| On this page we celebrate your skills as
a craftsperson - whether it be model boats you make as a hobby,
jewellery you made to sell to other 'yachties' along the way to help keep
the cruising kitty topped up or, perhaps, custom interior furniture you
create for yachts, hand-made shoes, whatever. Don't be shy to show off your handiwork even if it isn't intended for
sailors or you have no connection with boats - what a dull world it
would be if we showed no interest in one another's efforts!
 This
is Mauvin, who has his own model boat shop in Bequia, largest of the
islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, part of the Caribbean
chain.
Locals don't just buy model boats to put on display and admire as works
of art. Competition is fierce to produce and race the finest 'gumboat'
as the boats are called. Many of the models are based on the original
Bequia whaling boats.
Whaling was once a mainstay of Bequia's economy and the island still has
a tiny quota, although most years no whale is slaughtered. A cow and her
calf were slaughtered in 1998, amidst a great deal of disapproval,
locally and internationally. Locals were divided on the subject but many
agreed that it was unfair to use a whale calf to trap the mother into a
situation from which she could not escape without abandoning her calf.
Since three years had passed without a single whale being caught, it is
to be supposed that the whalers got a little carried away. The
traditional methods are still used, so that it is as dangerous for the
men who go to sea after a whale as it is for the creature they are
chasing. On the rare occasion that a kill is made, no part of the animal
is wasted.
The traditional sailors' art of scrimshaw is still
alive in Bequia, as it is in Horta, in the Azores. In both places, the
drastic decrease in the acquisition of the teeth and bones of whales
has, naturally, reduced the quantity of works produced accordingly.
In Horta, Jose Aznevedo, known as Peter, has been collecting scrimshaw
all his life and the family built a Museum of Scrimshaw, housed above
Peter Sport Café, the bar frequented by almost all newly arrived
yachtsmen who visit Horta on the island of Faial in the Azores.
Being in the middle of the Atlantic, the Azores, although beautiful
islands are not subject to vast numbers of passing vessels, although
last year the marina in Horta saw a record 1100 yachts passing through.
The lack of suitable anchorages have long been at cause in the tendency
of sailors to visit few of the islands and stop only in one of the two
formerly available marinas. New marinas are being built and existing
ones extended, as the Azores begin to expand their potential as holiday
destinations.
In the next issue of MarineZine we plan to show you some of the finer
scrimshaw works contained in Peter's museum.
Are you handy with your hands? We'd love to
hear about your creative talents and, if you have photographs to show,
to see those too.
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