- Boat type — Carriacou sloop, wooden hull
- Launching — November 30, 2008
- Length — 48.5 feet — approx. 14.8 m
- Built by — Baldwin DeRoche aka «Balo»
- Built in — the island of Petite Martinique
- Home port — Saint Vincent
- Ordered by — Jeff Stevens, owner and captain of the schooner Jambalaya
A name that pays homage to the island where the boat was born
Beauty of Petite Martinique is the last sloop built by Baldwin DeRoche.
It is a milestone in the history of shipbuilding in Petite Martinique, and it bears the name of the island where it was built. It was commissioned by Jeff Stevens, the owner of the schooner Jambalaya, and illustrates Baldwin DeRoche's commitment to preserving local shipbuilding traditions.
It is also, according to the broker who sells Exodus, one of the few sloops in the West Indies to offer such a well-designed interior layout — most other boats retaining an open hold.
Commissioned by Jeff Stevens
Beauty of Petite Martinique was born from a sale. Jeff Stevens, a British man living in the Grenadines, had commissioned the shipwright Balo to build a first forty-foot sloop to take guests of the private resort of Petit St. Vincent out to sea for the day. Before the boat was completed, a buyer appeared: Peter de Savary, the businessman who was then developing Port Louis Marina in Grenada. The sloop was sold to him, took the name of its new owner, and became Savvy.
Stevens immediately reinvested this money in a larger boat for himself. It would become Beauty of Petite Martinique.
Stevens was no ordinary customer. He had spent three years building with his own hands a seventy-three-foot, two-masted wooden schooner, constructed with timbers from the Grenadines and the help of carpenters from Carriacou: Jambalaya.
According to Forbes, the boat's name is an anagram of the artisans' initials. Stevens had lived aboard since 2002 and took Petit St. Vincent's clients out to sea. In April 2009, a few months after Beauty was launched, he sold Jambalaya to a British captain.
A historic boat
Balo put Beauty of Petite Martinique in the water on Sunday, November 30, 2008. Forty-eight feet six inches: it is the largest and last sloop to come out of his hands.
Two details make this boat unique. Its mast doesn't come from the forest but from a shipwreck: it was salvaged from the schooner Moonshine, destroyed by a hurricane in 2004. And there's no diesel engine on board. Beauty is the first traditional sloop from the Windward Islands equipped with a high-efficiency electric motor, a 72-volt Thoosa 1300. From 2008 onward, the selling point was aimed at environmentally conscious charter clients.
It is now operated as a private charter between Saint Vincent and Grenada, and is owned by Danny Donelan and Simba Bethel, from Petite Martinique.
Danny Donelan
Danny Donelan is Grenadian and fell in love with the sloops of Carriacou. His older brother taught him to sail, and he was already racing at fourteen. He worked under Peter de Savary on the boat Savvy before buying it from him. He initially operated Savvy on weekends while keeping a day job, then, at forty, he left the corporate world to found Savvy Grenada Sailing Charters. Later, he participated in the purchase of Beauty of Petite Martinique. He therefore owns the last two boats built by Balo DeRoche.
Danny's principle can be summed up in one sentence: the captains of these boats are shipwrights, and their first mates are apprentice shipwrights. The passengers don't listen to a guide; they listen to the men who build these boats.
A charter boat
Beauty of Petite Martinique is therefore available for charter, generally departing from St Vincent to go down to the southern islands: to come and sail in the traditional way on one of these historic sloops of Petite Martinique is to taste the authentic Grenada and two centuries of shipbuilding traditions.
The boat offers day trips to Grenada and multi-day cruises up the Grenadines. It is also available for charter for regattas throughout the Caribbean.
Sources
- Caribbean Compass — Clean Sweet Wake (launched on November 30, 2008, electric motor, Moonshine mast)
- Caribbean Compass, February 2008, Susan Payetta — Launching in Petite Martinique
- Forbes Life, July 17, 2009 — Jambalaya, Petit St. Vincent Resort, the Grenadines
- Forbes, July 23, 2020 — Meet The Man Keeping Traditional Caribbean Sailing Alive In Grenada
- Savvy Grenada Sailing Charters — savvygrenada.com and the Instagram account @savvysailing
Contact — Beauty of Petite Martinique
- Site — savvygrenada.com
- Facebook — savvygrenada
- Instagram — @savvysailing
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