Contributing Source - Ron Reil

Sea Dart - "Dart's Rescue"
By Ron Reil

I was stationed at "Naval Facility Barbados" from 1968-1970. During that time I was very active in sailing, SCUBA diving, and cave exploring. I owned half interest in a very fast 21 foot sloop named "Vega", and when Sea Dart sailed in to Barbados, and was put up for sale, I bought her too.

One afternoon a friend came to me and asked if I would go with him to look at a boat that was for sale. It had just sailed in from England, and he was interested in buying her. He did not feel qualified to evaluate the boat for himself, so asked me, since I was very much involved with sailing. I was in the 5th year of preparation for a round the world cruise, so he felt that I should know something about boats.

The next day we drove down to Bridgetown and went to the Barbados Yacht Club where Mr. William Osborne, the owner, had agreed to meet us to show us Sea Dart. When we arrived Mr. Osborne was not present, so we decided to swim out to look over Sea Dart without him. We swam out to the boat, and as we came up under Dart's bow sprit I was instantly captivated by the two hand carved dolphins that graced the bow just under the bow sprit.

We climbed up into the cock pit, and a few minutes later Capt. Osborne arrived in Dart's dingy and opened Dart up for us to enter. I was instantly in love with the little boat, but could not say much since my friend was the one who was there to possibly buy her. We looked over every square inch of Dart, said good bye to Capt. Osborne, and headed back up the island toward Speightstown. On the way my friend told me that Dart was far too much boat for what he was looking for, and had decided to look elsewhere for a boat. That left Dart open to me, and the next day I purchased her.

The purchase was interesting because of the currency problem. I was an American, and paid in American currency. The boat had to be purchased in the local currency, and at the current exchange ratio. It finally worked out that the easiest way to do the transaction was in cash! At that time Barbados had only very small denominations available, $1, $5, $10, and $20, it may still be the same. When I went to the bank and asked for over $6000 in cash they were rather shocked. They had to furnish the cash in mostly $1, $5, and $10 denominations. That meant that the final pile of cash easily would have filled a bushel basket!

With the entire back seat of my car filled with stacks of money I drove the 15 miles to Bridgetown and closed the deal on Dart. I was now the proud owner of a fine, solid wood, "Debutante" hull, sloop. I left Dart anchored behind the yacht club, and when the following Saturday arrived, sailed her the 20 miles up the coast to Gibbs Bay, her new home for the next two and a half years.

Some months later I was horrified to learn that I was being transferred to Norfolk, Virginia for the remaining year of my enlistment in the Navy. I spoke with the fellow who had initially brought me in contact with Dart because of his interest in the boat. I asked him if he wanted to have Dart for the year I would be in the US. He could sail her in exchange for taking care of her for the year. He jumped at the opportunity, and I departed paradise, for something far less.

Norfolk and San Diego are both far down on my list of desirable places to live, however, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon to spread its wings to the sun, both have metamorphosed into lovely cities in the ensuing years. That was not the case when I arrived in Norfolk for my year of purgatory.

The next 12 months were agony as I watched the development and course of various hurricanes that passed near Barbados. None of them hit that year, and finally I found my time in the Navy and come to an end, and my discharge took place. At long last I was a free man after six years of military servitude.

I flew home to Oregon for two weeks, and then back down into the tropics to reunite with Dart. On the way I stopped in Key West, Florida to pick up my long time friend, Brooks FitzPatrick, who would be my "First Mate" and cook for the upcoming adventure. We arrived on the Island late in the evening and walked out of the Barbados air terminal into the fragrant humid tropical air that was so familiar to me. I felt that I had arrived home again.

The next day I was in for a shock. When we climbed aboard Dart I was instantly struck by Dart's poor condition. It was apparent that she had not been well cared for. When I opened the companion way hatch and entered the cabin I sat down and almost cried. There in front of me was a huge pile of wet moldy sails. That was not the worst of it. In the tropical heat the moisture had badly damaged the beautiful hardwood interior of the boat. The decking was warped up into big folds that were as much as two inches high. It was fortunate that my "friend" was not present because I was angry, almost beyond control.

It was apparent that it would require several months to get Dart ready for sea, and that no amount of complaining or crying was going to change that. I finally accepted the situation and started making the necessary plans to put everything shipshape and Bristol fashion. The work was about to begin.

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