website www.mybacaribbeanshow.com

Bitter End launches sailing festival

Bitter End Yacht Club has announced the programme for the popular Fall Sailing Festival, beginning this month on the 23rd. The 10-week festival gives a chance for guests to meet and learn from world-class sailors in one of the Caribbean’s top locations.

Events on the schedule include the JJ Isler’s Women on the Water Week (Oct 23-30), with instruction from JJ Isler, Pam Wall, Martha Parker and Joan Gilmore. The same week sees the Caribbean Hobie Wave Race Week.

The prestigious 18th annual Pro-Am Regatta will run from October 30 to November 6, where junior racers and world-famous skippers will battle it out on the club’s Hunter 216s and Freedom 30s. Skippers expected to attend include Russell Coutts, Peter Holmberg and Lowell North. For more information, go to www.beyc.com

Pitts looks solid in Athens

US Virgin Islander Tim Pitts gave a series of steadily improving performances in the Olympic Games. Although the 22-year-old from St Croix placed 41st out of 42 in the Laser Class, he finished as high as 34th on two occasions towards the end of the 11-race event. Brazil’s Robert Scheidt took the Gold Medal, but competition was intense throughout the class with no one person dominating.

Pitts, who confessed to being ‘locked up’ during the first few races, put aside the pressure of competing in the Olympics with some great starts in later races, hitting the first mark in the top 15 on some occasions.

The Crucian sailor now intends to study videotapes of every race, work on his start, and come back with greater ambition in time for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

New service for cruisers

Adding a little extra spice to the new season in St Maarten is the Amalgamated Yacht Services, situated in the Village Portofino on Simpson Bay Lagoon. Run by South African Mike Glatz and Sally-Anne Sear, the new development will offer a cruiser’s laundry, ‘Shrimpy’s’ Tapas Bar, Mike’s Hull cleaning service and a dinghy valet service, where you can have any vessel up to 15,000lbs cleaned in around 20 minutes. Also on offer will be a regular ‘Yotgrot’ marine mart, where cruisers can exchange anything from a Genoa to a Seacock. For more info call 523 9868 or email amalgamated_yachting@yahoo.com

The Horror of Designated Anchorages

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Caribbean Laser Team Racing Championship

The Antigua Yacht Club has good news and bad news. The Ladies Laser Open, scheduled for October 15, has been cancelled. But the 16th Caribbean Laser Team Racing Championships will take place over the weekend of October 16 & 17.

Competition will be limited to 12 teams and will take place around Falmouth Harbour in standard Lasers belonging to the AYC.

For more information contact Antigua Yacht Club on yachtclub@candw.ag or call (268) 460 1799.

Triskell Cup

The 4th Triskell Cup will take place over November 13 and 14. So far, 56 entries have been received from Guadeloupe, Antigua and Martinique. Racing is divided into Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker and Multihull and will take place off Gosier. Last year, class honours went to Bernie Wong’s Huey Too, Hans Lammers’ Trouble, Sylvain Homo’s EIB Marina Bas du Fort and Philippe Pollet’s Passager du Vent.

Email organisation@triskellcup.com

Southern Caribbean Invitational Regatta

The Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association (TTSA) will be holding the Southern Caribbean Invitational Regatta in Chaguaramas from December 27 to 30. Racing will take place in Optimist, Laser Standard, MR15 and SR Max categories. Registration is now open, with fees ranging from $100 for the Dinghies to $240 for the 3-man SR Max.

Contact TTSA, on (868) 634 1216 or email youthsailing@tstt.net.tt

Women’s Keelboat Championship

The Budget Nautique Women’s Caribbean One Design Keelboat Championships will be taking place in St Maarten over the weekend of November 6 & 7. Organised by the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, the event will be sailed in identical Jeanneau Sun Fast 20 boats.

The event is open to fourteen teams of 3 or 4 competitors, with 4 teams to come from St Maarten. The entry fee will be $200 per team with confirmation of overseas entries to be in by October 17.

Last year, local stars Random Winds, skippered by Stans Goedhart edged out Debbie Schreiber’s St Croix team to take the honours.

For more info, contact Cary on director@bigboatseries.com or call (599) 543 6469.

J Boats Introduces a new 65 Footer

J Boats has introduced a fast, new J/65 racing/cruising sloop. The latest flagship is hoping to be the ultimate sailing yacht for J followers. Some 11,000 sailors already own a J Boat.

The J/65 is sloop-rigged, with a large, protected cockpit. The sailplan can accommodate a cruising set-up or powered-up, push-button performance program with overlapping headsails and asymmetric spinnakers.

To take an in-depth look, visit www.jboats.com or contact Jeff Johnstone on jeffj@jboats.com

New build for sleeker racing

The Wylie Wildcat 43 is a new high performance offshore race boat from Tom Wylie and Schooner Creek Boat works, the team that produced 70’ Trans Pac Rage, 77’ Jelik and Open 60 Ocean Planet (5th in the last Around Alone).

The design includes an unstayed carbon fiber mast, resin-infused carbon fiber-foam laminate hull and 10ft draft, 4,800lbs keel. The $275,000 Wylie 43 comes equipped with 2-cylinder Yanmar Sail-drive diesel, Harken Deck Gear and full batten Doyle Main sail. For more information, visit www.schoonercreek.com

INTERNATIONAL

One out of two for Orange II

Bruno Peyron’s Orange II has beaten the world 24-hour sailing record. The maxi-Catamaran covered 703 miles in 24 hours, averaging 29.29 knots, beating the record (694 miles) set in 2002 by Brian Thompson on Maiden II.

But days later, Peyron just missed out on the Atlantic Crossing record, set at 4 days, 17 hours, 28 mins by Steve Fossett on PlayStation in 2001. Orange II reached the Lizard 31 minutes past the deadline. Peyron and his 10-man crew had paid the price of having to sail extra miles as a result of wind direction, but the overall performance puts and end to months of frustration for the French sailing legend.

Yacht Grounded

A skipper who called the rescue services out twice in three days has been told to stay put until his boat is seaworthy. 67-year-old Mike Thompson, sailing out of Fife, Scotland, first called the lifeboat to rescue him after his engines failed. Days later, he requested help again when the rudder aboard 23ft Lady Marion fell off.

The bungling Captain left Dalgety Bay Sailing Club in thick fog, navigating without instruments. But when his engine packed in and the outboard fell off, he radioed local rescue services with his co-ordinates – which were six miles off!

Days later, the rudder of Lady Marion fell off with the vessel in a busy shipping lane. Despite a calamitous few days, Thompson is an experienced sailor with a history of racing yachts for Great Britain.

Mutiny on Argo

A Captain’s disturbing behaviour forced his crew to take drastic action, off the coast of Spain in early August. When the skipper of 36ft Argo, Spike Sellers, threatened to sink his vessel, fellow crew members Ivan Holroyd and girlfriend Rachel Rosen, overpowered the Captain, tied him up, and launched an SOS.

The incident happened 90 miles off the coast of Northern Spain. Rescue services brought the boat to the nearest port, where a local judge has ruled that Captain Sellers must pay a 4,000 Euro deposit to have his boat released. One local official described it as the strangest incident he had yet to witness in the port.

Tosca III tycoon killed in helicopter crash

Just over a year ago, millionaire Christopher Matthews, 54, placed an advert looking for a jet-setting aide who needed to be “a highly intelligent workaholic with a skin like a rhinoceros” and warned “If you are married, get divorced now because you will never see your partner again.” Matthews, who made his fortune with an online dating business, had lived for the last four years on board 115ft, $9 million Tosca III, dividing his time between the Med and the Caribbean.

Sadly, Matthews and 28-year-old Jim Beauregard, the man who was eventually recruited to the $180,000 a year position, were both killed in a helicopter crash in Wisconsin, US in August.

Go Boldly. Go Power.

Stuck on You – What Happens When you Can’t Sell Your Boat

Nick_Marshall
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Remember the excitement of spending the first night as a liveaboard? The water lapping at the hull, stars visible through the hatch and the prospect of a lifetime of freedom, mobility and variety. This is not one of those stories.

Imagine instead returning reluctantly each evening to a boat that you no longer want.

A change of circumstances means you need to cash in some of your investments, sell your boat which has been your home of the last few years and get back at least some of what you paid for it. But there’s a problem. The hull leaks, the air is dank and the engine temperamental, but to haul out and repair all the quirks you’ve been putting up with for years would now cost thousands. But without making those repairs, you literally can’t give your boat away.

Thankfully, the boat market is sufficiently healthy that this kind of scenario is rare.

According to Lindy Schweickert of St Thomas Yacht Sales, “We think there is a buyer somewhere out there for every boat, no matter how strange or unique”. However, much of the trading takes place at the top end of the market with the 45 to 55 footers, so what of the more battered boats in the under $25,000 bracket?

You would think these cheaper boats would sell themselves. Not so. Boats in this price range are typically around 30′ and old. Although brokers will take them on to their lists, the profit margin is so low that few tend to be sold this way. “A lot of boats in that price range tend to be sold by their owners,” confirms Schweickert. Which means more legwork on the seller’s part.

Dirk (name changed) is one such liveaboard who can attest to three years of legwork, trying to sell his 43′ trimaran.

“I bought the boat in 1992. I had an arrangement with the owner so I didn’t have to make any downpayment and I paid it off over the years. I was looking for a cheaper place to live, so in a way I’ve made the money back over the years in rent. In total, I paid $20,000.” So far, so good. While not suited to longer passage making, the 1970s, French-built trimaran was nevertheless what many cruisers are looking for – rent free, relatively comfortable and adaptable. Yet there were soon problems.

“I didn’t have money to work on the boat,” says Dirk, “but did what I could do to maintain it.” Eventually, he was able to rebuild the interior, purchase sails and enlarge the cockpit. Fine for a bolthole, but when the opportunity came to start his own business, a boat wasn’t what Dirk wanted. “I can’t get a computer on the boat, so I wanted to live on shore again and sell it to start the business.”

At $15,000, the price was not exorbitant, but by then the trimaran was in Trinidad, where, according to Dirk: “there are not a lot of yachties and those who are there want a nice boat, not one to live on.” He tried brokerages, but “found that they were not really interested.” That left selling it himself. Bay Island Yacht’s Heather Underwood has some tips on how to shift this kind of boat: “At least empty all your stuff out of it,” she stresses. “The biggest thing people don’t do with the lower end of boats is preparation.” After that, “the most important things are the rigging – if it’s towards the end of its 10-year life then you’re better off doing that. Then even simple things like the brightwork looking nice. It doesn’t matter how good your systems are if the boat doesn’t look well-maintained at first sight.”

Talking of systems and accessories, “for the cruising market, people are looking for the solar panels, the watermaker and the wind generator, so the extras are important. But you can’t expect to get back what you paid for them,” underlines Underwood.

Boat Buying Guide: Part 6 How to Find a Boat

Tips on selling your boat yourself

  1. Put your boat on sale at the beginning of the season.
  2. Get rid of any extras you’ve added that don’t increase the value. Buyer’s want to visualize their plans, not your DIY.

Get all the papers together into a seller’s pack, which should include a bill of sale, detailed service history, inventory of all equipment and fittings, receipts.

  1. Set a price. There are many websites aimed at private sales that will give you a fair valuation based on the information you supply.
  2. Spread the word – use free listings in this magazine and others, bulletin boards, yacht club and bars.

From Valencia – Alinghi’s Mast Designer Kirst Feddersen at the America’s Cup

Take Me to Cuba: Marinas and International Port Contact Information

Nick_Marshall
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When it comes to the cruisers’ refrain that the Caribbean is ‘not like it used to be’, one destination surely stands as an exception to the rule – Cuba. Fidel Castro’s Republic is 744 miles long by some 60 miles wide and is almost as big as the other islands put together. When Columbus called it ‘the most beautiful land human eyes have seen’ he was no doubt referring in part to 3,735km of fantastic coastline and some of the best scuba diving in the Caribbean.

World news has tended to focus on the attempts by Cubans to get off the island by boat, but terrific developments have taken place in the Marine sector, drawing boats from the US and beyond. When the US-imposed embargo inevitably ends, change will hit the island like a hurricane, so now really is the time to visit.

The law: US Citizens may visit Cuba, but may not spend any money there. Previously, Marinas such as the Marina Hemingway would provide ‘Fully Hosted Status’, proving that visitors had apparently spent nothing. This provision was removed by Bush Administration legislation that went into effect on June 30.

Since 1996, Cruisers under any flag have been required to get permission to leave the Coast Guard Security Zone around Florida.

Ports of entry at Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos, Cayo Largo and Maria La Gorda. You must clear out through these same ports. Officially, you may only go ashore where there is an international marina – these are Santiago de Cuba, Marea de Portillo, Casilda, Cienfuegos, Cayo Largo, Marina Siguanea on Isla Juventud and Maria La Gorda.

A North Caribbean Adventure for the 10th Transcaraibes

The Marinas

North Coast:

Havana

Marina Hemingway.
5ta Ave y 248 Santa Fe, Havana
Tel: (537) 204 6848

Founded in 1992 with a 400-boat capacity. Over 1,200 US boats visit each year out of a total of 2,000. This popular Marina, run by the enigmatic Commodore Escrich, has four anti-hurricane canals. 24-hr security, water, repairs. Depth 5.5m

Marina Puerto Sol Tarara
Vía Blanca km. 18, Playa Tarará. 15 minutes from Havana
Tel: (537) 971 462

Fuel, minor repairs, international diving center. 53 berths.

Varadero

Marina Puerto Sol Darsena de Varadero
Carretera de Vía Blanca, km. 31, Varadero.
Tel: (53 45) 66 8063

Services include water, fuel, electricity, chandlery, and some repair facilities. International diving center and ‘Gregoria Fuentes’ International Fishing Tournament. Berths: 116

Marina Gaviota Varadero
Carretera las Morlas Km. 21, Península de Hicacos, Varadero. Matanzas
Tel:( 53 45) 66-7755

Fuel, natural aquarium, scuba diving, Catamarans available for charter. 10 berths.

Marina Chapelin
Carretera de Las Morlas, km. 12,5, Varadero
Tel: (53 45) 66 7550

Berths: 20

Ciego de Avila

Marina Puerto Sol Cayo Coco-Guillermo
Cayo Guillermo, Archipiélago Jardines del Rey. Ciego de Ávila
Tel: (53 33) 30 1637.

Jardines del Rey International Diving Center. Berths: 6

Santiago de Cuba

Marina Santiago de Cuba.
Avenida 1A, Punta Gorda, Santiago de Cuba
Tel: 53 229 1446

15 minutes from Santiago de Cuba, Cuba’s second largest city. Water, electricity, telephone, laundry, chandlery, 24 hour security.

Marina Gaviota Cayo Santa Maria
Cayo Las Brujas
Tel: (5342) 35 0213
brujagav@enet.cu

Dive Center.

South Coast:

Cienfuegos

Marina Puerto Sol Cienfuegos
8th Ave., Punta Gorda, Bahía de Cienfuegos. Cienfuegos.
Tel:(53 432) 55-1241

Whale Shark International Diving Center and world’s largest coral column. Berths: 28

Marina Cubanacan Cienfuegos
Calle 35, 6 y 8, Punta Gorda
Tel: (534 32) 55 1275

Marina Puerto Sol Cay Largo
Cayo Largo del Sur, Archipelago de los Canarreos , Isla de la Juventud
Tel:(53 45) 4-8213, 4-8133, Fax:(53 45) 4-8212

South West Coast:

Pinar del Rio

Maria La Gorda Centro Internacional de Buceo Puertosol
Pinar del Rio Province

Good anchorage for those coming from Western Caribbean and Yucatan Channel. Ship chandler, water, electricity and repair facilities available.

Marina Gaviota Cabo de San Antonio
Peninsula de Guanahacabibes, Pinar del Rio.
Tel: (53 33) 75 0118

Diving center. UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

South Coast:

Trinidad

Marina Puerto Sol Trinidad at Jucaro
Carretera de María Aguilar, Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus
Tel: (53 419) 6205

Cayo Blanco International Diving Center.45 minutes from the superb Caya Blanco beaches. Berths: 6

Holguin

Marina Gaviota Internacional Puerto de Vita
Bahía de Vita, Holguín. Holguín
Tel: (5324) 3 0445.

Reached by an access canal. Chandlery. Berths: 38

40 Boats Enjoy Keen Competition At Discover the Caribbean

The Cost of Crossing the Atlantic with the Route du Rhum

Nick_Marshall
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Allaire’s Route du Rhum attempt will cost over 200 Euros per nautical mile, or more than 50,000 Euros a day. That’s the tab for entering, equipping and insuring a record-breaking trimaran. It may seem extravagant, but is a steal compared to the estimated $100 million cost of putting together an America’s Cup challenge.

An abundance of transatlantic races suggests that public and commercial interest is undiminished. In the last year we’ve had the Mini Transat, Transat Jacques Vabre, Defi Atlantique, Le Transat, Quebec – St Malo (won by Guadeloupe-based Luc Cocquelin on Marina Fort Louis Ile de St Martin) and the ARC. Next May sees the glamorous 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge from New York to the Lizard for monohulls over 70ft.

For those without the cash to launch a challenge, the cost of participating is not necessarily out of reach. Pete Cumming of Pure Sailing (www.puresailing.co.uk), who run the Volvo 60 Spirit, explained to All At Sea that spots are regularly available in the Atlantic races for paying crew. The price range runs from 1,500 pounds for the recent Antigua to Falmouth UK Atlantic Challenge to 500 pounds to build up sea miles in preparation for the next ARC. These prices cover food and drink, sailing kit and equipment.

But if you really want to keep control of the bills, go back to 2003 and emulate the magnificent Berque twins. The French duo, Maximilien and Emmanuel, sailed from the Canary islands to Guadeloupe in 27 days on their self-built 21 ft Micromegas 3.

The outrigger had no compass, charts or autopilot and the pair lived on just 60 liters of water. And in a neat piece of symmetry, who was the inspiration for their feat? One Laurent Bourgnon, who, years before winning the Route du Rhum twice on Primagaz, famously crossed the Atlantic on a Hobie Cat 18.

 

Anything that Floats Race

Nancy_Terrell
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Visitors to the BVI know how much these sailors love their games. Original party boy Dave Vincent started the “Anything that Floats” race in 1988 when he owned The Pub in Road Town. When Bonnie Gneiser bought it, she continued the tradition.

This year the Sinking Dinghy Race began festivities when 21 individual teams rowed the “sinking” Miss Bonnie (a hard-bottomed dinghy with holes drilled in the hull) out to a red buoy and then returned to the dock. This took over two hours with the fastest time at 1 min 5 secs.

Grenada Sailing Week

King Greenspon did a great job as registrar and MC along with Brian Gandey & the Conch Charters staff as Race Organizers. Yvonne Remington was timer and scorekeeper.

In the Anything that Floats Race, last year’s champion James Giller – a pilot for the Royal BVI Police Force racing Eat my Wake III, came 1st. Coming in 2nd was UBS69, an above-water submarine designed and built by shipwright Erik Groenenberg that moved into 2nd, gaining speed around the marks as it was pushed by a crew of underwater divers. The Nanny Cay Machine II, The Revenge, headed by Martin Van Houten, came in 3rd, suffering a setback when their Polynesian-style outrigger pontoon continually ran into the last mark. However, they rounded eventually, beating out five other entrees. Chris Brockbank won the 12-and-under division of the race in a Nanny Cay dock wheelbarrow with floats.

Winner Giller tells AAS, “I used a similar concept to my machine last year. I changed the drive system (peddles) from a chain system to a V belt, the same kind of thing that you have on a car. Next year, my plans are for something similar but even better,” he added with grin and a large gulp of Budweiser, sponsor of the event.

RUM REVIEW: Plantation Original Dark

 

Miss BVI Represents Tortolan Sloop Vigilant

Nancy_Terrell
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What a thrill it was for those of us who love our Island sloops to discover Sharlita Millington, Miss BVI, dressed as the oldest Island Sloop in the Caribbean – Vigilant.

She tells All At Sea, “Celebrating our 50th Anniversary of Festival signifies the strong cultural heritage that we, British Virgin Islanders, value. Our emancipation from slavery is the foundation of our festival; but sloops such as Vigilant have been the foundation of what we call ‘Paradise – Nature’s Little Secrets.’ When I think of Vigilant, I think of my ancestors and life back in the 1800s. I chose Vigilant for my Cultural/Historical costume for the 2004 Miss BVI Pageant because I thought that it was time that we acknowledge the important role the sloops (better known as Tola Boats), have played in the history of the BVI. Most of a day’s work depended primarily on sailing the seas that surround these islands. These sloops were the main source of transportation as they took lumber, cattle and produce, as well as our forefathers, to islands like the Dominican Republic, where they worked to earn a living.”

Tortola Sloops – BVI Pride in Maritime History

Sharlita continues, “Boat racing has also been a long cultural tradition in the BVI and it all began with the sloops, such as Vigilant.
Presently in the BVI, we see the reflection of these sloops in our Marine Tourism Industry. Even though chartered yachts, power boats and cruise ships keep our seas busy, it is Vigilant, the oldest of them all, that carries a legacy all its own. It tells the whole story from emancipation to where we are at now. May this historic and cultural significance live on!”

It is comforting to know that Sharlita will represent not only the islands of the BVI, but our marine heritage in her travels. Good luck, Sharlita.

 

Naming a Boat… What’s in a Name? Asked Shakespeare

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Naming a Boat… What’s in a Name? Asked Shakespeare

I was packing my duffel, about to fly out to Australia to sail for a few months.

“We’ve some relatives in New Zealand,” said my mother.

“You could look them up.”She paused. “They’ve got one of those embarrassing names, if only I could remember it.”

“Er, Philpott?” I suggested.

“No, I’ve think it’s Hogg.”I thought about Hogg. Didn’t seem much worse than Tims, to me.

Since then, I’ve always been interested in names. I’ve discovered it’s much easier to name a new-born babe, than naming a boat. That’s really very difficult. My various grand-children, all ten, had no sooner made their appearances than they had names.

“Yes, she definitely looks like a Susanna,” declared my daughter. In fact, she looked more like a squashed tomato. “She does,” I agreed. Sometimes I surprise myself and rise to the social occasion in an adequate manner. Births are one of those times. Deaths, they’re more difficult. You can hardly say, “Well, good riddance – you have to admit, she was an old curmudgeon.”Still, I’m straying from the subject; let’s get back.

Well, now – boat names. Trinidad is definitely the place to go to for boat names. I know. I’ve sailed European waters; Atlantic islands; ‘Down Under’ waters; I’ve spent months in Fort Lauderdale and the Bahamas; I’ve sailed up the Intracoastal waterway, and off California; but Trinidad definitely gets my vote for the best (awful) names. Or, for speed boats, the worst ones.

The Perils of Boat Naming: A Cautionary Tale

I love the cruisers’ daily net; it’s a rich source of names.

First, there’s the Tweetie-pie group.

“Romance, Romance, this is Truelove.”

“”Can’t be true,” I think.

And how about:“Cherie, Cherie, this is Darling, Darling.”

Then there’s the slightly funny, but OK, group.

“August Moon, August Moon, Harvest Moon.”

“Apple pie, Apple Pie, this is Voracious.”

“Wander, Wander, this is Blue Yonder.”

“Autumn Days, this is Autumn Daze too, only it’s spelt differently from yours.”

“Wanderlust, Wanderlust, the American Wanderlust I mean, this is Wanderlust, the British one, I mean.”

There’s the unbelievable group.

Can you imagine trying to put out a Mayday with the name “Quack-quack”?

Or, hard to believe – but true – I saw a sail-boat actually named

“Mayday”.

The mind boggles.

  • There’s the financially orientated category, with names like
  • “Totally Mortgaged”,
  • “Broke but smiling”,
  • “Gone for bust”

The truly yukky category is to be found among speed-boats.How about “Hard on” and “Up your skirt”?“Devil spawn”?

Sailing with Charlie with The Itinerary

“Free times a night”?

“Effin proud”?

Just go and look for yourself.

If you ever had any doubts about your own boat’s name, I promise you you’ll just love it after you’ve looked around a speed-boat yard.

Your boat’s name – do you like it? Are you superstitious about changing it?

Previous boats of mine were called “Cavalcade” and “Ariadne”, both names I liked very much.

My last boat was“Therapist.”

One evening, I was sitting below reading, comfortable and happy, when I heard people pass by on the dock.

“Just look at that!” I heard. The group fell about laughing. “How could anybody name a boat “The Rapist”?

I cringed into a corner, trying to become invisible, feeling hurt and sad.

A friend mailed me a cassette tape; told me it was time I listened to some music other than classical. On it I heard the song “Moon River” and I fell in love with it. Just the most absolutely totally perfect name for my boat, especially as I was planning my solo trip from England to the Caribbean.

“Two drifters off to see the world ….”

The so-called Rapist was promptly renamed “Moon River.” I thought it a lovely name for a boat, and still do.

I now have bought a larger boat, a catamaran, called “Europa”.

Too political-sounding for me.

Sailing with Charlie – Life’s Choices

I have to change that.But what to?A catamaran has two hulls …. So, perhaps, “Two Drifters”?

No, I just don’t know.

I’ll leave you with two little tales. A friend of mine was going to buy a house in France. He produced a photo for me, beaming with pride. It was not a house; it showed a sail-boat. My eye-sight’s not good: I peered at it.

“Oh, her name?”

I’ve called her “The Mary Davidson.” He smirked.“Mary Davidson?”, I repeated, feeling a bit stupid. From his tone I felt I really ought to know the name.

“Yes, my mother-in-law’s name”, he answered

“A boat?” I asked.  “But what about the house in France?”

He looked a bit sheepish. “Well, no; that was my wife’s idea, actually. It was never my idea, I always wanted a boat.”

So the name was by way of appeasement. Not even his wife’s name! Poor trade for a house in France.

My other little story is of the time I saw a big cruiser approaching. Something long was painted along the bow. Couldn’t make it out, so I got out the binoculars. Words …. what were they? Her name?

Surely not! It was “Thank you, Aunt Dorothy.”

Well, if Aunt Dorothy is sitting up there on her little cloud, looking down, I’m sure Mary Davidson will one day be right next to her. They’ll be making comparisons.

“Mine’s definitely bigger than yours,” Dorothy will boast.

Which reminds me of one or two names I’ve seen on speed-boats, but which are much too naughty too print!

Toby Swann – The All Rounder

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Toby Swann is living on his boat, a 37′ sloop, in Antigua as I write, boat building full time in the Falmouth area. But who knows where the rolling stone will go next?

Toby began sailing British Moths and Cadets in the UK when he was about seven. He left school in 1975 and went to Canada where he raised a punk band called “Battered Wives” in Toronto (he sings and plays the guitar).

A pal was putting a boat together in Fort Lauderdale, so Toby went to help him and spent the winter there. By then he’d caught the sailing bug so he returned to Canada and bought a 31 footer Obstreperous. With fifty dollars and a girlfriend, he sailed her to Stuart, Florida. His dad had taught him how to build houses so he did that. But the lure of the sea began again to hold sway. In 1989 back he went to sea, armed with guitar, a tiny PA system, and his woodworking tools. In Key West, he played and sang on a day-charter schooner in day trips to many sunset bars.

But again he was hit by a desire to see beyond the horizon, so he sailed off to Isla Mujeres, near Cancun, then down to Belize, Guatemala and up the Rio Dulce to the marinas near Livingstone.

Waiting one day to be hauled out, a storm ripped through and his boat was beached. After three days of kedging and cursing he managed to get off. Despite friends who said he would never find a more interesting place to stay, he continued to the Bay Islands where he met Linda, now his wife.

She had to return to Germany so they sailed up to Xtapa in Mexico for her to catch a plane home. When she returned he had sailed up to Florida, from where they sailed to the Dominican Republic where they stayed three years. He got a job running La Pantera then served as skipper of Jungsfernsteig a 300 tonner from Hamburg, complete with parasailing and mini submarines, in Samana Bay in the Eastern DR.

They left for Tortola when Linda found she was pregnant and from there to St. Martin, where he ran one of the Golden Eagle Cats and drove the Heineken boat Bluebeard, a 63 passenger cat on a daily tourist and cruise ship run for two years.

Leon, their son, was born in 1998 so he sold Obstreperous for something bigger, a 37′ sloop in St. Martin. Soon after, Linda and the baby flew off to Germany so he ran across the Atlantic with a hitch-hiker as crew and he and Linda and Leon met again in Cartagena, where he worked in the renovated Naval Yard doing up megayachts.

But they tired of the muddy Mediterranean so off they sailed to the Canaries where Toby got a job in Gomera as a ship’s carpenter.

He’s now back in Antigua, arriving in 2003, where he works for Woodstock the Boatbuilders and where Leon, aged six, is in a
local school. Linda is a qualified Diving Instructor so they’re certainly making ends meet.

Whither away next, Toby olde salt? He’s sailed over 120,000 miles so I don’t think he can stop now.

 

St Thomas’ Yacht Haven Grande – Ready to Rise from the Rubble

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Cruisers who remember the 1970s and 1980s heyday of the Yacht Haven Marina will be heartened to hear that after nine years of derelict status this flagship property is ready to rise from the rubble of recent demolition.

“By September, expect to see every bit of the old hotel and marina gone and site work for the actual construction to be taking place,” says Elie Finegold, vice president of the New York-based Island Capital Group, the parent company of IN-USVI LLC and owner of the Yacht Haven Grande complex.

Phase I of the development, valued at $150 million, will be completed over the next 15 to 18 months and due to open by Christmas of 2005 or early 2006. This phase will include office space, 12 luxury condominiums, four restaurants of which three will sit on the waterfront esplanade and the fourth will be perched on the second floor of the yacht club situated out in the middle of the main marina base with a birds-eye view of the surrounding yachts. In addition, there will be retail space dedicated to marina services, and 5900 linear feet of marina with 700-foot of docks and 18-foot wide piers equipped with in-slip fueling and high-speed communications access.

Anchoring Equipment – How Do I Know What to Buy?

“We have a permit for a 30 slip marina, but we will have the ability to provide dockage for everything from dinghies to a 400-foot megayacht,” Finegold says.

The marina will have a public access dinghy dock.

Phase II, projected to cost at least another $150, will open by the end of 2006 or early 2007. This phase will provide more retail space, another restaurant, a 70-unit hotel, an additional 10,600 linear feet of marina, a convention center and parking for over 600 vehicles.

“We’re focusing on the first phase first,” Finegold said. “It’s an enormous development and a unique opportunity to impact the local economy and bring the yachts back.”

The Moorings NEW Catamaran for Premium Crewed Yacht Sailing Vacations

BBC Remake Duran Duran Video of Rio in Antigua

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I think it was my Aunty Mabel who told me repeatedly that the first signs of getting old would be when I noticed the policemen looking rather young! Well, not only the guardians of the law it would appear. For just the other day the BBC sent out a team of very young film makers to recreate the video made by Simon LeBon and the band known as Duran Duran twenty odd years ago in Antigua. In particular, it was the song ‘RIO’ which made it to the big time way back in the eighties. Most of this video had been filmed aboard the 70 foot Fife built EILEAN and the sailing scenes of that lovely boat and the band were absolutely spectacular! Anyway, it now would appear that Simon and the boys have re-surfaced and in fact are booked solid at future concerts all over the UK. So the BBC had come back to Antigua to see if anybody around here remembered Duran Duran. Now, as Judy and I had helped on the original video we were once again roped in to assist producer/director Brad Hallam and the rest of the ‘kids’, And what a ball it was too! Luckily of course its very quiet here now so we had plenty of time to spare. Talking about the antics of Duran Duran to a lovely young dolly bird called Alex (the Beeb Presenter) who rates the pop stars of the seventies and eighties close to God.

On a less frivolous note our old friend Peter Hutchinson owner of the fine little ketch RAINBOW had a very serious accident while in St Marten recently. He has since been in a coma for some time, and all his many friends, as you can well imagine, are more than a little worried.

His daughter Fiona is with him, but if anyone would like to help old Peter in any way, please contact Fiona on email tonyjustkaty@sintmarten.net

With our harbours looking deserted and strangely forlorn (as they do in the hurricane season these days) I cant help but remember what it was like not so long ago before all the yachts were sent packing down to far away Trinidad, or the extreme south coast of Grenada. In case you don’t know the yachts staying in the Caribbean do this because their insurance companies insist they go. Now, yachtsmen really like spending the summers here in Antigua. It was more a village atmosphere for those that stayed but these days with most of the night spots closed (a few lead by Abracadabra, Life, Trappers, Dry Dock, Cactus, HQ, Jimmy’s, Caribbean Taste, Catherine’s Cafe, Jakies Quick Stop, Grace Before Meals and the Galley Bar are either on much reduced opening hours or stagger their opening nights) One can hardly blame these courageous souls for there is just not enough business to go round. So could it be that English Harbour, which has been considered a safe hurricane harbour since Nelsons days seems to be getting a bit of stick from the insurance companies? To be truthful there were one or two major storms such as hurricanes Luis and Georges etc which started the summer migration to the south. But an old friend of ours having taken a trip southward aboard his yacht to see the facilities for himself, is now on his way back to Antigua where despite the threat he feels more at home. Perhaps the presence of the two very large vessels, which appear to be staying with us in Falmouth Harbour, will encourage others to stay.

How to Remove Mildew from Sails

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How to Remove Mildew from Sails

Mildew stains on sails are a serious problem especially here in the Caribbean. Here’s some expert advice on how to remove mildew from sails AND a tip on how to keep it from starting in the first place.

Often the stains will appear after a period of stockage, which will be the case for many sails during these following months. For the sail maker this can be quite a nightmare, though arguably, it is a stain like the tar that scrapes off of pilings, or the blood from the spinnaker pole accident, somehow mildew is unique. Most cloths have an anti-fungal agent added and these are fairly efficient if the conditions that create mildew are limited.

Laminated sails due to the mylar film sandwiched within the cloth are often an ideal support for mildew development. Contrary to what we may think the growth is more on the surface of the fibres than deep within them. Though, small patches may disappear with a few days sailing, the development continues if untreated as soon as the conditions are united.

Moisture, heat and shade are the obvious factors.

Rainwater is generally far more dangerous than seawater. A colleague of mine in Auckland often drops new sails in clean seawater to protect them for fungus growth. Hence to wash sail is important but they must be stocked completely dry.

The prevention of mildew, short of planetary biological twilight, remains elusive, but we have a few techniques to at least partially remove it after the fact.

The following procedure should NOT be used with Kevlar or nylon sails.

Andrew Dove shares tips on How to remove mildew from sails
Andrew Dove shares tips on How to remove mildew from sails

How to Remove Mildew from Sails:

  1. Fill a tub or tank with water. It should be large enough that the sail you intend to wash can be fully immersed.
  2. Add Clorox or other chlorine bleach to the water, in a ratio of approximately 30 to 1. ‘Clorox’ is sodium hypochlorite in a 5.25% solution, so the resultant wash solution is slightly weaker than 0.2% (2 parts per 1000) of sodium hypochlorite in water. The exact solution does not matter however. We suspect that 1 part per 1000 is adequate, and we know that 5 parts per 1000 (10 to 1 Clorox in water) will not cause any damage.
  3. Place the sail in the bath for at least 48 hours (and cover the tank since the chlorine likes to evaporate). Longer is probably better, for stubborn and very serious cases. Make sure the sail is fully submerged. Stack rocks or bricks on it if necessary, to keep it from floating. Force out as many air pockets as possible and make sure the sail is fully wet out. You might want to stir it every now and then, or shift it around.
  4. Take the sail out of the sodium hypochlorite solution and check it. If it is not sufficiently clean, put it back in the bath for another day. When done, rinse it thoroughly with fresh water. Hang it to dry.

At the end of this, the sail should be almost completely clean and any remaining mildew will be absolutely dead, so lingering stains should fade fairly quickly when the sail is used.

Exceptions will likely be under corner patches, under insignia cloth, and maybe inside a seam, though these spots should be greatly improved. More time in the solution will improve them.

This is not a new idea. Tent cleaners have said for years that prolonged soaking will remove mildew, and there have been extensive anecdotal reports from North Sails New Zealand, to rename one source, that stains have been rectified by soaking the sails over the side in clean salt water for a day or so.

The Cleaning agent may vary but the indispensable element is time. The Mildew is microscopic and the longer it lives on a sail, the deeper it gets into the yarns and fibre bundles. It prospers in all sorts of wretched conditions so it is capable of withstanding quick but intense cleanings, even with fairly hot water and mild detergents. If the wash kills it, it does not have time to remove the dead bodies . No amount of scrubbing will reach a stain, without first peeling off the top of every yarn and a good part of the sail.

So be prepared to wait, and importantly be sure to air and dry your sails whenever possible and do not stock when damp.

Coral Reef National Monument

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Below the surface of the calm azure waters surrounding St. John lives a thriving tropical marine ecosystem. Humpback and pilot whales, dolphins, brown pelicans and sea turtles all use the waters to forage, breed, nest and rest. It’s a spawning habitat for commercially important groupers and snappers. Countless species of fish, invertebrates, and plants use the reefs and mangroves during their lives. Many of the animals that take refuge there are threatened or endangered.

In January of 2001 President Bill Clinton established more than 12-thousand submerged acres on the south and east sides of St. John be designated the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. Most of the Monument extends the line of the Virgin Islands National Park boundaries, as well as a large portion of Hurricane Hole. While the designation has been in place for three and a half years, a plan to manage the monument has not.

“It’s a very new monument, and the regulations provide enough protection for it,” says Art Frederick, superintendent of both the National Monument and the National Park.“It was mandated by law that the park service provide a plan in three years.”

In keeping with that mandate, the National Park Service has embarked on a major planning effort that will guide the future management of both the National Park and the National Monument. This new general management plan will create a vision for each park that will serve as a blueprint for the next ten to 15 years. The plan will address common problems that affect the parks and surrounding communities, while protecting the natural and cultural resources and giving visitors a quality experience.

“Will their experiences change as a result of this?

In general, the experience should remain largely unchanged for the general user,” says Thomas Kelley, the Natural Resources Manager with the National Park Service.“But the plan is a tool to guide the proper management of the reef from all perspectives into the future.Use patterns and types of use will be addressed in the plan.”

Frederick says they are constantly making difficult decisions about balancing preservation with public enjoyment, about competing demands for limited resources, about priorities for using available funds and staff, and about differing interests and views of what is most important.

“Hopefully we will develop a plan flexible enough to protect our cultural and natural resources, as well as allow visitors to enjoy the resource,” says Frederick.

This General Management Plan will be about two and a half years in the making.

The first round of public comment meetings have wrapped up, now the planning team will meet to study those comments, develop alternatives, and assess the impacts of those alternatives.

Next February, more public comment meetings will be held, and by summer of 2005, the first draft of the management plan will be written.By summer of 2006, the final copy should be in place.

“The beauty in the General Management Plan is that it gives birth to broad guidelines, but will give the park staff guidance on a day to day basis,” says Frederick.

It is guidance that will protect the marine habitat for generations to come.

“Reefs are the second most diverse ecosystem on earth, second to the rainforest,” says Kelley.“Ninety-five percent of all life on earth occurs in the ocean. Reefs add stability to shorelines. They have aesthetic and spiritual values. They must be protected and preserved for the enjoyment of future generations.”

 

All Eyes on French St. Martin

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A recent burst of activity in St Martin has seen ‘the French Side’ grab a little limelight from its neighbour. For starters, the St Martin
Yacht Club has a new clubhouse at the top of the West Indies Shopping Mall, which played host right away to the inaugural Course de l’Alliance in July. The race, organized in conjunction with the St Maarten and St Barth’s Yacht Clubs, saw 17 boats enjoy three days of fabulous racing with a distinctly ‘Frenchie’ feel to the evening’s entertainment. Next year’s Course de l’Alliance will be brought forward to the second half of May and will include Anguilla as a fourth participating island.

Hot on the heels of l’Alliance came local hero Luc Coquelin’s entry into the famous Quebec-St Malo race, aboard Marina Fort Louis Ile de Saint Martin. Coquelin is a Route du Rhum veteran based in the French Caribbean. Another local legend, Jean Allaire, is also aiming to prepare an entry for the 2006 race, but first has to find the funds to purchase Rexona MEN, formerly Laurent Bourgnon’s record-breaking trimaran Primagaz.

This renaissance on the French side is no accident. According to Marina Fort Louis Commodore Jean-Paul Fischer, the Marina is another tool to open up the French side to tourism. The St Martin marine community and SEMSAMAR (Societe d’economie mixte) in particular are “trying to promote activities linked to the sea. In tourist islands, you can’t simply rely on hotel tourism.” And there is a role for elected officials, too, he emphasizes. “Boats consume. Whether it’s diesel or water,” so there is an economic impact.

From September onwards, the French sailing school Les Glenans will be visiting the island to teach children and adults. “We are
aiming to teach sailing to people who will then become professionals themselves,” explains Fischer.

This combination of renewed energy, long-term strategy and access to European Union funds could mean we’ll be hearing a lot more from St Martin this season.

 

Karl James – Leading By Example

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Karl James – Leading By Example

When some of the top sailors in the Caribbean, including Robbie Hirst, John Holmberg and Mike Green, gathered in St Maarten recently for the North Sails Regatta, the potential for a clash of egos was huge. Instead, it became a chance for those who thrive on the competitive edge to hang out with like minded souls. And few seem to thrive more on competition than Antigua’s Karl James.

Although James was not victorious in St Maarten, he was influential throughout. His rush for the line on the last wind shift of the regatta gave Holmberg first place at Mike Green’s expense. It was a stunning moment that is consistent with a majestic year battering the opposition in June’s Caribbean Laser Championships, and winning all nine races in the Laser Open division of the Caribbean Dinghy Championships.

Karl James Teaches in the BVI

Antigua’s Karl James
Antigua’s Karl James

If James, who turned 37 this year, is relentless on the water, on the dock he is unassuming and quietly spoken. His record speaks for him – 43rd in the Open Laser division of the 1996 Olympics and 39th in the Sydney 2000 games, a tantalizing three places behind fellow Antillean Cor Van Aarnholt. But James, who started sailing (holding fenders and putting on sail covers) in 1979 aged 12 on big Charter boats picks out his second place in the 2001 Sunfish World Championships as his biggest achievement to date.

His progress from charter crew, through Olympic competitor to youth sailing instructor is an inspiration. His first passion was for racing bikes, but with the encouragement of the late Paul Goss, he began dinghy sailing and started in Lasers in 1986. “I’ve never really been coached,” he says. “I’m the kind of person who sees it and does it, and learnt by trial and error.” Once it came to competition, this same single-mindedness was key. “I do not like to lose,” he adds. “I can replay a race in my head and it bothers me.”

When Antigua’s Karen Portch went to the 1992 Olympics, it was a boost and in 1993 James met Dennis Connor, who was staying at the St James hotel. They went sailing on a Hobie Cat and later Connor gave the Antiguan a Laser. With support from the Antigua Yacht Club, Karl was able to hone his skills and was soon mixing and racing with fellow Caribbean Olympians Mike Green, Robbie Hirst and Paul Dielemans.

For Regatta organizer Robbie Feron, Karl James, “is an example of how training does produce results. We so often have this culture whereby it is assumed that sailing is genetically endowed and cannot be learnt and skill development is not an issue. Karl is the example that proves so clearly the inaccuracy of this assumption.”

Antigua’s Karl James Wins Caribbean Laser Championships

Blue Beads of Statia

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Blue Beads of Statia

If the quiet island of St Eustatius is known nowadays more among divers and eco-tourists, it was not always so. The so-called ‘Golden Rock’ was famously the first foreign nation to recognize American Independence and used to be one of the busiest trading terminals in the Caribbean. It’s hard to imagine that this small island of just under 3,000 people once used to buzz with trading ships and plantation activity. Luckily, ‘Statia’ has protected most of its heritage and buildings and Forts from this period remain. Harder to find, however, are another remnant from the island’s past – the mysterious Blue Beads of Statia.

What are the Blue Beads of Statia?

The five-sided, dark or light blue Statian bead looks like many others, perhaps one of the reasons behind the myth that Dutch traders bought Manhattan from the Indians with 30 Statian blue beads. Legend has it that anyone lucky enough to find one of the beads, whether on the beach or underwater, will return to the island again and again. The rare beads are coveted by sailors and divers alike. If the exclusive Mount Gay cap appeals to the racing sailor, the more talismanic blue bead is one for the cove-hopping cruiser.

The mystery of the blue bead is how this particular type came to Statia in the first place. R. Grant Gilmore III of the St Eustatius Center for Archaeological Research takes up the tale. “Other similar beads are found across the globe – from Alaska to South Africa to Indonesia – wherever Dutch traders or their goods went. The question remains as to why these bead types are found only in Statia.”

Blue Beads of Statia. Image courtesy of St. Eustatius Tourism Development Foundation
Blue Beads of Statia. Image courtesy of St. Eustatius Tourism Development Foundation

Finding a solution to this riddle was initiated in the 1960s by the eminent Dr. WGN. van der Sleen, chemist and professor of natural history from Naarden, Holland. Dr Sleen contacted museums all over the world and, through tireless research, was able to trace back the Statian beads to a single glass factory in Amsterdam. The factory, owned by Han Henrixz Soop, employed glassmakers from Murano and Venice, making mirrors and beads “for the primitive people” between 1660 and 1680.

Arrrgh! Pirate Invasion in Tampa

How did the Blue Beads get to Statia?

But how did these beads get from Amsterdam to St Eustatius? Step forward the Dutch East India Company, busy pounding the seas from Indonesia to the Caribbean at the time. To cross-check the origins of the beads, Dr Sleen amassed samples from all over the world and had them analyzed. He found that the Amsterdam beads, made of potash not soda, were identical.

Given that blue beads have been found in slave sites all over the Americas, the assumption is that the beads were worn by slaves brought to St Eustatius from Africa. According to Elsie Bosch-Wilson, Director of the St Maarten Museum, whose bead necklace is pictured, beads have been worn for hundreds of years as a symbol of status, power and wealth. Young people hoping to get married would be eager to increase the bead count on their necklace, as only a heavily beaded one would impress a potential suitor. Likewise, one would have expected a tribal chief to have jewelry out of the budget or not available to his subjects.

Nowadays, the search for blue beads is still a popular pastime for visitors to Statia, and a walk along a Statian beach is best enjoyed with the head bowed and eyes towards the sand. Meanwhile, the diamond emporiums and showbiz glitter of St Maarten and St Barths just across the water provide a scintillating reminder that, whatever the century, nothing impresses like a heavy set piece of jewelry.

St Maarten Museum
Front Street, Philipsburg.
Tel (599) 542 4917

St Eustatius Museum
Simon Doncker House
Oranjestad
Telephone: (599)318-2693

The Wooden Yacht – A Classic Gift

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News that French actor Olivier Martinez recently purchased White Wings for his Australian singer girlfriend Kylie Minogue caused a flutter at All At Sea. Surely this wasn’t the Joel White-designed W-76 Class sibling to Wild Horses, a popular Spirit of Tradition competitor in the Caribbean? And if so, should we expect to see the 5’1”, 6-stone starlet at the helm of the 76′, 52,900-pound thoroughbred next year?

However, a few enquiries were enough to establish that Martinez and Minogue are in fact now the proud owners of an altogether
different namesake, the 1938 Alberg-designed 50′ sloop built by JJ Taylor and Sons of Toronto. In a typically Gallic display of impeccable taste, Martinez snapped up the yacht for his diminutive sweetheart in a St Tropez auction for 370,000 Euros.

Ten Top Caribbean Movie Destinations

Since Minogue is more accustomed to Stiletto than starboard heels, (not on the teak deck!) are the attentions of the fashionable set about to turn away from gleaming, triple-tiered Tupperware towards the far more sophisticated Classic yacht? Are masts the new motor? Could the finish of one’s mahogany come to command more respect than the size of one’s helipad?

Wouldn’t it be poetic if, while the battle rages between the billionaires to build the biggest super-yacht, the real kudos turns out to be
in tracking down and owning a Classic that is, for the most part, one of its kind. Let Messrs Abramovich, Allen and Ellison raise each other up the LOA leader board each year, adding on cinemas, swimming pools, recording studios and tenders the size of car ferries to their vessels. Instead, here’s to the kind of discerning, stylish celebrity who likes nothing more than relaxing with a glass of 1961 Chateau Petrus after a hard day buffing brass.

 

Tony Maidment – The Skipper’s Skipper

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For a sixty-year-old salt, Tony Maidment has done more than your average skipper. His career started in 1968 — in a pub in the UK — when he and a pal were asked to sail to the Caribbean. Despite their lack of training, they both agreed and not long after arrived in Grenada without any mishaps.

There, Tony watched Don Street giving sailing instruction, after which Don taught Tony how to sail. Subsequently, Tony became skipper of the 90′ charter wooden sloop Gitana IV. From there, he progressed to skippering to Martinique in a variety of boats for Caribbean Sailing Yachts (the first charter company in the Caribbean). Those were the days when there were no boats to be seen in the Tobago Keys.

From 1972 until 1979 Tony sailed mostly in the Med as a charter skipper and many of his trips were on the 71′ Ksenija. There were no boats in Dubrovnik at the time, either.

Back in the Caribbean in 1979 (a time when day workers in Grenada were paid $EC3 a day and a maid cost $EC7 a week!) Tony was responsible for building a large dock for CSA from what the locals called “bulletwood” – heavy and hard enough to repel ‘teredos’ and ‘gribbles’. The trees, the size of telegraph poles, were brought down to the shore by many workers and plunged into the water where their own weight drove them into place. Tony saw the dock there recently and reports that it’s still in good shape.

Later in the Seventies, Tony lived in Hollywood, Florida, for seven years where he exported marine equipment to the Eastern Caribbean. Tiring of this, though, he finally settled for good in Antigua in 1987, having also fitted in two single-handed Transatlantic crossings.

In Antigua, Tony ran a fishing boat for five years, using a 25-mile long line (the first of its kind on the island) with 400 hooks. This was a big commercial success and often he was able to sell 3000lbs of fish, mainly swordfish, every week. Up to then, few had known that they even existed in Antiguan waters.

He has been with the Antigua Yacht Club for years and has, several times, been its Commodore. He is well known on the water as the owner of 33′ Tango Mike. These days, his main job, apart from building houses for friends, is that of Chief Measuring Officer at the AYC.

Tony has two children, aged 20 and 24, who are both, as you might expect, seasoned sailors.

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