Recreation Sunday Favorites: Some Boats Don

FRENCH CARIBBEAN -- As a boating enthusiast, and more importantly a sailor, I am often attracted to certain vessels. For instance, there is currently a beautiful C&C sailboat anchored off of Regatta Point that I can’t seem to take my eyes off of.  Boats, like people, cars or animals can develop a certain character about them. Imperfections can often be conversation starters for captivating or harrowing tales of aquatic experiences. It’s often not so much the boat, but what she has endured during her lifetime that is her most enchanting attribute.

For an entire week in Saint Barth’s, the boats went to mutiny with their owners. From what I can understand, they were sick and tired of sitting in the harbor day in and day out. They wanted to feel the wind fill their sails and the waves crashing against their hulls. At least, that is my interpretation of what went on in Gustavia Harbor a few years ago.

Lone Fox is a 1957 attractive 65-foot, ketch built in Sandbank, Scotland. She was initially crafted for Col. Whitbred, the original sponsor of the Whitbred Round the World Race.  Her teak and English oak structure required constant maintenance and upkeep – in other words, she’s very high maintenance.

Her owner takes her preservation to an extreme. From dawn until dusk he constantly toiled on her flawless exterior, polishing, sanding, and varnishing seven days a week! The situation is problematic because he resents her for all the money and time that he put into her. She even overheard him saying that if he could do it all over again, he’d buy a Swan instead! A Swan! What an insult. Lone Fox is a Scottish classic, a relic of the past and a symbol of historical beauty. ”A Swan“-- her owner must have been joking.

Then one night she made her move.  It was more a cry for help than an actual escape attempt. All day long, Lone Fox had been rocking back and forth, putting tension on her mooring lines.  That night, a neighbor, Hugh, threw a birthday party onboard his motor yacht. Everyone was mingling on the third story, while overlooking the harbor when Hugh, like a crazed maritime version of Indiana Jones, jumped up and ran down the stairs calling for his friend Mark to follow in his dinghy.

Gustavia Harbor

”Bring line,“ he yelled.

The party became silent and everyone rushed to the gunwales to see what was happening. Lone Fox’s rocking had finally broken the mooring line and she was slowly drifting to the entrance of the harbor -- freedom. Within moments, four dinghies surrounded her. They pushed from every angle, finally harnessed her hull and safely secured her to another mooring.  Nothing had been damaged. It seemed she had never intended to hurl herself on surrounding rocks or damage her beautifully maintained hull on a shallow bottom. Her point had been made, and her rebellion heeded.

Captain Andrew’s boat, Joroba (a Standfast 40) was neglected for years. She wished he would just sell her, or allow her to sink because living without love was a difficult journey. She knew there were thousands of other uncared for boats in the world, but she just couldn’t get used to the fact that Drew doesn’t’ even bother with her anymore. Years prior, people lusted after her, but now they just chuckled. He humiliated her too, he moored her to buoy and rented her out to any derelict off the street. The tenants used her but didn’t clean up after themselves, causing her to smell. Years of neglect took their toll on her looks; she was deteriorating. She still held herself well, with her beautiful lines apparent to the masses, but her dirty exterior didn’t do her justice. Living with the stress caused plumbing issues. Her sink drained into her bilge where sustenance sets, reeks, and rots.

Lone Fox

Drew sometimes did things to make up for this abuse, a new Awlgrip paintjob here, a bottom scrub there, but Joroba sees these gifts as too little too late. She knows that Drew spends all of his time at his new apartment and that she is just a burden he must bear, eating away at his inheritance. Why can’t they just go back to the way they once were? She clings to memories of good times they once had, times when they sailed the islands together.

One night, a Southwestern wind approached the anchorage. Drew had anchored Joroba in a careless position next to the channel and too close to another sailboat.  Joroba utilized the wind angle to thrust herself into the other vessel repeatedly. She wanted the other boat owner to end her misery, to cut her loose and allow her to drift out to sea alone. The man did cut her loose, but instead of just letting her go, he tied her to a marker buoy. Her suicide attempt couldn’t have been more humiliating. The effort also scratched her most striking attribute, her Awl-grip paint job that had been a gift from Drew, was ruined.  

She watched with contempt as Drew rescued her with his new Boston Whaler and moored her with a borrowed anchor rode (of which he never returned to the owner, just left it on Joroba’s already cluttered deck). She would eventually get her revenge; she just hoped things would change. She longed to be sold while she was still salvageable, or permitted to sink, the ultimate humiliation, final act of abandonment.  She’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds.