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C MPASS JULY 2009 NO. 166 66
The C Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore
WEST INDIES REGATTA
JUSTIN SIHERA
See story on page 12
JUSTIN SIHERA
THE WEST INDIES REGATTA 2009
Inaugural Working Boat Regatta at St. Barth It’s no surprise then that the wooden sailing working boats of today emanate predominantly from Carriacou. Antigua now has quite a fleet of Carriacou-built vessels including Genesis, Ocean Nomad, Summer Wind, Summer Cloud, Tradition, Sweetheart, Pipe Dream and Good Expectation. Shortly after taking part in the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta in April, this traditional West Indian fleet set sail for St. Barth to join the new West Indies Regatta, to be held May 1 through 4. Joining them in St. Barth were the twice-circumnavigating 25-foot Bequia double-ender, Plumbelly, and the last schooner built in Nevis, the magnificent Alexander Hamilton. Charles Hambleton had been unfortunate in losing his mast on Summer Cloud during the Classics, but the Woodstock Shipwrights came to the rescue and spliced in a new length of mast, and working day and night, he re-rigged her and set off for St. Barth in good time. On arrival in Gustavia, the working boats moored stern-to in a row on the lovely quay in front of the museum and administrative offices, where berthing was provided free of charge by the Port Captain, Bruno
ROSEMOND GREAUX
The French island of St. Barthelemy (St. Barth to us) has had a long history of inter-island trading. Sloops and schooners from as far as Grenada, Barbados and Puerto Rico came and went. This trade has largely disappeared with changes in regulations and bureaucracy; the days when sailing cargo vessels were lined up on the quays in front of the old, now-restored warehouses in the harbor of Gustavia have passed by. But the spirit remains. Some time ago, Alexis Andrews, the owner of the Carriacou sloop Genesis, got together with Loulou Magras and other notables in St. Barth, and had a vision of keeping alive the memories of those times by having a gathering of Caribbean working boats at St. Barth. Although at one time most of the islands had fairly specific workboat designs that had evolved at each place, sadly most of these islands no longer build their typical boats. Exceptions are Carriacou and Petite Martinique, where to this day new working boats are being built and are working, carrying cargo, fishing and earning their owners a living in whatever way they can.
JULY 2009
CARIBBEAN COMPASS
PAGE 12
by Frank Pearce
Greaux. H Having been advertised G i b d ti d and d publicized bli i d on llocall radio, the event soon drew interest and we met up with many of the more senior citizens who had been involved with trading under sail in the past, and many other interested “strollers�. My own vessel Tradition, a cutterrigged Carriacou boat with her original colors and rig, was soon recognized as one of the former cargo vessels and I was regaled with stories about her trading days, when with only the smallest of engines she sailed regularly between St. Barth and Carriacou. After a day of rest and showing off, we had two days of informal racing, taking as many of the local dignitaries on board as we could accommodate. Tradition, at 50 feet with a 34-foot main boom, has no winches, so it’s back to basics with block and tackles on the sheets and three people on the mainsheet — plenty for everyone to do. After racing we were inundated with bottles of wine, cases of beer and lots of reminiscences. In the evening the gazebos on the quay were set up with food (by courtesy of the Blanchard and Romney families), music and film/slide shows of Loulous’ images from the West Indies from 1970 to 1980, and photos from the books Carriacou Sloops Volumes 1 and 2 by Alexis Andrews. The main sponsor of the event was The Grenada Chocolate Company who produced an interesting movie extolling the valid virtues of their organic chocolatemaking cooperative in Grenada and provided lots of samples of this wonderful, pure, home-produced delicacy. David Wegman and Katie put on a lovely puppet show on the quay with live music while over at the Select Bar there was a lively party with great music thanks to Droopy who flew his brother Tuey Connell’s Jazz Band all the way from the United States for the event. Great music, great generosity, ti ponch flowed. —Continued on next page
Main photo: The Carriacou-built sloop Tradition, helping keep regional workboat tradition alive in St. Barth Inset: The crew on Alexis Andrews’ Antigua-based Genesis
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—Continued from previous page On the second day’s racing, Tradition had about 15 on board, including Captain Bill of St. Barth who has spent a lifetime at sea trading between the islands. Now, at 92 years of age, he was anxious to share his
ROSEMOND GREAUX
JUSTIN SIHERA
tive and seamanship these guys must have had, and Captain Bill such a gentle and erudite man. Thank you for joining us, Bill. Further thanks have to go out to Loulou Magras and Alexis Andrews for having the inspiration for this
ROSEMOND GREAUX
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PAGE 13
QUIET CLEAN POWER
CARIBBEAN COMPASS
knowledge of local winds and currents and expertly took the helm. Bill was only too pleased to reminisce about his lifetime of sailing his trading schooner among the islands. I liked his tale of shipping live cattle on deck (if you can imagine that) into St. Barth, where they lived ashore, were fattened up, and got French “passports” so they could enter Guadeloupe as French cattle with no duty to be paid. What initia-
amazing event, Mowgli Fox for running the committee boat, Raymond Magras for his sponsorship and help, and Bruno Greaux, Daniel Blanchard and Jennie May for helping to make it all happen. Additional support was proved by UNESCO, and sponsors included Caribbean Compass, Acqua Films, Woodstock Boatbuilders, The Anchorage and Adventure Antigua. A wonderful few days of glorious sailing aboard true West Indian sailing vessels and great hospitality at one of their traditional ports of call will always be remembered. Most important is to look forward to next year, April 30th through May 2nd, and hope that many more Caribbean working sailing boats can come and make this event even more spectacular. Have a look on Alexis Andrews’s website westindiesregatta.com (there’s a great movie at westindiesregatta.com/Movie) for more information — and spread the word, please!
JULY 2009
Above: The Lesser Antilles’ traditional trading vessels were designed to get goods quickly from island to island. Sweetheart shows her speed Inset Top Left: Sweetheart and Genesis attempt to overtake Summer Cloud Below: Just like old times: the quay at Gustavia with the fleet in