Just got back from a great weekend of sail boat racing at Jolly Harbour. It was the Jolly Harbour Yacht Club Annual regatta (a few photos online next week). After 5 races AND some outstanding sailing from WANDERLUST, we (the skipper & crew of TORRIDGE) won cruising class by 10 seconds. FINE FLEUR won racing class and ENCORE dominated cruiser/racer. Pretty well everyone had a great time....... even the losers. Photos next week.
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Bob Williamson<marlowl@candw.ag> is an artist and author living in Antigua who sent me his account of damage on the island. It's notable that I live on the North West of the island and heard that the South East got it the worst. He lives in the South East and reports the opposite. Never the less his account of events in English Harbour are most interesting:
"Dear Nick,
Thanks for your suggestion that I participate in your web site about the bad press that Antigua always gets after a hurricane. After Luis
"YachtingWorld" published two editorials about the trashing of the
island. But, when I protested that the worst result of Luis was the kind of rubbish they were publishing , they had the grace to publish my letter.
Anyway, this time I sent them a piece as soon as I got power back and they're printing it in the next issue, with some photographs.
The piece below was also recently published in "All at Sea"
Canadian travel agents are saying that Antigua was trashed by that bad French Hurricane "Georges". This is not true. Antigua is fine. The
cleanup began smartly the day after and now, as I write on the 29th of September, water is back on and the power is marching down the new highway from St. John's. Not bad considering that after Hurricane Luis we waited five weeks for power. By October 3rd fresh, eager new leaves were bursting forth on trees and bushes.
At 9.30pm on September 20th the lights went out so we knew Georges was on the doorstep. But we also knew that Georges had suddenly dropped down to a Category 3, not gone up to a No.5 as predicted. In English Harbour we got a bad Northerly for a couple of hours, then the eye crossed overhead and there was a dead, eerie calm for an hour. At midnight the Eastern wall of the eye hit with the force and roar of an elderly 747, with gusts up to 180mph. That's when the damage was done - lots of roofs went flying; trees were stripped and, of course, it was from the South.
Most of the rain came with it. But not the ten predicted inches. The
dining room at Limey's was demolished. Yachts that were spliced and
knitted together into the mangroves in Tank Bay in front of Admiral's Inn suddenly had seven foot waves over their transoms. Gusts of cursing were elevated to the status of true collectibles, but all the boats survived with the odd busted cleat, and bruised ribs on hulls and skippers. An old coastal freighter that had dropped her hook amidst the mangroved yachts in Ordnance Bay broke its chain and changed the pecking order of the tidy row of boats, causing another flurry of memorable dialogue.
Most of the damage occurred on the West coast of the island. Jolly
Harbour emerged to discover a lot of damage to the shopping complex (broken glass, gardens wrecked by flying debris). Many boats had damage to rails and superstructure and from riding up onto the docks. Jac Housewright's boat "New Dimensions" had smashed windows and a large hole three feet north of the waterline. Ten boats in the yard were gently bowled over. Johnson's Point was fairly trashed and Hawksbill Hotel was damaged but Nelson's Dockyard and the Yacht Club Marina in Falmouth pulled through remarkably well. Galleon Beach, the famous home of the Red Stripe Sailing Week BBQ party, was badly damaged, with five villas knocked out, and the Inn lost its bar and some roofs. Rock the Dock's roof is now, we think, in Mexico. The Museum was hit hard and one
whole balcony was destroyed.
All things considered Antigua came through with flying colours. The sea wall in Nelson's Dockyard has now, however, reached its eleventh hour of viability and it is vital that a programme of aid to restore it begins. Several plans to raise the $US3M are being considered. If you'd like to be a part of this historic project just send a contribution to Nelson's Dockyard Sea Wall Restoration Fund, c/o National Parks Authority, Nelson's Dockyard, English Harbour, Antigua, West Indies.
Bob Williamson
English Harbour
Antigua
Tel/Fax: 268 463 8744
E-mail: marlowl@candw.ag
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The photos I promised last week went up a few days ago at http://1-by-1.com/AntiguaNews
There's also a new page of readers letters that are quite insightful including a report from a post hurricane Georges tourist!
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More when I get it............... regards
