ANTIGUA CLASSICS
“She was the largest boat any of us had been on,” Simon Le Bon
St Maarten in February. Since then, her crew have been busy varnishing and making her look her smartest. She is perhaps best known for her part in the 1982 hit song Rio, by Duran Duran and sailing aboard her for the week is lead singer Simon Le Bon.
“When we came out here to do the video she was the largest boat any of us had been on,” Simon tells me. “And obviously she’s special to us, so it’s great to be back aboard and see how she has been restored. She’s in even better condition now than she was then. Simon, who helmed Eilean for several races, was joined by other band members for the prize-giving, where Rio was played. Also aboard Eilean was John Shearer, her owner from 1974 through to 2006. He got to helm her too, but we’ll have more on this specific story in our August issue.
SUMMER CLOUD
Although there was rain in the afternoons of the first three days, the sailing this year was as characteristically great as it often is here. The deep-blue sea with 17 to 20 knots of easterly breeze, and the swell rolling 2,000 miles across the Atlantic make sailing a sheer joy in these waters. On Sunday, I sailed the cannon course – a reach out and back and then round again, with Summer
40 CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2012
Cloud, one of the original Carriacou sloops and the boat that introduced me to the type in 2001 (CB166). Back then, owner Charles Hambleton carried oxygen aboard, to give his late-night rum-beaten crew an instant clear head in the morning. A busy schedule means he’s since given the boat to Andy Robinson of Woodstocks, the local boatbuilders here, to teach young Antiguans to sail. By coincidence, Hayling boatbuilder Ken Wilkinson – who helped me restore a boat over six years – is sailing her too. So, with Charles aboard for the week, Summer Cloud is a kind of reunion boat, though luckily none of us is needing the oxygen in the mornings the way it was useful back then. Summer Cloud was built on Petite Martinique in 1995, and she came first in Traditional Class B. The sloops’ fame has spread, and Charles is now involved in making a film about them, working with Alexis Andrews – owner of Genesis (CB205). They are still being built in Carriacou, in the Grenadines. Antigua Classics is more than just sailing, and the evening scene seems to get better every year, no doubt helped by Panerai’s continuing sponsorship. Sunday night’s bash in front of the yacht club saw local band 17˚61 give a fantastic live performance, and you always seem to leave with the feeling that you want to return.
Above top: Firefly was there but the Js were not... Above from left: John Shearer, View from the deck of Eilean, and Simon Le Bon
GUB GUB
TIM WRIGHT
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