...AND ITS RETURN IN THE MODERN ERA
Sail Cargo is a company with one mission: build the world’s first “negative emissions” cargo ship. Freight shipping has a huge impact on the environment, so Sail Cargo decided to look to the past for help. Designer Pepijn van Schaik has drawn a gorgeous three-masted wooden cargo vessel that the company describes as combining “old-world ship building techniques with avant-garde energy and propulsion systems design.” The ship, Ceiba, is still in the early stages of production in Costa Rica, where Sail Cargo has also initiated a reforestation project to offset the materials used. Additionally, solar and wind energy will power the electric motors onboard. It’s worth noting that some “emission-free” sailing ships already exist. However, Ceiba intends to be the first that will also offset all its shipyard impacts and have a negative carbon footprint. With a steadfast commitment to sustainability and a classic, beautiful design who wouldn’t be excited to see the success of this project? sailcargo.org
I suppose judging a “concours” of yachts is simple when marks are purely for brightwork and paint. In Antigua, however, there’s more to it. How do you match up the 143ft replica of a 1923 Starling Burgess fishing schooner fitted out like a superyacht with a 1957 Sparkman and Stephens racing yawl, restored by Gannon and Benjamin as a perfect period piece? Not easy, huh? Add in a couple of Carriacou sloops, a family-run 32ft Spanish ocean racer and the Hoek-designed Atalante, a bulb-keeled fast cruising yacht with traditional lines above water. Now note that down the dock the burgees of the Mylne-designed Fife Mariella and the 103ft Aschanti snapping out stiffly in the trade wind. Like can’t possibly be compared with like here. The secret is to break the fleet into groups, then judge on criteria where varnish and polish are only one section. Keeping faith with the boat’s original ethos is equally important. The only missing box to check here is for “soul.”
Considering that all these boats had sailed long and hard to be in Antigua, the general standard of sparkle was remarkably high, so digging deeper to make judgments came naturally. Most of the larger yachts I’ve been aboard recently have been modern craft with accommodations like high-end shore-side apartments. Clambering down the 73ft Ticonderoga’s companionway into the saloon, therefore, served up a contrast that filled yours truly, in particular, with joy. Surprisingly small, but flawlessly proportioned and fitted out in ageless good taste, it carried the day in style.
Meanwhile, Atalante showed what a modern yacht can do with an uncompromising spirit of tradition, while the gutsy 60ft Russamee won hands down in the Arne Frizzell trophy for a seamanlike operation, safe in anything the wind could throw at her.
Ultimately, it was also Russamee taking a concours prize that truly encapsulated the spirit of the classics. Her crew hadn’t intended to enter her because she was salty from the ocean and never conceived to compete with gold-platers. Her decks were rough and ready, her awnings bleached by the sun, but when you noted the mast step, adzed from a massive chunk of tropical hardwood by her Bangkok builders, then moved on to check her frames and scantlings, you knew that here was a boat that would survive. She had soul by the shovel-full, and her people were justly proud of her. Many a fancy yacht show would have discounted her at sight, but not Antigua. This is a land where boats are understood, the sea is all around and the blustering tradewind takes no prisoners.
Out on the water, the four race days provided the anticipated great sailing in hard winds and big seas. Courses were laid so that everyone might be thrilled at the spectacle of the big boats trampling the waves and the little ones somehow cutting a path through. No matter what the boat, the common factor was that all hands got soaked with warm tropical sea then washed off again by heavy squalls that roared through to keep us on the ball. In the evenings, Mount Gay ensured that the rum never faltered and laughter was all around. If you find yourself within a thousand miles of Antigua at the right time next year, ease your sheets and get on down. It may take a week to recover, but the Classics is unique and not to be missed.
For complete details on both this year’s regatta and the upcoming 2019 Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, visit antiguaclassics.com. s