Vessel Bio

Atlas

ATLAS:       Hand made in the shade of palm trees in Admirlty Bay in bequi. Atlas was started in 1976 and completed in 81 during the same timeframe in which Bob Dylan was building the legendary Water Pearl, which later sank off the coast of Panama. Atlas is the last schooner built in Bequia and one of the last surviving vestiges of a disappearing tradition of boat building in the West Indies. This tradition still lives on in the island of Cariacou where traditional island boats are now being built again on the beaches of windward, and are being raced,used to fish, and to carry cargo from island to island. After Atlas was built she sailed to St. John where she sat for 25 years almost reaching her last dying day.  When I found her and fell in love, breathing life back into the crippled vessel was a must, and once again the halyards brought canvas to the masthead and she sailed away South to join her island sisters in the Traditional Class at Antigua classics. On her way to Antigua I left her on a mooring for two weeks to work and she broke free hitting an island.  With a botched rescue attempt she sank and lay on the bottom of Gustavia Harbor for five days. We brought her back up in an amazing team effort and than towed her to St. Martin where she was out of the water for ten months while I restored her yet again. The first stage was to re-plank the smashed starboard side and rebuild the four destroyed frames.  Judd Tinius, of Galetea, came to the rescue and we had her planked and water tight after a ten day power session.  The next step was to rebuild the dead wood and replace the stem which had been ripped out.  She was relaunched December 24th and set sail again on the 26th bound for Antigua to continue the journey!

The Situation