Maritime Wood

I said, “John, I like her and am very interested. Can we go for a little sail?” We reached out across Road Harbor. The wind was light, less than eight knots, but she moved through the water nicely, even though the sails had a poor set to them. But besides being old, a lot of their shape seemed due to bad adjustments in the way they were rigged. The boat felt good, handled some passing powerboat wakes without crankiness. John said the boat was originally called DAPHNE OF BEQUIA, but the first owner had kept the name for his next boat. John hadn’t gotten around to a new one, so she was nameless.

It was too late to get the money from the bank that afternoon, so I said. I would meet him at 9:30 the next morning to finalize the purchase. It would leave less than $50 in my Rainy Day Account 8c Retirement Fund. I didn’t sleep well that night. It wasn’t the decision of buying the boat; rather, I was afraid John wouldn’t be there tomorrow, for whatever reason. As I tossed and turned, I decided her name would be NELLYROSE.

He was there. I counted out the money, and he showed me a couple of things that needed fixing, made some small talk that seemed like maybe a final delaying action in parting with the boat. Then I sailed out of Road Harbor bound for Maya Cove, about eight miles to the east. The last time I looked back, John was still standing on the dock, watching....

We close-reached south across Sir Francis Drake Channel to Peter Island. I fiddled with the sails, and they began to look better. I changed the lead of the jib sheets, put a down- haul on the boom jaws to tighten the luff, adjusted the snotter loop for securing the lower end of the sprit, tweaked the main foot lacing here and there to get rid of some hard spots. NELLYROSE tracked well, didn’t seem to make much leeway, and showed just a touch of weather helm. She felt solid, and hummed along easily with the light six-to-eight- knot breeze. I tacked over, and we slid up the Coast of Peter Island. About 10 miles ahead was Cooper Island and the Beach Club that offered the best hamburger in the Caribbean.

A blue-darter line squall zipped down the channel, kicking up whitecaps. The Bequia whaleboat loved it; I started the sheets a little, and she hissed through the water like a dolphin, throwing spray in my face and leaving a foaming wake.

NELLYROSE was definitely a passage maker. I would most certainly have to sail her in Foxy’s Jost Van Dyke Wooden Boat Race in September. Then I thought about sailing her over to St. Barths in February for their Regatta, especially Gaffer’s Day. Yes, that would be a great idea she could handle that 100-mile beat across the rugged Anegada Passage. Hey, then maybe I could take her island-hopping down the Windward chain to Bequia for the Whit Monday holiday races, and then the Carriacou and Petit St. Vincent Regattas. Oh, yes, that’s a grand idea!

And then, parlaying my enthusiasm and exhilaration, I thought about a real adventure under a spread of sail: a classic rounding of Cape Horn, east to west into the snarling teeth of the gale-driven fury of the Roaring Forties and the Savage Fifties! No one had ever done that in an open 18-footer! Not even Tristan Jones or Joshua Slocum. Iron men and wooden ships.

Then I realized that Webb Chiles was already on a circumnavigation in an 18’ Drascombe lugger. He would probably beat me to the Horn. Well, I could modify this sailing adventure. There is nothing wrong with a proper compromise.

So instead of a vigorous Horn passage, we settled for a balmy trade wind close-reach up to Cooper Island for a cheeseburger in Paradise.

Epilogue: That September I sailed NELLYROSE over to Jost Van Dyke for Foxy’s Wooden Boat Regatta. She made a clean sweep. As reported by the local press: “NELLYROSE, an 18’ sprit-rigged Bequia whaling sloop, won the traditional class both days, beating a number of modern-rigged vessels twice her size boat-for-boat, setting yacht design back 50 years. A highly placed, reliable source reports that Dennis Conner, Sparkman & Stephens, and the New York Yacht Club are negotiating for the purchase of NELLYROSE.