Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - August 2020

Meridian Passage
of the Moon
WHAT’S ON MY MIND
Gems in Boatyards
by Robbie Ferron
august 2020 CARIBBEAN COMPAss pAGE 34
August - September 2020
Crossing the channels between Caribbean islands with a favorable tide will
make your passage faster and more comfortable. The table below, courtesy Don
Street, author of Street’s Guides and compiler of Imray-Iolaire charts, which
shows the time of the meridian passage (or zenith) of the moon for this AND next
month, will help you calculate the tides.
Water, Don explains, generally tries to run toward the moon. The tide starts
running to the east soon after moonrise, continues to run east until about an
hour after the moon reaches its zenith (see TIME below) and then runs westward.
From just after the moon’s setting to just after its nadir, the tide runs eastward;
and from just after its nadir to soon after its rising, the tide runs westward; i.e.
the tide floods from west to east. Times given are local.
Note: the maximum tide is 3 or 4 days after the new and full moons.
For more information, see “Tides and Currents” on the back of all Imray Iolaire
charts. Fair tides!
August
DATE TIME
1 2241
2 2336
3 0000 FULL MOON
4 0028
5 0116
6 0202
7 0245
8 0326
9 0407
10 0447
11 0529
12 0614
13 0701
14 0751
15 0845
16 0941
17 1039
18 1136
19 1232
20 1326
21 1418
22 1509
23 1601
24 1653
25 1747
26 1843
27 1939
28 2035
29 2130
30 2221
31 2311
September
1 2357
2 0000 FULL MOON
3 0041
4 0123
5 0203
6 0244
7 0325
8 0408
9 0453
10 0542
11 0633
12 0722
13 0823
14 0919
15 1016
16 1111
17 1205
18 1258
19 1351
20 1445
21 1540
22 1636
23 1734
24 1831
25 1926
26 2019
27 2109
28 2155
29 2234
30 2321
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I have to confess that I love walking around Caribbean boatyards and seeing all
the hulls and their designs and modifications, and contemplating their possible histories.
Many boats are uninteresting and in long-term storage. Many have similar
stories and when the stories are special they are not written on the keel or transom.
But now and again you get to find out the story and it can be great. In this case I
have followed the story for the better part of my life.
It was in Bobby’s Marine Phillipsburg in St. Maarten that among many hurricanedamaged
boats, storage containers, pieces of dredging equipment and cranes, I first
set my eyes on a boat I knew to be special. She is old, but being aluminium and
having a passionate owner, is in excellent condition. Her name is Bonhomme Richard
and next year she will be 50 years old.
This is still
one of the
best-lasting
hulls that you
can find in
boatyards in
the Caribbean.
Most sports fishermen are built in the US but there was once a builder of aluminium
sports fishermen called Striker, and he built his boats in the town of Oss in
the Netherlands. In St. Maarten we had two of these vessels over the many years,
albeit different models. One was the Bonhomme Richard. The other the Wendy, the
one-time property of a well-known St. Maarten businessman, the late Chester
Wathey (whose brother was political leader for many years).
The Bonhomme Richard belongs to marina owner Bobby Velasquez and he has
owned it since the ’70s. I can attest to this because when I first came to St.
Maarten in December 1979 I worked on the boat for him and at that time it was
his pride and joy. It was my very first employment in St. Maarten and I recall being
charged with cleaning up electrical connections. Later I even got to drive it on some
fishing charters.
The boat had originally belonged to US Congressman Richard Bolling, who got it
as a gift from his wife. Congressman Bolling was from Missouri and was for a term
the chairman of the powerful House Committee on Rules and a major supporter of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bonhomme Richard arrived in St. Maarten in 1971. After
it came into Bobby’s hands it has been his ever since.
These Strikers stood out because of their extreme deep vee in the bow, which
allowed them to cut the waves very well but made downwind steering a tough job as
the deep vee tracked in directions not necessarily chosen by the helmsman. The
originals had DAF engines (615) which were really Leyland blocks. The current power
in Bonhomme is a Perkins 6354.
The Striker company still exists and they now do 50-plus-foot models, which
are still highly regarded, but they no longer produce these small versions.
Strangely, aluminium hulls have for many years been the subject of “horror forecasts,”
and yet this hull is still one of the best-lasting that you can find in boatyards
in the Caribbean.
I also happened to find a Striker hull sunk in the Simpson Bay Lagoon that was
untouched there since Hurricane Irma in 2017. What a pity to leave these hulls
underwater and subject to electrolysis! I doubt that it could have survived the
inevitable electrolysis in the lagoon water, so it probably has little value. Such a pity
that owners made no effort to salvage, especially in a case like this where the salvage
is likely to have been quite simple.
Then a couple of days later I came across another Striker, this time a smaller one
but in magnificent condition. In spite of being very old, she has now become a rescue
boat. She is reported to have been built in the ’70s and with her new engines she is
expected to be an excellent life-saving tool for the Sint Maarten Sea Rescue organization.
She is called Rescue Chief and is reported to have an excellent condition aluminium
hull in spite of her age.
I am going to continue walking through boatyards if they will let me. You may hear
me muttering about keels being too short or too long, or doubting that anybody
might own up to having created a particular design. But sometimes there are interesting
stories that make the boatyard inhabitants come alive. Sometimes you learn
that a particular construction type and design, like Striker yachts, has outstanding
qualities that provide value to owners over an astounding number of years.