ZippySails

Today we felt honored to meet someone we came here to find. In 2016 we were in Bermuda and happened into an auditorium where they were premiering a documentary called "Vanishing Sails". We had no idea what it was about but decided to go in. It was the story of the vanishing art of classic boat building. It featured a boat builder on the island of Carriacou in the Caribbean named Alwyn. He was building his last boat which they appropriately named "Exodus". The project took him three years with the documentary showing the family dynamics involved, the challenge of finding materials, weather and money factors. He and his sons literally cut down the trees and hauled them to the shore by hand! The documentary was excellent and the work impressive to say the least. Ever since we have dreamed of coming to Carriacou and meeting Alwyn. Today we did. We took a bus to the town where the boat was built, not a town at all but a area of houses along the shore. We walked around and started asking about where we could find Alwyn and as we were about to give up Doug looked up and said "there he is". We immediately recognized him. He graciously gave us some of his time and warmed up to us as Doug shared his passion for boat building. Since the movie was made it sounds like some of his nice quiet unassuming life on Carriacou may have changed a little. He was cautious at first. It was a thrill for us.