Maggie B’s first cousin, M2, is coming along well. She is still more or less on time for launch in June of this year.

M2 is just the “working name” and I confess that I haven’t yet decided on what her launch name will be. Currently trying out “Maia” who was the most beautiful of the Seven Sisters (the Pleiades), and mother to Hermes. Also her sister Alcyone or Halcyon, who was later changed into a Kingfisher, which is not all bad.

There is so much that is so familiar when I go to visit M2 in the new yard in Riverport. And so much is so different. Maggie B was perfect, but a lot has changed, and not for the worse, on M2.

Check out the new photos up on Flickr, or go to the www.SchoonerMaggieB.net website, click on one of the M2 photos on the right, then when that opens, click on Photos, and then Recent Photos.

I had a great visit to Nova Scotia in February. Nigel Irens was able to come over for a visit and we nailed down 10,000 details. First we visited the boat in Riverport and climbed all over her and poked in every nook and cranny. It is so interesting to try to understand both the forest and the trees.

We then had a great meeting with Sandy McMillian of North Sails to discuss all the crucial details of how to get the most out of the rig. Then Nigel and I went on to Concord, MA to meet with Ted Van Dusen of Composite Engineering, who was beginning to braid up our masts. There are photos of mast-making on the web. It is totally incredible.

But back in Riverport the M2 is really coming together. The cockpit will be much like Maggie B. M2 carries her width further aft than MagB. There will be only one powered winch on either side, but there will be jammers to control the lines. In general the windward winch will be for the main and the leeward for the fore. The fore will have to share when the asymmetrical is up.

Main and fore halyards will lead to a powered winch amidships. Hopefully there will still be room for Reepicheep on deck. The foredeck will be unencumbered by the forestay and roller jib, but will be compact because the fore mast is stepped rather far forward.

M2 will have prism deck lights as with MagB, with the important difference that they will be positioned over the foot of the bunks, not the head – so that when they drip, the drops won’t fall in the ear of whoever is sleeping below.

Below, the galley is just like MagB’s, which was perfect. There will be only a few little innovations to help control plates, pots and pans. At the sinks there will be salt water, hot and cold fresh, and a new drinking water faucet that will have sophisticated filtration.

The Crew Mess will be the focus of the cabin. The trick is to have it right for grabbing a meal on the fly, having a fun dinner all together, and for after dinner or off-watch relaxation. Covey Island has come up with innovative sliding seats that should work great (see photos on our site).

Right forward of the Crew Mess is the Ships Office on the starboard side and cabin heater and wet locker on port. It should be easily possible to see all the essential information from anywhere in the main cabin, like “are the bilge pumps running?” “Is another radar looking at us?” “How much water is left in the port tank” “Is that a call on the Sat Phone?” We will also have a multifunction display with all the navigation data available and handy.

Then two cabins with double berths. Lots of storage space, both public and personal. Then the head on starboard, which will have lots of signs of what NOT to throw in the bowl (in many languages!). A sink on the port side with storage for personal kits. The shower is in the passage way, which will be enclosed by shutting the fore and aft doors. More room than on the MagB, but with some disincentive not to hang out there too long.

The fo’c’stle will be better utilized that on the Maggie B. There will be two good, permanent berths. Above the port side berth are two strong, deep shelves sized for large and medium plastic bins to carry all the spares that one collects. Above the starboard will be fittings for all the spare lines. There will be suitable chocks for the ship’s wine, whiskey and rum supplies.

The fore mast foots at the front of the fo’c’stle. In front of the mast is the forepeak, which will have the chain locker and substantial room for other gear. The forepeak will have deck access as well as a hatch from the fo’c’stle. Hmmm – does that make it a fore lazarette? (See John, Chapter 11).

As with the Maggie B, there will be two watertight bulkheads, one between the forepeak and the fo’c’stle and one between the fo’c’stle and the shower.

Electronics on the M2 will be more sophisticated than on the MagB. We will be a mostly all Furuno boat. The new Furuno system is significantly better than what we had. I won’t be sorry never to see the trackball again! Furuno has purchased and integrated MaxSea, so we shouldn’t have any more fights between the French and the Japanese as to who is running the autopilot!

We will also have AIS, which will broadcast our navigation information to all AIS equipped boats. WiFi and cell phone signals will be enhanced. Any computer aboard or nearby will be able to seamlessly interconnect. On “movie night,” we should be able to watch from any screen in the boat.

There is so much to do before she will be ready for the water, but it is exciting to be working on details like stain for the Black Walnut or which computer rather than how many engines.

All is well,
Frank Blair
Captain, Schooner Maggie B and M2

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.

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.

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.