Good Expectation

• Boat type — Carriacou sloop, wooden hull
• Launching — in 1984, in Carriacou
• Length — 11.70 m, or approximately 38 feet
• Built by — Zepherine McLaren, from Windward — the Antigua regatta records write it Zepharin McKlaren
• Original function — a cargo ship, a large open hold, no cabin or bulkhead, no engine
• In Saint-Barthélemy — present at the very first West Indies Regatta, in 2009, and then again in 2011
• Owner — the company Jus' Sail, owned by James and Pepsi Crockett, since September 2011
• Home port — Rodney Bay Marina, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia
• Today — in dry dock for a major refit since December 1, 2025, at Ottley Hall, in Saint Vincent, under the supervision of the Bequian shipwright Herbert Olivierre
• Future — the boat will probably be put up for sale this year

1984: a slipway, and nothing else

When Zepherine McLaren began construction of Good Expectation in 1984, he wasn't building a pleasure boat. He was building a truck. Inside its 11.7 meters, there's no cabin, no bulkhead, no berth, no engine compartment—because there's no engine. There's a hold, as large as the hull allows. The entire design of the boat answers only one question: how many bags can you fit in there, and how fast can you transport them from one island to another?.

This is one of the last boats built by the master shipwright of Windward, the one from the Mermaid of Carriacou. And it also marks the very end of an era: after Good Expectation, no one orders sloops for freight work anymore.

Fifteen years carrying the merchandise

Good Expectation carried out this trade for over fifteen years in the Grenadines: goods, merchandise, and anything else transported without being declared. This trade sustained these ships for one hundred and fifty years, and Good Expectation was one of the very last practitioners of it.

Worms and fresh water

Then the freight stopped. The ship remained stationary in Carriacou for a long time. A German took it over, but couldn't do much with it. Then, in the mid-2000s, an Englishman living in Antigua, Martin Dudley, bought it and sailed it for three years in the northern Leeward Islands. He, too, was unable to maintain it.

The ship ended up in the mangroves of English Harbour. There, it rotted on both sides: shipworms attacked the underwater hull, while fresh water caused the deck above to rot. In 2011, Good Expectation was still afloat, but only just: "She was close to taking on water and sinking," said James Crockett.

May 2011: seven sailors, no engine, and two days of dead calm

That year, Good Expectation had to be sailed from Antigua to Saint Barthélemy for the West Indies Regatta. Seven crew members of the three-masted barque Picton Castle took on the task, led by the first mate, Mike: Paula, Katelinn, the brothers Davey and Fred, trainee Wendy Heisler, and Ollie, who came aboard as an extra. No engine on board, paper charts, and two days allotted.

The wind drops. It won't return for another forty hours. The boat circles slowly off the coast of Antigua, on a glassy sea. The crew swims, gets out cold drinks, and one of them plays the violin on deck. The wind returns on the third day; they catch an eighteen-kilo mahi-mahi and eat it together. The crossing will have taken three days instead of two.

A business plan written for a degree

What saved Good Expectation wasn't born on a Caribbean dock, but in a classroom in England. In 2008, James Crockett earned a master's degree in responsible tourism from the International Centre for Responsible Tourism. His final project was a business plan he called "Heritage Sailing": offering day trips to clients on a heritage boat and proving that an old local working sailboat could become a viable tourism tool.

The boat, at that point, hadn't been chosen. It would be a traditional boat, but not necessarily a Carriacou sloop. A chance encounter with a sailor decided the choice: during the Easter regatta in Bequia, in the Tobago Cays, the Crocketts came across Beauty, built in Petite Martinique by Jeff Stevens. "Wow, that's a boat that could be perfect for us." They posted a photo, and someone replied that they were practically next door to Carriacou, where these boats are built. The person on the other end of the line was Justin, one of the producers of Vanishing Sail, who put them in touch with Alexis Andrews.

Autumn 2011: Someone places a bet on the wreck

In the fall of 2011, James and Pepsi Crockett bought the boat. Three months of structural work in Jolly Harbour, Antigua, to rebuild the underwater hull; then the finishing touches in Saint Lucia. Six months in total. The boat, which had never had an engine, received one, along with its compartment; the one that had never had a cabin received one, with a toilet; and it left the shipyard with a new set of sails.

Good Expectation was relaunched in February 2012 at the IGY Rodney Bay shipyard in Saint Lucia, and resumed service in March.

A cargo ship turned school

Jus' Sail does more than just take visitors along the Saint Lucian coast. Every year, the company trains unemployed young people from the island, aged eighteen to twenty-five, for six weeks: sailing, swimming, first aid, certifications recognized in more than fifty-five countries, and the skills needed to enter the maritime sector. Captain O'Brian Forde and First Mate Krishna Joseph, who currently captain the boat, both came through this training program. In 2016, Jus' Sail was a finalist for the World Travel and Tourism Council's Tourism for Tomorrow Awards in the People category.

In the credits of Vanishing Sail

Good Expectations appears in the opening credits of Vanishing Sail, Alexis Andrews' documentary about the end of wooden shipbuilding in Carriacou. On December 12, 2016, Jus' Sail organized the film's Saint Lucian premiere, two screenings at Caribbean Cinemas, with proceeds funding the sixth edition of its youth training program.

December 1st, 2025: the major overhaul

Fifteen years after the 2011 refit, the wood is showing its age. Jus' Sail has announced the suspension of sea trials from December 1, 2025, for a complete structural overhaul. The stated goal is to return to service for another fifteen years. The initial plan was to bring Good Expectation back to Carriacou, its birthplace, where shipwrights still know how to work with these types of hulls.

Ottley Hall: A Bequia hand on a Carriacou boat

The work was ultimately carried out elsewhere. Good Expectation was rebuilt at Ottley Hall in Saint Vincent, and a shipwright from Bequia, Herbert Olivierre, is in charge of the project. A Bequia hand on a Carriacou hull: the two Grenadines' traditions, separated by forty miles of sea, meet on the same cradle.

And there was someone else at that construction site when Good Expectation arrived. Exodus, Alwyn Enoe's sloop, whose construction is recounted in Vanishing Sail, was completing a stern repair there. Two Carriacou sloops ashore at the same time in Saint Vincent, under the hands of a Bequian: this is, in one image, the state of this heritage today — it no longer holds together by island, it holds together by the few men who still know how to repair it.

And then what? Once the refit is complete, Good Expectation will probably go on sale this year.

Sources

• Jus' Sail, Facebook page — the two photographs on this sheet are from it; they remain the property of Jus' Sail. facebook.com/jussail
• Good Expectation, Jus' Sail site — the 1984 construction by Zepharin McKlaren, the fifteen years of freight, the condition of the boat in 2011, the purchase in September 2011, the three months of work in Jolly Harbour and the relaunch in February 2012 in IGY Rodney Bay.
• About Us, Jus' Sail site — James and Pepsi Crockett, Captain O'Brian Forde and Krishna Joseph, the six-week training course, IYT accreditation and the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2016.
• jussail.com — the announcement of the major refit: «As of December 1st 2025 Jus' Sail will cease operations of charters whilst our vessel – Good Expectation – returns to her home island of Carriacou for a comprehensive refit. ’
• A Good Expectation: Antigua to St Barts in an Old Smuggling Sloop, logbook of the Picton Castle, May 10, 2011 — the convoy, the crew and the dead calm, as told by Wendy Heisler.
• James Crockett, interview with Marlinspike Magazine, Not Jus’ Sailing, April 2017 — the 2008 master's degree in responsible tourism and the "Heritage Sailing" business plan, the chain of owners (a German, then the Englishman Martin Dudley in the mid-2000s), the encounter with Beauty in the Tobago Cays, the masts carved from telegraph poles, and the 80 % of new planking below the waterline.
• Jus' Sail, direct testimony, September 2026 — the refit ultimately took place not in Carriacou but at Ottley Hall, St. Vincent, led by the Bequian shipwright Herbert Olivierre, who was simultaneously completing the repair of Exodus's stern at the same shipyard. Jus' Sail also announced the boat's likely sale this year.
• Antigua Classic Week 2019, list of boats entered — «1984 · 11.70 · St. Lucia · Carriacou Slup · Zepharin McKlaren». This is the only source giving the length.
• St Lucian Premiere of Award Winning Vanishing Sail Movie, SLHTA, December 2, 2016 — the opening credits and the premiere of December 12, 2016.
• West Indies Regatta Showcases Traditional Sailboats, All At Sea, July 1, 2009 — the eight boats of the first edition.

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Contact — Good Expectations

• Jus' Sail — jussail.com, Dock A, IGY Rodney Bay Marina, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia.
• Social networks — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest
• Phone and WhatsApp — +1 758 287 1071
• E-mail — sail@jussail.com
• Do you have any photos of Good Expectation in Gustavia from 2009 or 2011? Write to us using the form below — this page will be updated.