Navasana

Le sloop Navasana sous voiles
Navasana under veils.
  • Kind — Carriacou and Petite Martinique sloop
  • Launching — 2008
  • Length — 40 feet — approx. 12.2 m
  • Shipwright — Alwyn Enoe
  • Place — Windward beach, Carriacou
  • Original name — Ocean Nomad
  • Restoration — 2023, Woodstock Boatbuilders, Antigua
  • Owner — Aidan McCauley
  • Current base — Antigua

Navasana began as an abandoned boat. Started on Windward Beach as Ocean Nomad, the sloop remained unfinished for over two years, by the roadside, under the sun. It took a daring gamble to launch it, followed by a complete restoration fifteen years later to restore its beauty.

A sloop forgotten on Windward beach

The boat was commissioned from Alwyn Enoe by Todd Orrell, a luxury yacht skipper then working in Europe. The hull and deck took shape, then the money stopped coming in. Construction ceased. For over a year, no one touched the boat.

Ocean Nomad has become a local curiosity. Tourist minibuses stop to photograph it. Taxi drivers jokingly ask Alwyn if he ever plans to finish it. The neighbor jokes that she was going to set up a snack bar in the shade of the hull. For the Enoe family, who see the wood aging and Alwyn's sons without work, the boat is a heavy burden.

February 2008: an unusual agreement

In November 2007, Eli Fuller, from Antigua and owner of Adventure Antigua, commissioned his own sloop from Alwyn Enoe. This boat would become Spirit of Zemi. Discover this boat: Spirit of Zemi.

Shortly after, Todd Orrell contacted him. The two men reached an agreement: Eli Fuller would pay for the completion of the work and operate the boat for five years for his sailing trips. Todd Orrell retained the right to sail it in the Antigua Classic and for a few days each year. At the end of the five years, the boat would revert to him.

On February 20, 2008, in Windward, Alwyn Enoe read the new contract while sitting in the hull. The next morning, work resumed. With him were his sons Chris and Terry, and his nephew, nicknamed "Juice".

March – April 2008: five weeks to finish

The goal seems impossible: to finish the boat and sail it to Antigua for the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, which starts on April 17. On the island, many consider the idea insane. Even the shipyard workers don't believe it's possible.

On the beach, a large fire melts lead in a mold borrowed from a shipwright in Petite Martinique. More than 450 kilos of ballast are poured, cut in half, and fixed under the greenheart keel. The stainless steel fittings arrive from Antigua in Eli Fuller's suitcases.

The cargo ship that was supposed to be used to step the mast has left for Trinidad. Ocean Nomad needs to be towed to Harvey Vale, where a crane building a dock agrees to lift the mast for 300 EC dollars. The rudder won't fit in its well: Terry Enoe dives with an adze and cuts the keel underwater. The next day, the boat is hauled out of the water for a final repair.

The first voyage to Antigua was made with a bare interior: exposed frames, sandbags for ballast. At night, crickets could be heard chirping in the hold. The sloop arrived three days before the regatta and set off with the deck paint still fresh.

2008 – 2013: Adventure Antigua’s sloop

Six more months of work are needed to finish the boat: greenheart wood flooring above the lead ballast, engine, North Sails from Antigua. At the end of 2008, Ocean Nomad began offering day trips departing from Jolly Harbour.

In April 2009, Ocean Nomad won the Traditional class at the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, with Eli Fuller at the helm. A few weeks later, in May 2009, the sloop was one of eight boats competing in the very first West Indies Regatta, in Saint Barthélemy.

In 2010, as stipulated in the agreement, the boat was entrusted to Todd Orrell for the Antigua Classic. Until at least 2013, Adventure Antigua continued to offer the boat for charter, with captain and crew, during the regatta.

2023: The Renaissance

Years passed and the boat deteriorated. In 2023, a new owner, Aidan McCauley, entrusted it to the Woodstock Boatbuilders shipyard in Antigua for a restoration using traditional methods. The sloop returned to the sea under a new name: Navasana.

The restoration respects traditional techniques while adding modern equipment: electric windlass, depth sounder, navigation lights and North Sails, including an asymmetric spinnaker.

British Virgin Islands artist Aragorn sculpted the copper mermaids on the bow and created the transom. He is the same artist who, in 2007, paddled the Kalinago canoe Gli Gli to St. Barth. Discover the artist: Aragorn.

At the Antigua Classic 2023, Navasana received the Best Refit award.

Détail du travail d’Aragorn sur Navasana

2024-2025: The most beautiful of sloops

For its first Antigua Classic in 2024, Navasana received the Woodstock Trophy, awarded to the most beautiful restoration in the fleet. The sloop also won the Concours d'Élégance for traditional boats in both 2024 and 2025.

We keep the tradition alive, and we love sailing on board.

Aidan McCauley, owner of Navasana, Antigua Classic 2025

In 2025, with the future of the West Indies Regatta uncertain, Navasana is the only Carriacou sloop to make the journey to Saint Barthélemy.

Navasana au mouillage

April 2026: From dismasting to victory

In April 2026, during the Antigua Classic, Navasana dismasted mid-race. Aidan McCauley immediately announced that repairs had begun and that the boat would resume racing on Sunday.

The dismasting ruined Navasana's chances at the Antigua Classic that year. But the following week, the sloop won the West Indies Regatta in Saint Barthélemy.

The name, the mermaid, and the spinnaker

Navasana is a yoga posture. In Sanskrit, the word means "boat pose": nava, the boat, and asana, the posture. Seated in balance, with legs and torso raised, the body forms a V shape, like the hull of a ship.

The boat's logo is a mermaid in this pose. It is printed large on the spinnaker, the sail hoisted downwind.

La sirène du logo de Navasana, en posture du bateau, imprimée sur le spinnaker
The boat's logo: a mermaid in a pose of navasana, printed in giant format on the spinnaker.

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Contact — Navasana

Sources

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