—Continued from page 35 Leonard had the lead keel of a yacht that had been wrecked some years ago at Windward, so it, too, was chain-sawed into manageable chunks. We loaded in the lead. She looked about right with the two-and-a-half tons of lead in her, but a bit light by the head, so we got about 20 flour sacks and Benny filled them with black sand, which was duly loaded on board. Jorge fitted the engine, moving it from the hold onto the engine beds with chain hoists, and connecting it up. The first run-up of the engine was satisfying. Engine trials proved her to have “plenty powa, man” — eight knots at 1200 RPM, very com- fortable, quiet and free of vibration. Then the big day, trials under sail. I had been worrying about the weight of the mast and the heavy mainsail, about how much more ballast she might need, and whether the modified steel rudder would control her. The mainsail looked huge when hoisted, but nicely cut exactly as I had wanted. The headsails, which came from the destroyed Fife ketch Moonshine, were an exact fit. With a bunch of friends to assist, we set off. No bravado here: I motored away from the anchorage to set the main in clear water. It takes two strong people to hoist the main. With the main hoisted but sheets not slacked off, Tradition was away but almost uncontrollable, the long boom pushing her up into the wind. We set the large Yankee jib on the bowsprit and then she balanced beautifully. Benny, who had sailed Tradition up and down the islands for years, thought she was “a likkle tender, Uncle.” (I was always Uncle to Benny.) Personally, I like a boat to be a bit tender, initially anyway; it’s much easier on the gear and gives one a bet- ter feeling for the wind. Tradition, with slack bilges but firm buttocks (lovely thought), will lie over initially and then stiffen up. Mark, a robust Trini, was anxious to add his considerable weight to the crew, so Benny, Mark and I set off for Bequia. I found myself feeling sad to be leaving Carriacou. It is such a friendly place, with the common interest in boats overriding any superficial differences in wealth, gender or race. Tradition was a special common bond, of course: she had been built there Underway at last... and worked from there for so many years. It was not unusual for me to be in Hillsborough and a passerby or bus driver would shout, “How it going with Tradition, man; when de launching gon’ be?” I was going to miss the easy familiarity between the Carriacou people and myself, the visiting skinny-leg white guy! The wind was a bit south of east and we were able to lay Bequia close-hauled. What a huge relief to find that Tradition was able, close-winded, fast and very comfortable. We got ashore to the Frangipani in time for an aperitif, or two or three. Alexis Andrews joined us in Bequia and we spent the following day making adjust- ments to the rig. The four of us set off early the next morning and, with a cracking easterly wind, were off Deshaies, Guadeloupe, in 36 hours — an average speed of over seven knots. A meal for the crew, a good night’s sleep and off in the morning for a day sail to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua. In Antigua we entered Tradition in the Classic Yacht Regatta. I had fitted her out without using yacht gear, winches, windlass and so on, the result being a pretty pure Carriacou boat of her era, but also a very labour-intensive boat if one wished to “race around the cans”. Fortunately I did have lots of volunteer crew, some with experience of this sort of rig, others who had to learn the virtues of the “handy billy” and rolling hitch. With her 33-foot main boom, Tradition is very sensitive to mainsail trim, and in a good breeze it took two strong guys and a trimmer just to look after the main- sheet. The steel rudder that had caused me some anguish back in Carriacou was clearly not powerful enough when she was pressed, and we found that gybing was almost unachievable when the wind was strong. We resorted to “wearing ship” at the gybing mark. To avoid confusion with the other boats we reached off away from the mark, did our tack and then got back in line, losing surprisingly little ground. Tradition won the Concours d'Elegance. This was a surprise because we had not stowed the sails properly or washed up the dishes — in fact, we had not even entered the competition. With all the great efforts other crews had made, I was somewhat embarrassed. We also came second in class overall. After Classics, we went around to Jolly Harbor where Tradition was hauled and the steel rudder was sheathed with purpleheart, extending it back and upwards to increase the area and block the flow of water over the top of the rudder. This greatly improved the handling and made me wonder why I had not had the courage of my convictions back in Carriacou when I suspected the rudder was too small. Then we sailed to St. Barths for the West Indies Regatta of Caribbean working boats (see Caribbean Compass, July 2009) and back to Antigua to lay up for the hurricane season. Having partially laid Tradition up in the mangroves, I was approached by Laurance (Laurie) Gumbs of Anguilla, asking if 1 might sell Tradition to him. His intention was to use her for his youth training program and also to make her available for longer- distance passages, giving clients the chance to sail on a traditional Caribbean trad- ing vessel. Laurie’s father, Sir Emile Gumbs, had owned and captained the much larger trading schooner Warspite, and so the family has a history of involvement in such vessels. For me to pass Tradition on to such an experienced and enthusiastic family was ideal. With her refit completed, Antigua Classics a success, and the won- derful West Indies Regatta experienced, I bowed out a satisfied man. On June 6th, 2009, Tradition sailed with her new owner and enthusiastic crew, bound for Anguilla. Frank Pearce is a yachisman, tugboat captain and Vice-Commodore of the Antigua Yacht Club. Here are a couple of neat, new little stocking-stuffers for the special sailor on your list! A First — The Sailing GPS The Sailing GPS represents a watershed in the history of naviga- tional devices. For the first time, sail- ST N ° ors will be able to determine the optimum tacking angle to arrive at their destination in the shortest possible time. For cruisers, this means a dramatic increase in the ability to plan routes, and accu- rately forecast Tacking Time to Destination. For racers, The Sailing GPS provides an unmatched competitive advantage in determining the fastest line to mark — the result of a continuous computation of the ideal balance between distance and speed. Dr. Craig Summers, inventor of The Sailing GPS, says, “The Sailing GPS is the only device in the world that accounts for tacking when calculating distances, time of arrival, and optimal routes. The Sailing GPS does this automatically. Moreover, it includes an algorithm that learns your boat's unique speed characteris- tics, which is far more accurate when determining actual Tacking Time to Destination than using generic polar plot specifications from manufacturers or simu- lated models.” The Sailing GPS is Bluetooth wireless enabled, for sharing GPS data with existing PC-based chart-plotters. For more information visit www.TheSailingGPs.com. New Floating VHFs Cobra Marine, a division of Cobra Electronics, introduces its Floating Line of VHF handheld radios, the MR HH330 FLT EU and the Bluetooth®-equipped MR HH475 FLT BT EU. With a bright, orange core, these unique handhelds can be easily spotted in the water, if they end up afloat. Incredibly com- pact for a floating radio, these units fit nicely in one’s hand and have easy-to-operate controls and large LCD screens for easy viewing. Operating with 6 Watts of power, Cobra’s most powerful handheld radios, they easily enable long-range communica- tion while a noise-canceling microphone blocks background noise for clearer conver- sations. The unique “BURP” feature vibrates water out of the speaker grill to improve per- formance in extreme conditions. These radi- os can also scan three channels simultane- ously, including channel 16 and two user- selected channels. For more information visit www.cobra.com.