Building Maggie B»
The Maggie B is a 62-foot fusion schooner — a fusion between the best of traditional sailing and modern technology. Deck prisms and LEDs; a gaff schooner with graphite composite spars; soft Spectra rigging and cast bronze deadeyes.
The Maggie B was conceived in Chicago, designed in England, and built in Nova Scotia with components from the US, Great Britain, Canada, Denmark, Italy, France, Japan, Thailand, Holland, Portugal and many more countries.

I gave Nigel Irens the challenge of designing a fast, sea kindly, modern world cruising schooner. Covey Island had the challenge of building his design as “not a yacht, but not a workboat” — efficient, smart, low maintenance, and experienced. I think that both got it right.
Stick with us and we all will see how it turns out.
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The Maggie B featured in the Dec. 2007 issue of Yachting World

Author Annie Hill, whom we met while berthed in New Zealand, praises the Maggie B in this article in the December 2007 issue of Yachting World. You can read a pdf version here, complete with photos of the crew and the Maggie B.

Lewmar again…

This morning brought a new surprise. On his watch, Robert collected about a dozen inch long pea green round tubes, and asked me what they might be. My first thought was some strange sort of chewing gum pieces. On inspection they proved to be the inner rollers of one of our Lewmar main sheet blocks, [...]

Thoughts by Nigel Irens on directional stability and broaching

The Maggie B is often out in big seas and big winds. One area of concern for any sailor who goes in those conditions is “broaching,” where the boat is going down wind and down wave at high speed and twists sideways to the wave and capsizes, often with the lost of rigging and sometimes [...]

North Sails: Evolving Sailcraft for a ‘fusion schooner’

North Sails Atlantic has been building schooner sails for over 25 years, for boats including Bluenose II and Highlander (formerly the Mayflower, built in 1922). The sails for Schooner Maggie B use laminate sailcloth and a unique sailplan to achieve a success in sailing dynamics for schooners. Frank Blair challenged some of North [...]

Nigel Irens

Nigel Irens’ designs have been at the forefront of multihull oceanic racing since the mid-eighties. Nigel Irens was educated at Clifton College in Bristol, England. He entered the sailing world professionally after receiving a diploma in Boatyard Management at Southampton College of Technology. A prolific career of designing and building numerous highly successful racing [...]

Covey Island

Experienced mariner wants seaworthy boat with personality!
Frank Blair was looking for a boat to sail around the world with his son after his graduation from college. Several factors steered him to Covey Island, including his awareness of the 70ft. (LOD) gaff schooner Tree of Life, launched in 1991, and largely crewed by Outward Bounders on [...]

Take a tour aboard the Maggie B

Here’s a short slideshow tour of the Maggie B’s accommodations. Or, view the photos, with descriptions, here:
Welcome aboard!

Covey Island President John Steele on Building Maggie B

Frank not only brought us his dream to create but an approach that took his project out of the realm of “work” to a much more rewarding place where it became a creative team effort.
From the outset Frank made it clear he would not be limited by preconceptions. He invited input from the entire team [...]

Service of Blessing for the Launching of the Maggie B — Lunenburg Harbour, NS

Prayer led Fr. Michael Mitchell
Heavenly Father, we rejoice that we can gather today to pray your blessing upon this schooner, the Maggie B. Help us, by our presence today, to rejoice in the skill and craftsmanship of all those who gave her life. Make us mindful of your unfailing care and protection. [...]

Maggie B – Ship’s Plans

The Maggie B is a fusion schooner – a combination of traditional design and modern technologies, says owner and captain, Frank Blair. Designer Nigel Irens says, “Whilst the boat will be perceived as having been inspired by traditional designs, the objective has simply been to create the kind of efficient and easily maintained vessel that [...]

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