Antigua Classic Regatta 2024 set to welcome Eros, netizens express excitement

Antigua and Barbuda: Antigua Classic Regatta 2024 is all set to welcome Eros, Cameron Riddell’s 115 foot staysail schooner. Launched in 1939 as Jeanry for Henry S. Vom Berge, an American who was a skilled navigator and experienced sailor.

He wanted a strong vessel based on the design of a Gloucester fishing schooner that could sail the oceans. Sidney Graham of William McC. Meek drew the plan and she was built with a teak hull over steel frames by UK’s Bristol Motor Craft in Lowestoft, Suffolk.

World War II disrupted Berge’s plans for world cruising. The vessel was requisitioned by the Royal Navy almost immediately after it was launched and used for a variety of purposes during the war including, it is thought, evacuating troops from Dunkirk.

Berge, a bomber pilot, died in combat during the war and the family wasn’t interested in taking possession when the war ended so the yacht was sold to Greek billionaire shipping tycoon, Stavros Niarchos in 1945. He renamed her Eros and sailed the Mediterranean for the next 30 years.

As one of the most luxurious yachts in the Med she attracted many celebrities including King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain who spent some of their honeymoon aboard. In 1977 the yacht was sold to Lucy Bancroft who renamed her Fair Sarae and sailed across the Atlantic.

During the winters she was very successfully chartered out of English Harbour, Antigua and spent the summers doing corporate daysails in Boston. In 1984 she was moved to San Francisco Bay where she became a fixture on the Sausalito waterfront.

However, by 1990 she was showing her age and was sold to a German sailor who had plans for a major refit. She was docked at Bill and Grace Bodle’s Stone Boat Yard in Alameda, California. Two years into the project the German, for reasons that can only be speculated about, was unable to continue and ownership was signed over to the Bodles.

At the time she was in very large pieces in the yard but Bill Bodle, who was a schooner man from way back, continued the rebuild. Work progressed slowly with the Boodle’s crew working on her between paying jobs. The refit wouldn’t be completed for another 18 years.

The repairs were extensive. The hull and deck planks were removed to allow access to the steel structure, which was repaired and replaced as necessary. All the bronze bolts fastening the planks to the steel frame were renewed, a total of 20,000 bolts.

A bowsprit was added and the piping, wiring, pumps, winches, spars, electronics and all systems on the yacht were either completely overhauled or replaced. She was renamed Eros and soon after the refit was complete in 2009 put into charter in the Caribbean. Current owner Cameron Riddell and a partner purchased the boat in 2016. She charters in the Caribbean in the winter and New England in the summer.

This will be her fourth Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. She’s a head turner above and below deck and we can’t wait to see her 9,000 square feet of sail area send her slicing through the waves.

Netizens expressed pleasure and stated they are eagerly waiting for the Regatta and said that they will attend the event and spend leisure time of their life.