Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - October 2021

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THESAILORKING OFCARRIACOUby Ralph TroutOCTOBER 2021 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 22Hope lives in this classic Windward house. There are usually one or two boats under construction in the vacant lot to the right.Afew years ago my attention was diverted from a pool game at theAround the Island race in 1998.Wheelhouse in Chaguaramas, Trinidad, when I heard someoneHope’s Imagine neverreferred to as the “Sailor King of Carriacou.” A thin man with thickrelinquished the lead.gray hair wore a beaming smile in response. Over a Stag beer, Ilistened to the story of Mr. Hope McLawrence of Windward, Carriacou. Quietand unassuming, he unfolded the short story of a man born to sail.Inset: The last time I drank with “The world is moving so fast it is so nice to go slow. That’s why I sail. I dearlyHope was in 2017 at the corner love to sail; seems it makes my life longer and fuller.” That was Hopeshop across from the government McLawrence’s relaxing explanation of sail over power. “It is not about justfisheries building in Windward. going to a place, like the Tobago Cays or Grenville; the way you get theremakes you see it different. Everything feels sweeter, more personal under sail.”Hope McLawrence was born in Windward, Carriacou, which is one of themost mellow, predictable villages in the entire Caribbean. Other island localescater to and embrace progress; Windward remains the same, much like amuseum exhibition representing an authentic Caribbean fishing village. Theold houses of cedar shake and gingerbread face the sunrise. Most of thefamilies bear Scottish names as descendants of the northern fishing companiesand boatbuilders. The shoreline and the bay inside the protective reef displayboth the ongoing and finished products of this woodworking talent. TheWindward boats are low-slung, beautiful traditional wooden sloops. Some stillsail out in the mornings, heave to and drag lines, hoping to hit a school of bigkings. Most of these traditional boats stay moored until a refit before the racesof the August Regatta. Sailing is the way of life.More than half a century ago, Hope McLawrence started sailing and fishingwith his father. “Then the inside reef was loaded with conch and fish. Everythingwas there. My father would sail out in his small boat and point out a conch onthe bottom; I’d dive and get it. Most times he’d have a big long pole and put itright on that conch shell. I didn’t have a dive mask or anything in those timesso I’d just follow that pole straight down to the bottom and grab that conch andbring it up.” Hope looked out at the horizon with shining eyes, “Yes, in thosedays life here was easy. Happiness was a belly full of rice and fish under a gooddry roof. I lived on the sea as a boy. Sea was first and always my love.“The village of Windward became famous for corning (salting) fish. We’d getour catch salted and load it up for the sail to Grenville, Grenada. I mighthave been eight when my father first took me along to sell the fish. We’dleave early in the morning, just at sunrise. I can remember how badly thatboat smelled. It had made a lot of voyages to the Saturday Market inGrenville without the ballast stones being pulled and the bilge cleaned.There had to be a mess of old fish rotting in that bilge water. The older guyswere used to it but for me it was torture. I was sick almost the whole way.Then, after a few more trips, it became an event. We’d sail down to thatmarket, no matter the weather. My father and his friends knew the seas andtheir boats. Sell the fish, get some ice cream, cook on the coal pot, sleep ondeck, and carry on with the big men.—Continued on next pageBuilt by sailmakers dedicated to building the finest, most durableand technologically advanced sails possible.ANTIGUA & BARBUDAStar MarineJolly HarbourCURACAOZeilmakerij HarmsKapiteinsweg #4www.yachtshotsbvi.comGRENADATurbulence SailsTrue Blue St GeorgeMARTINIQUEVoilerie Du Marin30 Bld Allegrewww.DOYLECARIBBEAN.comST LUCIARodney Bay SailsRodney BayTRINIDAD & TOBAGOAMDChaguaramasBARBADOSDoyle Offshore Sails, LtdSix Crossroads. St PhilipTel: (246) 423 4600joanne@doylecaribbean.com
— Continued from previous page“I saved up and bought my first boat when I wasalmost nine. Think it cost me ten dollars, which was alot of money. That boat leaked from the minute I boughtit. I tarred the bottom, but it really needed to be caulked.Finally, I got some guys who knew how to teach me. Thesails were flour bags sewn together.” Hope leaned backwith an easy, beaming smile, “Man, I’d go everywhere inthat boat. It was just a small boat, maybe twelve feet,but I got it all fixed up to go fishing. I’d sail up to theTobago Cays and camp out for three or four days. Catchand corn the fish, sleeping on the beach out under thestars with nobody around. None of these anchorageshad anybody in them in those days. Since this was myown fish, it was mine to sell. So I guess that’s when Ifirst really started working for myself.“Well, every time I’d do a trip like that I’d have tochange the ballast stones and clean her out afterwards.That little boat was my ticket to everything and I couldn’thave it smelling bad and drawing flies. After a while Istarted doing longer trips on the bigger trading boats toSt. Vincent and Trinidad. You know, once I sailed insomewhere by having someone show me a route, I neverneeded to be told again. Today with GPS and thosecruising guides, people with no experience are gettingeverywhere. It was years before I even saw a chart.”At 17 it was time to go farther. An uncle, CaptainBernard McLawrence, took the young Hope on as thecook’s helper aboard the 70-foot schooner Amberjack.The boat traded everywhere by sail, carrying cargo andmail from Grenada to Carriacou. At that time it hadjust installed a motor, a small 30-horsepower Lister.Captain Bernard’s partner, Romero, got a job ofhauling a load of scrap iron out of Suriname. FromWindward, the Amberjack stopped at Grenada andwent on to Trinidad to load a cargo of bitumen. Threehundred drums of the road coating were stored in thehold. The crew was eight including captain, mate, anengineer, two cooks and three sailors. Young Hope’sjob was keeping the galley clean, scrubbing pots,serving the captain his meal. He was lucky to sleep inthe stern next to the captain’s cabin while the rest ofthe crew bunked in the forepeak.At Port of Spain, the young McLawrence got his firsttaste of a big city. Loading the bitumen took a week. Oneday on the docks during lunch he bought a gold chainfor 20 TT dollars that quickly became brass in front ofhis mates. He tossed it overboard. It was decades beforehis opinion of Trinidad changed for the better. On thattrip, his pay was EC$16 a month. The drums wereunloaded in Paramaribo, Suriname, and then Amberjackmotored upriver where the crew waited for a pilot to takethem to the load of scrap iron.Near a tiny village called Carbo, the river pilot led theAmberjack to a small island with one tree where thescrap iron was piled. The river was very muddy andfringed with thick bush. Carbo was a hunter’s villageof about 20 people with one young girl, a church anda school. With the event of the schooner’s arrival, thevillage had a dance laced with homemade wine. Everytime a canoe passed on the river, it was filled with dogsand rifles. No wild meat was traded, but the crews’bellies were filled with fresh dasheen.Nobody ever explained why the scrap iron was in themiddle of the river. The surrounding jungle frightenedthe young Windward man, but the Amberjack anchoredin the middle, away from the dense bush. Hisgranduncle, Brown McLawrence, in Cayenne, had tolda story of finding his Dominican gardener dead in thegrip of a big anaconda. Hope was also told to bewareof the wild boars that could eat a fellow if he fell, andto never take your eyes off of a lion if you were sounlucky to meet one. One night, one of the schooner’sanchor lines parted and the boat swung into themangrove bush. He could hear what he was told werelions howling, barking, and jumping. The current wasrunning so fast that they let loose the other anchorand just ran downstream until the motor caught.It took only three hot days to load the scrap iron, andfour days later they were back in Carriacou, whereyoung Hope resigned as the cook’s helper. It washurricane season and his father warned him out of thestorms since Hurricane Janet had blown away thegallery of the family home. The Amberjack continued toPuerto Rico to sell the scrap.There wasn’t much opportunity in Carriacou in the1960s to make money so Hope’s family sent him toEngland on an ocean liner. Getting valuable mechanicaltraining while working abroad for 20 years, he accidentallymet other West Indians, Ollivierres from Bequia, inLondon. They became friends and continued as sailingbuddies ever since. The Bequia boys arrived at Carriacou’sAugust Regatta to sail seriously and the Windward crewsreturned the favor at the Bequia Easter Regatta.Arriving back in Carriacou, Hope bought his father’sold boat, MicMac, and fished with it for years in the1980s. That boat still rests at the north end of thebeach at Tyrell Bay. On Petite Martinique, he first sawhis present boat, Imagine. Sleek and traditional, theprice was too high. Never forgetting Imagine’s lines,Hope finally struck a deal four years later. He broughther to Carriacou and won the Carriacou Regatta in1991, 1997, 1998, and 1999.Imagine is the most traditional sloop of the Windwardfleet and it is Hope’s intention to keep it just so. Thewooden mast is girdled with a rubber tire where theboom swivels. The pitch poles are three-inch bamboo.No sail type or material will be refused and all will beused. The mainsail can be recognized as belonging toan old Moorings charter boat. Hope knows his boat,the waters, and the winds.With Imagine and with a slick, fast water-ski boat tocomplement sailing trips, “Hopie’s Water World” wasborn. Day charter sails to Sandy Island, PetiteMartinique, or around Carriacou kept him busy, butHope McLawrence’s real sailing love is racing. I sailedwith him during the 1998 Carriacou Regatta, enjoyingevery minute. The careening and bottom prep by thetraditional method took weeks prior to the event.Ballast was unloaded and the masthead attached by ahalyard to a suitable counterweight, and then she washauled down, scraped, caulked and painted. Thefriendly competition of the decked boats from theWindward families decided bragging rights for theseason. Conch shell horns were blown, Heinekenswere raised, and the losers discussed the reasons whyat the Sunset Disco.Carriacou organized a small yacht regatta thatunluckily coincided with Hurricane Lenny’s immenseground seas of November 1999. Boats from otherislands, especially distant Trinidad, waited in L’EsterreBay to race. As soon as the seas settled some, Hopearrived, literally, and led a large group of cruisers andracers through Windward’s Water Bay barrier reef tomaybe the only remaining tranquil anchorage. Thefollowing morning, Hope returned to race and later ledmore newcomers to safer shelter. Mention his name inalmost any anchorage and more than a few heads willnod and smile at his friendship. Soft spoken, evenafter a few greenies, Hope just grins and says anyoneon the glossy blue sea is his friend.Above: Carriacou traditional careening— getting race ready.Below: Hope and Dave Goldhill circa 2016at Bill Paterson’s.The Caribbean should be listed as endangered.Corner shops are falling to KFC’s. Grenada’s even gottraffic lights. Anchorages are crowded with gleaminghigh-dollar plastic boats and more wine is served atthe boatie bars than eighths of overproof rum. Thenatives are abandoning the old ways. But Windward,Carriacou, and Hope McLawrence are going to hold onto that salty sailing past and smile.BILL PATERSONOCTOBER 2021 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 23Call:784.458.4308Marina: VHF 16 or 68 Email: info@bluelagoonsvg.comFuel Dock24 hour SecurityPort of EntryCustoms & Immigration Office - 9am to 6pmElectricity 110V/220v & WaterComplimentary WifiLaundry ServiceSupermarket & BoutiqueCafe Soleil & Flowt Beach BarThe Loft Restaurant and BarIndigo Dive ShopSwimming PoolBeautifully Designed Hotel Rooms
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Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - October 2021

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