- Boat type — Carriacou sloop, wooden hull
- Launching — 1986
- Length — 36 feet, approximately 11 m
- Home port — Antigua
- Built by — Zepherine McLaren
- State — Under renovation, return to water scheduled for 2027
A McLaren boat, twenty years after Mermaid
Sweetheart is attributed to Zepherine McLaren, the carpenter of the Mermaid of Carriacou.
This is one of the few boats of his own design whose name has come down to us. At his death, Bill Cameron wrote that "his ships are still sailing in the Caribbean," in the plural, without any source naming any others.
2005: one of the sloops from Antigua
In April 2005, journalist Dan Houston raced the Antigua Classic aboard Genesis, a newly launched yacht. He mentioned two other Carriacou sloops based in Antigua: Summer Cloud and Sweetheart. That day, Genesis outpaced both of them.
2009 and 2011: in Saint-Barth
Sweetheart was one of the eight ships in the first West Indies Regatta, in 2009, with Genesis, Tradition, Ocean Nomad, Good Expectation, Summer Cloud, the schooner Alexander Hamilton and Plumbelly.
He returned in 2011. That year, the sailors of the three-masted Picton Castle were distributed among the sloops of the fleet, and one of them, Davey, joined Saint-Barth aboard Sweetheart.
During the regatta, a crew member from Sweetheart jumps into the water with a mooring line to come to the aid of the crew of Pipe Dream.
One of the crew on the Sweetheart jumped overboard with a line, determined to help us.
Bronwen, logbook of the Picton Castle, June 2, 2011
The dean of the Antigua Classic
Sweetheart remains loyal to the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. It was among the sloops entered in 2016, then in the traditional boat class in 2017.
On April 23, 2018, for the first race of the regatta, it was the oldest boat in its class. Yet it crossed the finish line first, 1 minute and 52 seconds ahead. Free in St Barth.
The oldest in the fleet, 36' Sweetheart, finished first.
Caribbean Sailing Association, April 23, 2018
A few years later, the Antigua Classic published a photograph of Sweetheart racing alongside Columbia, a schooner built to the 1923 plans of a famous American fishing boat. On one side, a sloop built on a beach in Carriacou, on the other, a replica of a legend.
2025: a new owner, a major construction project
Its owner, Charles, passed away in 2025. The new owner has undertaken a major renovation project, which is expected to be completed in 2027.
What remains to be found
Charles's surname, the name of the new owner, the skippers, and the boat's history before 2005 are still unknown. Any information, photographs, or memories are welcome.
Contact — Sweetheart
No website, page, or public address is known for this boat.
If you know of an official and public page to contact this boat, or if you have any information that could enrich its history, write to us via the form below — this record will be completed.
Sources
- Dan Houston, Classic Boat, July 2005 (republished May 17, 2011): Carriacou sloops at Antigua
- Ellen Lampert-Greaux, All At Sea, July 1, 2009: West Indies Regatta Showcases Traditional Sailboats
- Bronwen, Picton Castle, May 26, 2011: St. Barths – A Sailor's Destination
- Bronwen, Picton Castle, June 2, 2011: The West Indies Regatta
- Caribbean Sailing Association, 2016: Antigua Classics Six of the Best
- Sampson Boat Co, 2017: Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, 2017
- Caribbean Sailing Association, April 23, 2018: Wild and Woolly Weather for Race 1
- Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, Facebook: Sweetheart & Columbia
- Owner, renovation and return date: information provided by the West Indies Regatta association
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