The origins — 18th and 19th centuries

The first sloops appeared during the colonial era to meet a simple need: to travel quickly from one island to another. Transporting goods, fishing, inter-island trade, and passenger transport—everything relied on sail, as airplanes were still unavailable. The islands were close, but the currents were strong and the wind constant. Fast, sturdy boats capable of sailing upwind were essential. Local shipwrights developed a type of sailboat perfectly optimized for these conditions.

An influence from the North

In the 19th century, whalers from Nantucket and New Bedford frequented the region. They brought with them the hull shapes of their whaleboats and shipbuilding techniques. The shipwrights of Bequia adopted these techniques and adapted them to build larger, more seaworthy boats. From this fusion, the sloops of the Grenadines were born.

Technical specifications

Wooden-planked hull on frames, fine bow, sloping transom. A length of 8 to 15 meters, with a generous beam for stability. A sloop rig—a single mast—and a large triangular mainsail, sometimes accompanied by a jib or staysail. These boats are renowned for their speed, their ability to sail upwind, and their robustness in the short but sometimes choppy seas of the Caribbean.

Traditional construction

Everything is done by hand: fitting the curved frames, laying the planks one by one, caulking between the planks with cotton and tar, casting the iron keel, and then rigging. Most often, no plans are written down. The shapes are memorized, passed down from one shipwright to another, and corrected by eye.

The Golden Age, 1900-1950

At the beginning of the 20th century, sloops completely dominated local maritime transport because they were smaller and cheaper than the large sailing ships from Europe that made the transatlantic crossing. They carried essential goods such as charcoal, cotton, sugar, fruits and vegetables, animals, tools, and passengers… Each island then had several dozen sloops in operation.

Grenadines sloop or Carriacou sloop?

The two are often confused. They belong to the same tradition, but have diverged depending on the island.

The Grenadines sloop, Bequia type. Historically, it was a transport and coastal trading vessel: wide hull, large cargo volume, pronounced stern, moderate draft. Stable and robust, it was designed to carry freight, not just to travel fast.

The sloop of Carriacou and Petite Martinique took the other path: a longer, narrower hull, a very fine bow, a deeper draft, and an immense sail area. Much faster, excellent upwind, but more demanding at the helm. They are, in their own way, speed machines.

Cultural heritage of Saint-Barthélemy?

Like all islands, Saint Barthélemy depends for its survival on supplies brought by these ships—even more so than others, because it is a tiny island, where rainfall is very low, where there are no natural water sources, and where almost nothing grows, except for a few goats. But Saint Barthélemy has one advantage: it is a free port, meaning that goods are exempt from taxes and are not inspected. Everything can therefore pass through legally, at least from the island's perspective.
The sloops then found an even more lucrative market: the smuggling of rum and cigarettes. These goods were legally purchased in Saint-Barthélemy, then unloaded at night on the beaches of the other islands and resold on the black market.
It is precisely in this game of cat and mouse with the neighboring authorities that the sloops of Carriacou distinguish themselves by their speed: they easily outrun the customs sailboats that try to board them.
This trade would become the primary source of prosperity for Saint-Barthélemy and would make Gustavia a stronghold in the eastern Caribbean.
In the 1950s, the island's prosperity, and indeed its survival, depended primarily on the boats built in Carriacou. This is what links these two islands within a shared cultural heritage.

The decline of sloops, starting in the 1960s

Outboard motors, modern cargo ships, and fiberglass rendered them obsolete within a generation. Many boats were abandoned, others converted into fishing vessels.

The rebirth through regatta

It is the traditional regattas that keep the sloops alive: the Carriacou Regatta Festival, the Classic Regatta of Antigua, and the West Indies Regatta Festival of St. Barthélemy. It is there, and almost only there, that these wooden boats continue to race, and it is also partly for these regattas that they continue to be built—in Carriacou rather than Bequia.

Bequia: The end of the big ships

In Bequia, traditional shipbuilding of large vessels no longer exists. The construction of small fishing boats by Orbin Ollivierre and miniature boats by the Sargeant Brothers still remain. Launched in 1980, the Water Pearl was the last large boat built in the island's shipyards. It sank four years later off the coast of Panama.

Carriacou and Petite Martinique: the last masters

Further south in the Grenadines, orders continue: for speed in regattas, but also for fishing and, increasingly, for charter — with the explosion of tourism, their traditional and colorful appearance gives them a very special charm.

In Carriacou, Alexis Andrews — future founder of the West Indies Regatta — commissioned the sloop Genesis from master shipwright Alwyn Enoe in 2005, and took the opportunity to write two books on construction methods.
In Petite Martinique, Baldwin DeRoche, known as "Balo", launched the sloop Savvy in 2007, then Beauty of Petite Martinique in November 2008, his last and largest boat.
In 2009, Alexis and a group of friends created the West Indies Regatta, initially for fun, with the idea of promoting these boats and reconnecting the island with traditional sailing. Inspired by this momentum, Thierry de Badereau financed the sloop Free In St Barth, launched by Alwyn Enoe in 2015.

The renewal

By filming the construction of the sloop Exodus, Alexis Andrews created the documentary film Vanishing Sail, released in 2015, with the aim of inspiring future generations. In 2023, drawing in particular on this footage and the support of the Grenadian government, the shipbuilding expertise of Carriacou and Petite Martinique was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity—as a skill to be safeguarded.

Following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Beryl in July 2024, Grenada announced the creation of a Boat Building School. In 2025, a plot of land was designated in Windward, on the island of Carriacou. By 2026, the access road to the future school was completed. A local entrepreneur, Piero Zipoli, financed the construction of a roof to shelter the shipyard, as well as a brand-new boat, which was expected to be launched in early 2027.

The future?

Piero Zipoli has already secured an order from the Grenadian government for three additional boats. He plans to exhibit the first one at European boat shows to generate public interest and secure further sales.
Vincent would like to bring together the traditional regattas of the West Indies — starting with the Carriacou Regatta Festival and the West Indies Regatta Festival, but also the Classic Regatta of Antigua, and why not others, in the British Virgin Islands or Barbados — in order to better promote them and seek additional financial resources to help the owners of the Carriacou sloops who would participate in them.
Vincent and Piero both dream of a Caribbean where each island would have its own classic regatta, and where international sponsors would find it beneficial in terms of visibility as well as a cultural gesture.