After all the lacing had been done on the main sail and stevie had fixed a little rigging problem at the top of the mast, we were ready to push off the dock.
The sun was setting and we were going to sail all the way back up the coast to Windward. Once we had pulled in the massive anchor we were off quietly. 
Many yachts in the bay knew this was the first time Ocean Nomad was sailing and they took photos and cheered for us. Frankie who had been helping the last few days and who had towed our mast out to the yacht was going to follow us. After all, this was the first time she was sailing. Alwyn son Cal took the helm to get us up the coast and we proudly sailed along at a good rate. 
There were smiles all around to finally be at this stage. Nothing was going wrong except the fading light in the west. 
The fresh winds were something beautiful and as the sun's light diminished the moon's took over. There was a blanket of fine upper level clouds which seemed to help give us enough light to see what we were doing as we sailed up the coast. Coming into the small channel between Windward's barrier reef was pretty scary, but Cal said he had been doing it all his life and i trusted that we would be safe. There was plenty enough light to see all the coral heads and fans passing below us as we cruised over the shallow reef. I can only imagine we had a foot or two to spare under the hull and stevie and olly traded funny looks. By the time we dropped anchor we were all very tired, relieved and happy to actually have accomplished what we had set out to do some 6 weeks before. Tomorrow we would set off on a 300 mile trip for Antigua with no engine and on a boat that had only ever sailed a 2 hour inshore trip. We were two days behind schedule and needed to depart ASAP in order to make Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. 
The reason for this trip was to come and see the early progress on my yacht...: 
as well as to officially take over another yacht which had sat unfinished on the beach for over a year. On February 20th I took these photos of the unfinished "Nomad" as she lay condemned by many on the island. 
The person who had commissioned her had for many reasons stopped sending money to have her finished. Alwyn hated to see the wood getting weathered and having his sons unemployed. Shortly after I commissioned my yacht the other yacht's owner contacted me from Europe where he was skippering luxury yacht. He was coming to Antigua and wanted to talk. Talk we did once he arrived in Antigua, and after many meetings we came up with a deal. I would pay to have his boat finished and take possession of the yacht for 5 years while he would use it during the Antigua Classic Yacht Regattas as well as for allotted days during the year. The deal worked for everyone and as Alwyn read the contract for the fist time inside Nomad's hull he smiled at the prospect of finally getting the vessel launched. 
Anyway, I blogged about finishing the boat as well as finally launching her. It was a mad rush getting metal fabricated here in Antigua, sails made, lead melted, wood purchased, shaped and attached. The work was manic and many of the guys on the job were exhausted by the time she was ready to have her mast attached. I made two more trips to Carriacou bringing bits and pieces and Stevie and Olly joined me a week before we set sail for the first time. We worked long hard days in the sun trying to get her ready only relaxing for an hour or two at sunset on the tiny island of Carriacou. 
We had to get going in order to have the boat sailing in the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. Many local "experts" said the idea that we would sail this yacht in the regatta was absolutely insane. The naysayers fueled my determination. Someone told me that many times people's biggest strengths can also be their worst weakness and often their downfall. They were speaking about my seemingly irrational determination to have the yacht ready in Antigua, but I didn't have time to ponder their wise words. The only three people who knew of the project and who knew that it could be done were Alexis, Alwyn and me. Even his sons and the rest of the guys working on the job doubted the prospect of us being ready. This wasn't an alternative and I pushed everyone very hard. The biggest problem as I saw it was management and organization...... Alwyn and his gang were excellent boat builders and have skills that many all over the world had long forgotten about, but delegation and planning were things that they hadn't conquered. I could write thousands of words about the last week before our maiden sail, but let me just say it was a tough week. Luckily the measurements that Alexis gave me for the rigging which we had to get made in Grenada turned out to be exact. Richard the rigging specialist there helped us beyond my expectations and we were so lucky to have met him. We met many road blocks during the week which added to the difficulty at hand. For example, the freight ship that we were going to use to install the mast left for Trinidad the week before so we had to take "Ocean Nomad", as she was now called, over to the marina and dry dock on the west coast where there was a crane we could use. We had to tow her. 
On our way there I found out that the crane operator was on holiday in Europe, but that there was another crane being used to build another dock on the other side of Havey Vale harbour. For $300 EC they helped us get the mast up and into the vessel. A small price to pay too! Everything seemed to fit properly and as we tightened up the rigging Ocean Nomad actually started looking like a yacht. Now it was time to put in the rudder which wasn't finished by the time we were launching her 10 days before. 
Alwyn's son Terry and Stevie went over the side with the massive rudder and tried unsuccessfully for about an hour to fit the big shaft into the rudder well. Terry went over with an adz and tried to chop away some of the greenheart keel that was blocking the rudder. Seeing him chopping away wood underwater was something else! It wasn't to work though and as the afternoon came to an end we realized that we were going to have to get her taken out of the water the next morning for some last minute surgery. We also had to get some last minute metal fabrication. Welding was done at two places and some stainless steel cutting and welding was done at a floating machine shop out in the harbour run by a crazy Frenchman. The next day we spent the whole day out of the water working on the rudder and on final bits and pieces needed to ready her for sailing. I doubted we would be sailing before the next morning, but the gang saw the possibility of sailing for the first time before dark and feverishly worked to ready the sails on the dock after we were launched once again. As the sun lowered closer to the horizon it looked like the mad rush during the day may actually pay off. 
We also hired a few village characters to help clean up the beach and surroundings so that the place could be somewhat presentable to the masses who would turn out to help the launch and join in the celebrations. I had to buy 21 cases of beer, some scotch, rum, a bottle of wine, two sheep, a pig and all the other smaller things we needed in order to throw a big launching party. 
Tradition is integral part of the boat building process in Carriacou and apart from sprinkling rum around the ground, blood had to be spilled on the deck, the day before a launch. 
I have to admit that I wasn’t interested in seeing any animals get slaughtered on or around the yacht, so I skipped that part. 
I did get photos of the blood on deck afterwards as the sun set. 
By the end of the day some beers were brought to the boat for the gang to enjoy and simply look at the vessel. She was beautiful and although the boat wasn’t totally finished, it was ready to be launched on Sunday as tradition mandates. 
Luis, one of the guys working with us, had a small boat and helped us get a huge tree trunk from up the coast where the work on my other yacht has been put on hold. This was later going to be used to build the rudder. He also had to get some old utility poles which we would use to roll the boat into the water. Anyway, as work was being done that morning, the church service up the road came to an end. As has been the tradition for hundreds of years on launch day, the priest came down to bless the vessel with holy water and some prayers. That was an interesting process and I am glad that I was there to be part of it too. Shortly after the priest arrived, the parishioners followed. 
They assembled early around the vessel and while some sand, others played instruments. 
About 7 people all volunteering started cooking in huge pots. IT was going to be a massive feast. David took the ferry over from Grenada to help out and enjoy the feast too: 
The beers and coolers arrived and things started to get exciting. We had to dig a hole for a anchor pole in the ground as this would stop the vessel from going into the water too quickly once a rope had been attached to the stern. Four or five logs were cut from the forest to be used as supports for the vessel. 
In a process filled with tradition and ceremony, these supports would be slowly chopped down from the bottom in order to lay the boat on its port side atop the rollers. IT's called a chopdown:
To avoid any damage to the hull a “bilge board” as they called it was fastened to the hull at the exact spot where she would rest. 
Block and tackle with a huge anchor was set up in the sea in order to pull the vessel down the beach, 
but there was plenty of pushing too which made a huge difference.
“Juice” and his friends from church played lively pieces to keep the crowd’s mood up. 
Once she lay on her side, the vessel could get the final two pieces of greenheart keel put in front and behind the lead shoe. 
By 2 PM the yacht was resting on its keel and floating on its port side. 
The anchor was pulling too which meant that we couldn’t get her out far enough for her to properly float. A freighter skipper called “Cardinal” quickly went out to his boat and helped pull Ocean Nomad into deeper waters. The new boat was finally launched long after the first trees had been cut for her frames. Everyone was happy to see this yacht launched and despite many people thinking the boat would never be launched she sat there proud for all to see. 
It was a tough day and although we could rest and be happy, there was still plenty of work to be done for her to be ready to sail. 
We still had no shoe under the greenheart keel and there was plenty of work still to be done. Despite the 7 guys working on the boat I worried we needed more time. After lunch we went over things that needed to be done still, and Alwyn assured me that the boat would be launched on Sunday.
His nice little house sat only 5 minutes walk from the boat and right across a little shop. It was a handy place to be staying and I slept well. Early the next morning I inspected the lead. 
It was going to be another long day of work as we had to remove the lead from the mold and set up another batch inside the mold. After quite a bit of heavy work we removed over a thousand pounds of lead from the mold and started loading it up again. 
The finished piece was marked and cut in two so that it could be fit under the keel. The mold had been borrowed from another boat builder in Petit Martinique which was only a few miles away and we still had to cut it a bit to make it fit our boat. 
For hours and hours I collected bits of lead and dropped them carefully into the mold. We made a huge fire under it and as the lead slowly melted and the level dropped I had to add more lead. Meanwhile the other guys painted and hurriedly worked on various jobs under the waterline. A template had to be made of the keel bolts so that holes could be made in the lead. 
The guys took some time making these holes and I think it could have been way quicker with proper tools. I had to off in search of a socket big enough for the nuts that would hold up the lead too. 
By the end of the day we were totally exhausted, but the boat was looking much more likely to be ready. One piece of lead was shaped, holed and positioned under the hull. 
The other set of lead was cleaned already and was cooling in the mold waiting to be pushed out the next day.