Friday’s Wobbly Club ‘Build Your Own Boat’ was a resounding success. There were 27 entries and each build crew had several ‘design engineers’ hard at work. Each small craft was sailed, paddled or pushed by one or more entrant. More than 200 people turned out to help, support and enjoy the refreshments. The whole of the Catamaran Club Marina Quays were filled with the sounds of drills and hammers as competition was fierce and honour was at stake.

The French Captain of a vessel which ran aground last week on Cades Reef, Antigua, has been found and arrested. Chief Immigration Officer Lt. Col. Clyde Walker confirmed the arrest of Frederick Pascouaud of the yacht ‘Camerone’. The Captain abandoned the yacht and 5 Haitians after stricking the reef. He left in the yacht’s tender. The Coast Guard boarded the yacht and turned over the Haitians to Immigration Officials. The Haitians had been picked up in Dominica and were to be taken to French St. Martin. Smuggling Haitians has become a big criminal activity in the Caribbean. The Haitians had managed to get out of Haiti and live in Dominica for several years thanks to limited visa restrictions. 

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It was smiles all round aboard the new Oyster 655, which undertook her builder’s trials at the end of September 2006. The 655 is a new design by Rob Humphreys in conjunction with Oyster’s own design team. The all new 655 is, in many ways, a slightly smaller sister to the Oyster 72 that won the Rolex/ Royal Yacht Squadron Race Around the Isle of Wight last year and Cruising Class 1 in Antigua Sailing Week this season.

Why wait for the next big boat show when so many new models will be on display from 5^th – 7^th May at the ‘Debut Weekend – the Launch of the Season’ at Swanwick Marina.  Two new Elans from Premier Yacht Sales will have their UK debut alongside a new Bavaria from Peters Opal.  Plus the Elan 340 fresh from winning European Yacht of the Year at Dusseldorf.