Tender Loving Care for Carriacou Sloop New Moon!

 

It’s that time of year again at Sammy’s Boat Yard as we roll up our sleeves and dive into maintenance for our beloved traditional wooden Carriacou Sloops.

What are Carriacou Sloops?

The boats are beautiful and fast, which makes them wonderful to look at. It gives the sensation of speed and excitement. Built as fishing and cargo sloops, their chief cargo was livestock and salt, but sometimes, their manifest included smuggled booze from St. Barth.

New Moon is a classic Carriacou fishing sloop, immaculately built to the highest boat-building standards with the best materials available. She was built on the beaches of Windward, Carriacou, and launched on July 11, 2010. The vessel was carefully crafted by boat builder Bernard Compton over 18 months.

New Moon is  32’ long, 9’ beam, and 5’ draft and is a very fast and lively day sailor. She is built out of Carriacou cedar on a green heart keel. All of her fastenings are silicon bronze, and the planking and basic interior are Guyanese silver Bali.

 

Tender Loving Care for Carriacou Sloop New Moon, Genesis and Sweetheart

Painting is part of the rhythm of care, especially with traditional wooden boats like a Carriacou sloop. It is a way to show love and pride for the craft and the culture. Every year, we spend a couple of weeks in Sammy’s Boatyard for maintenance. Sanding, fairing and painting are hard work, but it is very rewarding to reveal her true beauty. 

This year, the yard has transformed into a gathering of Carriacou Sloops, each one telling a story of care and dedication. Off in the corner stands Carriacou Sloop Genesis, a little ahead in maintenance and nearly ready to make her triumphant splash, gleaming and bright. Sweetheart, however, is in for a complete refit. Nicknamed “Sweat Hard” by Bruce, our devoted restoration wooden boat expert, sees her transformation as a labor of love. While she won’t grace this year’s Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, we look forward to her dazzling debut next year.

 

Why does New Moon have an orange deck?

Powerful, fun, vibrant, and connected to the traditional Caribbean fishing fleet. The orange decks are for safety and to dry the fish. The color of adventure and social communication.

With its enthusiasm for life, the color orange relates to adventure and risk-taking, inspiring physical confidence, competition, and independence. Those inspired by orange are always on the go! Orange aids in the assimilation of new ideas and frees the spirit of its limitations, giving us the freedom to be ourselves.

 

Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta and Concours d’Elegance

As we approach the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta from April 16-21, 2025, excitement fills the air as we prepare for the Concours d’Elegance on April 16. Having won first prize in the privately maintained class for four consecutive years, we are determined to surprise the judges again with the beauty of New Moon. 

Massive shoutout to all our incredible friends for their support, from donating paint to refreshing those beautiful letters. Your help means the world to us!

It’s going to be a spectacular gathering of maritime passion and heritage. This event promises to bring together sailors from all corners of the world, united by a love of the sea and a commitment to preserving the legacy of Classic and Vintage yachts.

Let’s keep the spirit of our Carriacou wooden boat legacy alive and thriving!