Here is what the regatta organizers posted for us……. The 2024 Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta welcomes Cassiopeia II, Harold Neel’s 72 foot, gaff rigged schooner. This will be Cassiopeia II’s first Classic Regatta but Harold is no newcomer having helmed her sistership, Cassiopeia, in the Classic five times back in the day, including a class win. Cassiopeia II was built by De Mateo Boat Works and has pine planking on double sawn oak frames with a cement shoe on her keel. She was originally used as a live aboard for her builder, Ron De Mateo, who kept her in the Turks and Caicos for years. She was already showing her age before the next owner kept her at the dock for eight years performing only cosmetic maintenance. That’s when destiny came calling but to get the whole picture we need to go back in time. The 1998 Classic regatta was a special one for Harold. Not only did he take home the coveted Spirit of the Regatta Award, his daughter, Layla, was conceived during the regatta. After the ‘99 Classic, Harold with mom and a three month old, headed for the South Pacific where he and the original Cassiopeia spent many years. He was operating the boat as a day sail business in Vanuatu but, when he was away visiting Australia, she was robbed and totally stripped including her batteries. With no batteries to power the bilge pumps she filled up to the waist and after trying to save her for two years he eventually had to scuttle her. Out of tragedy the Cassiopeia Schooner Project was born with the goal of building six schooners using the unique design of the original Cassiopeia and sailing them as a fleet for humanitarian and environmental purposes. While promoting the dream Harold received a call from a shipwright, reminding him that there was a sistership and the owner was thinking of selling. Harold’s friends saw it as destiny and lent him the money to purchase Cassiopeia II. That was four years ago. In need of an extensive refit, Harold has installed new masts and spars, replaced the engines, performed extensive work on the hull due to worm damage and much more. She’s now back on the water and headed to Nelson’s Dockyard for the 2024 Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. To find out more about the Cassiopeia Schooner Project’s plan of building a fleet of six wooden schooners to carry international crews of experts and professionals from various walks of life on a humanitarian mission to promote environmental sustainability, cultural understanding, and peace to ports around the globe go to https://cassiopeiaschoonerproject.org

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