I was in St Lucia to do a pre-purchase survey of a F&C 40 an Argentine built Frers design racing cruising sloop. Never seen one before but had heard from some serious racing types at Ted Hood’s Little Harbor in Marblehead that they were well built and pretty fast in heavy weather. German Frers was holding a design office along with Ted Hood so I got a chance to pick his brain a bit on these boats. Never been to St. Lucia but I ended up loving what I saw of it. You land on one side of this mountainous island than catch a cab through the interior which is literally all banana trees. The boat was berthed in Rodney Bay on the NW side of the island just North of the capital Castries. What a nice place that is pretty much an all German or European hang out. My Wife was with me which was odd since she hardly ever wanted to accompany me on these trips but believe it or not my client paid her way and put us up in a neat little tourist bungalow right above the beach. I usually end up in dives so this was a treat I and I did the survey gratis. The buyer was from Barbados and Marblehead and his story I will relate shortly it’s incredible.
Survey started with sea trials and sure enough this boat was a little power house, a bit wet but a witch to weather. There is absolutely no shortage of wind in these parts I soon found out so most of the boats in the marina were rigged such. The charter company was trading off the F&C’s for big Gulfstars. Survey showed the expected problems with charter fleet boats. Sails were tired, fabrics trashed, wood trim looking tough, winches were tight needed service, impellers, hoses etc.. But I was amazed to find all standing rigging terminals on deck and aloft cracked. These were well regarded Sta-Locs fittings not your normal rolled swages. Anyway all but three were junk so she needed all new standing rigging right now. In three days the job was completed and my client bought the boat, re-rigged, new impellers, a reefer thermostat etc and he sailed her to his dock in Barbados.
During dinner I ask my client what’s with the Barbados house and he then explained it was business. Really what do you do, I asked . So he tells me his aunt married a local man there and was complaining about monkey’s damaging property and houses on the island. His wife was a medical biologist working in a Boston lab and knew about monkey blood. Anyway Barbados was overrun with Green Monkeys and the locals couldn’t deal with it. My client and his wife came up with a business proposal to the Barbados government. They would trap the monkeys and move them to a large zoo like compound and promised not to kill them. They would then hire technicians to take their blood and they would sell it to labs in the U.S. and Europe. Apparently Green Monkey blood is very special and is essential for developing medicine and disease research. No other monkey blood will work only Horseshoe crab blood works in a similar fashion. So what a business. They get paid to catch monkeys then make money off their blood.
Rick
Survey started with sea trials and sure enough this boat was a little power house, a bit wet but a witch to weather. There is absolutely no shortage of wind in these parts I soon found out so most of the boats in the marina were rigged such. The charter company was trading off the F&C’s for big Gulfstars. Survey showed the expected problems with charter fleet boats. Sails were tired, fabrics trashed, wood trim looking tough, winches were tight needed service, impellers, hoses etc.. But I was amazed to find all standing rigging terminals on deck and aloft cracked. These were well regarded Sta-Locs fittings not your normal rolled swages. Anyway all but three were junk so she needed all new standing rigging right now. In three days the job was completed and my client bought the boat, re-rigged, new impellers, a reefer thermostat etc and he sailed her to his dock in Barbados.
During dinner I ask my client what’s with the Barbados house and he then explained it was business. Really what do you do, I asked . So he tells me his aunt married a local man there and was complaining about monkey’s damaging property and houses on the island. His wife was a medical biologist working in a Boston lab and knew about monkey blood. Anyway Barbados was overrun with Green Monkeys and the locals couldn’t deal with it. My client and his wife came up with a business proposal to the Barbados government. They would trap the monkeys and move them to a large zoo like compound and promised not to kill them. They would then hire technicians to take their blood and they would sell it to labs in the U.S. and Europe. Apparently Green Monkey blood is very special and is essential for developing medicine and disease research. No other monkey blood will work only Horseshoe crab blood works in a similar fashion. So what a business. They get paid to catch monkeys then make money off their blood.
Rick
