Christmas Greetings 2008

Christmas Holidays are always a time for reflection. So many good things, with some bad things entwined. We are still celebrating the successful circumnavigation and Obama’s election.

Of course the destruction of the Covey Island boatyard and the Schooner Maggie B remains the horrible codicil to the story of the 38,400 NM trip. The world-wide implosion of the economy makes it hard sometimes to remember the sunny beaches of Brazil of the glory of the Capes.

But the insurance has paid off for both Covey Island and me, and Nigel Irens is sharpening his pencils and beginning to carve some models. I will have his first drawing up on this web site soon.

Sailing news is quite focused on the Vendee Globe. It is great to see Derek Hatfield of Canada in the race. He is a ways back from the leaders, but still one of the 18 competitors out of the original 30. The news of the great rescue of Yann Elias was electrifying. Michael Desjoyeux is in the lead with 10,800 NM to go. Amazingly, three other boats are within 150 NM of him, so it is still very much a close race. They should round the Horn for New Years.

Best of the season to All.

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New Article | The Maggie B Lost to Fire

A new article (September BOAT International) is available (pdf) in the Ship’s Library, in our Links section.

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Update on the fire, Thursday, 09.04.2008

I am very happy to report that there is a lovely eight page article about the Schooner Maggie B in the September BOAT International. Be sure to get the International edition, not the USA one. It has “Sailing Special” on the cover. We are on page 232. I will scan it and get it up on the web site as soon as I get permission from the publisher.

There is little new news from the fire. The fire inspectors and the insurance specialists agree that the fire started in the area where the main electrical circuits come into the building. A nearby extension cord on a retractable reel is suspected. Most all of the boat gear was stored in the building and was also destroyed. The main, fore and jib sails were at North Sails for repair but the storm sails and our beautiful “Bird” gennaker were also burnt.

I hope to salvage the partially melted prop and some of the charred keel. I hope to send little pieces of the burnt hull to friends in all our favorite places around the world, to be put back in the seas where we sailed and those, like the Mediterranean, where we hoped to go.

The Maggie B was fully insured and the insurance company is being entirely cooperative. I have no plans for “what’s next” other than writing the book and telling the story.

I regret to report the death of Edwin Sperry, the master electrician for the Covey Island building. He died in the woods near his house in Petit Rivere on the Sunday after the fire.

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Ashes to Ashes

Friday, August 15, 2008 – I went to see the Covey Island yard on Thursday. It was still smoking. Some photos are up on the web site, at right. What is more than a total loss? Even the propeller melted.

The current belief is that the fire started in the back of the shop, possibly by a retractable extension cord. The fire got so hot that the volunteer firemen were almost unable to pull out the fire trucks from the fire house 150 feet away.

The loss of the Schooner Maggie B is awful for me and all those who sailed on her and loved her. The loss of Covey Island Boatyard is even harder. Thirty years of plans, business records, and specialty tools. Those who worked there lost all their gear.

Bad news travels fast. People have written in from all over the world:

From Bill and Claudie in Bay of Islands, NZ:

“Condolences is not a proper expression.. as it relates to the loss of human life. We are all coming to grips with a unique loss which is the loss of beauty and fleeting dreams which we have known. .. dedicated disciplines and skills that culminated in this exceptional Maggie B. The Mona Lisa could be so lost, but its not quite the same free kinetic beauty that the sea embraces.”

From Curtis in Cadiz, Spain:

“She was a friend, a protector, a mother for all of those who sailed on her, a vicarious adventure and a symbol of hope for all who followed her travels through Capt. Blair´s log entries. To have such an inelegant end for such a singularly graceful craft is beyond my notions of right and wrong. That she was to be launched next Monday adds only acid to the ashes.”

From Warren in Rockland:

“A vessel like the Maggie B is built not only of many parts over many months
but of many miles, many shipmates, many hard-won experiences and many
tangible memories.”

From Mikalya in Nova Scotia:

“I am 14….and for 25 months, and that is a long time because I was just turning 12 back then, the beautiful Maggie B took me all around the world through our computer.”

From Robert in Atlanta, quoting David Whyte’s News of Death:

“For this loss I could not speak,
the tongue lay idle in a great darkness,
the heart was strangely open,
the moon had gone,
and it was then
when I said, “She is no longer here”,
that the night put its arm around me
and all the white stars turned bitter with grief.”

From Aaron at Wooden Boat in Maine:

“It’s been quiet around the office all day. The fire has dropped a pall on our world at Wooden Boat… She was one of the most remarkable boats I have ever sailed and I salute you for having the persistent foresight and hunger to orchestrate her creation and to have used her so well….In my brief experience, losing a boat isn’t like losing something as distinctly defined as a mitten or a mother, it’s more like losing your bearings on a map of dreams you had.”

From Bill in Maryland:

“Maggie B. was like a thoroughbred horse, who carried you so far and so well, and then was lost just after the finish.”

And, perhaps closest to my sentiments, from Theresa in New South Wales, Australia:

“F**k.”

Needless-to-say, it is way too soon to have any plans for the future, except to settle in and write the book.

All is not well.

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Maggie B Destroyed By Fire at Covey Island Boatworks

I regret to report that the Schooner Maggie B was destroyed last night in a fire at Covey Island Boat Works. She is a total loss. She was to be re-launched next Monday.

Pictures coming in a few days.

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Schooner Maggie B in rehab – July 10, 2008

The schooner Maggie B is in the Covey Island shed getting fixed up after her hard 38,400 NM maiden voyage. There are some new photos up on the web showing how she looks all stripped. I was able to go by and see her the end of June. It was quite a shock to see our home ‘all tore up.’ They aren’t actually doing a lot, but it is hard to imagine that it will soon again be all back together soon and ready for the next adventure.

Regular readers may recall the challenges we had with the toilet. Curtis, Robert and I put in hundreds of hours to troubleshoot blockages in the the black water tank and then to build a “work around.” It turns out that a single tampon was the culprit — an all too familiar story to anyone who works with marine toilets. An emphatic notice will be a prominent part of the rebuilt system.

Feathering props are an essential part of any traveling sailboat. For the Maggie B it made a 3/4 to one knot difference. At a very rough estimate, we probably saved 30 days of sailing with the extra speed (the difference between going six and seven knots over 30,000 NM). Of the several alternatives out there, we selected the Italian J-Prop. Now they are our enemies. We lost our first J-Prop when it simply came off somewhere between Barbados and Brazil on the way out. The distributor said that it had never happened before, which turned out to be a lie. But they did send us a free replacement. Free until Brazil customs demanded a 100% import tax due to mistakes J-Prop made in shipping. The replacement J-Prop failed in Martinique on our way back. When we took it apart, the gear teeth fell out as if it had been the loser in a bare-knuckle bout.

When we got back to Canada we were told 1) they had changed the warrantee period to one year from three, so it was out of warrantee, 2) that J-Props never fail unless they are abused, ours failed so therefore it must have been abused, so the warrantee is voided and 3) we could ship it to Italy to be rebuilt, but they had no idea how long it would take. Our next prop will be a Luke, built in Maine.

I got to the Wooden Boat show in Mystic Seaport in June. It was a lovely celebration. Some photos are posted. One high point was getting into the non-display storage sheds to see the incredible collection. I went right to their Moosabec Reach Wherry, whose lines were the genesis for Reepicheep, our tender from the Apprentice Shop in Rockland.

All is well.

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Location: 5° 10N, 44° 21W
Tuesday, 04.01.08

At Noon on April First, the Schooner Maggie B was at 5° 10N, 44° 21W. We were under sail with the main with one reef, making 8.5 knots directly for Antigua, which is 1242 NM away. We have come 1588 NM from Salvador. We are headed NW in a solid 15 knot NE trade. The relative wind is steady at about 60 degrees starboard and Maggie B is loving it.

We had our first Flying Fish on board this morning, which is appropriate because Thomas reminded us that the French call April Fools Day “Poisson d’Avril” (Fish of April). They apparently pin fake fish on people’s backs as jokes. We tried to pin the dead flying fish on Thomas, but it didn’t work.

The skies have cleared up to a high, thin, overcast. The barometer remains relatively low (remember the ITCZ) at 1002 Mb. We have resumed our varnishing and oiling of the exposed wood, though the combination of our speed and the wind keeps some parts of the deck wet with spray. Hannah has reverently touched up Tawhirimatea.

Reading Robert Fagles great translation of The Aeneid has given me the germ of an idea for perhaps the next voyage of the Maggie B – to retrace the voyages of Aeneas from Troy to Thrace to Crete to the Western Greek islands, up the Adriatic to Acroceraunia (modern ?), across to the Temple of Minerva in the boot heel of Italy, down the coast to Sicily, across to Carthage, back to Sicily and up the coast of Italy to Rome. Just a thought.

I have just heard of Robert Fagles recent death. We celebrate his life, vastly enriched by his wonderful translations of the Iliad, the Odyssey as well as his recent Aeneid.

All is well.

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Location: 20° 35S, 39° 58W
Tuesday 03.04.2008

At noon on March 4th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 20° 35S, 39° 58W. We are motoring NE in very light or calm winds. It is hot and sunny and quite humid. If we weren’t making our own wind and had the full sunshade up, we would perish. Our only sail handling is tacking up and down the sides of the awning from morning to evening. We have even put the sail covers on the fore and main due to no prospect for wind. We all can imagine the crews of square riggers going mad.

We have come 1610 NM from Buenos Aires, have 171 NM to go to the Parque Nacional Marinho do Abrolhos, Salvador is 465 NM and Antigua 2585.

We have been stopping around noon each day to take a brief dip in mid ocean. Recently we have been seeing Portuguese Man-of-war, Physalia physalis. (Those Portuguese sure do get around). They are also know as “blue bottles” as they resemble plastic trash more than anything. Physalia are really, really interesting beyond offering a swimmer very serious, possibly fatal stings. They are not a single organism, but a colony of different individuals, one being the float, another the mouth and stomach, another the sexual organs. The colony doesn’t just float, it has a sail. The really cool part is that there are two
basic types, one with a left-handed and one with a right handed sail, set so that they “sail out” and scatter, depending on the winds and current rotation of the area they are in.

The Physalia has a fish, the Man-of-War fish, that lives unharmed among the tentacles. Physalia are eaten by “purple bubble raft snails.” Really!

We have been motoring about 20 miles off shore and have had the unusual night time view of vast oil fields out to sea from us. It looks as if there are towns twenty miles away on each side of us, which is sort of true. During one regular radar check we discovered a target moving very fast towards us, perhaps 70 knots. After a short period of panic about military action, we realized that it was the return of a low-flying helicopter servicing the oil fields. I had not previously known that basic ship navigation radar would pick up aircraft.

One guidebook recommends something called the Passarela do Alcool (alcohol walkway) in Porto Seguro. One section is dominated by fresh fruit cocktail stands making the infamous “capeta,” which is made from guarana, cocoa powder, cinnamon, sweetened condensed milk and vodka. Capeta means “the devil” in Portuguese. I think that as Captain, I need to keep the crew away from such temptations.

We had a mystery last night. We have consistently run about seven liters (two gallons) an hour at our cruising speed. The left tank was filled at Paraty, and took the right amount of fuel given hours run. It should have run for 60 hours, but ran out after 45. We don’t know if 1) the tank wasn’t really full, 2) the
engine has significantly changed its fuel consumption, or 3) something in the Paraty fuel made it last less long (it is rather cloudy to the eye from what I drain out of the filters). We thought that we had plenty of fuel to get to Salvador, but with this uncertainty, we will get a refill somewhere along the
way to be safe, though probably not in Porto Seguro (see above).

All is well.

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Location: 22° 39S, 41° 28W
Monday, 03.03.2008

The Schooner Maggie B was at 22° 39S, 41° 28W at noon on March 3rd. We have come 1453 NM from Buenos Aires, Salvador is 605 NM away and Antigua 2651. We are motoring in light or no wind, on a calm sea with only residual rollers. The sky is clear but with cumulus buildups over the land to our west. We passed Cabo Frio at dawn this morning and are heading NE, more or less straight for Salvador.

Commanders Weather (see full report on the web site) says that “we are getting in the part of the world where not much [meteorologically] goes on.”

The coast from Rio to Salvador contains dozens of lovely beach resorts and our tough job is to choose where and when to stop. We have already passes Buzios, the beach resort made famous by none other than Brigitte Bardot. Ahead lie Porto Seguro, the site of the first Portuguese landfall in the 16th Century; Ilheus, the hometown of Jorge Amado, Brazil’s best known novelist; Caravelas; Barra Grande; Itacare; Valencia; and many more wonderful stops.

Our goal now is some islands that make up the Parque Nacional Marinho de Abrolhos, Brazil’s first national marine park. It is about half way between our current position and Salvador. The name comes from the sailor’s warning “abre os olhos” (open your eyes). The five island archipelago was visited by Darwin in the HMS Beagle in 1832, and is tightly protected by the Federal Government. We should be there about noon on the 5th, and hope to have a day’s snorkeling.

About noon today we stopped for a swim in mid-ocean. Curtis was super eager and jumped in before the boat was stopped, which he quickly found to be a mistake. He was shocked how fast he was left behind and set a new World’s Record in the 100 meter freestyle.

This morning’s sunrise was heightened by having Venus and Mars rise close together just before the dawn.

We are catching fish again, and got a nice two foot Bonito first and then a lovely two foot Mahi Mahi. Dinner will be delicious!

All is well.

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Location: 23° 09 S, 44° 02W
Sunday 03.02.2008

On March 2nd, the Schooner Maggie B was at 23° 09S, 44° 02W. We were motoring due east at 7.7 knots for Cabo Frio. The wind is about calm, the skies clear and the swell 2-3 meters from the SE. The barometer is down to 1000, which is about 10 mB below what we normally see.

Cabo Frio (where we turn north) is 112 NM away, Salvador 687 and Antigua 2614. We have come 1301 NM from Buenos Aires.

Our plan is to be in the Salvador area, if not the town itself, on March 8th. That should give us at least a day to spare to stop to visit or play somewhere along the coast. We are just doing our homework on Buzios, Vitoria and the coast of Bahia. We surely could spend a month sailing around the Bahia de Todos Santos
in Bahia, but we will pick our spots as a function of weather and crew energy levels.

I mentioned earlier that we had gotten banged up a bit recently. John Steele, the owner of Covey Island that made Maggie B, our shipmate, friend and ever-ready at “mission control,” has suggested that we might consider entering a contest in Antigua that he won with his former boat, Marguerite. It is not the “Concors d’Elegance” but the “Concors de Negligence.” I was just a little hurt as we have not been at all negligent about taking care of Maggie, just she has added some….character. I consider the imperfections like perhaps the face of a Prussian Major in the old days with honorable scars here and there, and a tale about every one.

All is well.

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