Welcome to the BVI SCUBA Organizations site on the Windjammer Flying Cloud!
September 28th, 2008 Update
It has been awhile, but when you combine off season with being in the Caribbean, things move slow. We have had enough people searching the horizon expecting it to be coming around Round Rock any second, that an update is in order.
When we first started working on obtaining the Windjammer Flying Cloud to sink in the British Virgin Islands, almost a year ago, it was tied up at a dock in Trinidad, with the Marine Museum, who did not want it. Windjammer, the corporation, thought that it was a great idea for her to come home to be sunk in her "home waters" and basically told us we could have it for a dollar. This is what she looked like at the time.
Of course, the Windjammer Corporation ceased operation and somehow, in the midst of all that, the Flying Cloud was sold to a scrap dealer. We re-examined our plans for obtaining her, and decided that even if we had to pay scrap price for her, that it was an important ship to obtain in the British Virgin Islands. At that point, we came to an agreement with the scrap dealer on price and hired a Trinidadian lawyer to take care of our interests. We also, sent Kevin Rowlette of Husky Salvage down to take pictures and to give us a status report, as the scrap dealer, alluded to there having been some vandalism on the ship and the front was a "bit underwater". Our agreement with the scrap dealer was for the price to be paid upon the Flying Cloud being pumped out and floating. You can see here that the Flying Cloud was, indeed, a "bit underwater"!
In some ways, this potentially saved us money, as the rigging was already taken off, you can see it below stored in the yard, and a portion of the ship would have been cleaned out. If you can call sitting in the mucky waters of Trinidad cleaned out! We knew once it was up and floating, we would be able to get it hauled at Burkes yard down there, and patch it enough for us to tow it back to the BVI. This was already agreed upon.
It was disheartening for us to see what damage had been done to the Flying Cloud in the few months since we started the project. However, it is in a murky, dangerous, commercial area of Trinidad where you have NO visibility in the water. We also knew that they would be eager to get it up and out of there as it is blocking a commercial dock and the yard owner, and indeed the Ports Authority have given a directive that it needs to be gone.
We had no plans to bring the Flying Cloud up to the BVI until after hurricane season ended this year, so we had lots of time. Toward the end of August, The scrap dealer had health problems etc and had given it a good attempt to get it off the bottom, tried for a month, backwards and forwards. Each time they would make a bit of progress and the water level would come down, something would implode (ie one of many doors on the main deck) and they would be back to square one. He has given up and says he cannot get any further.
So, what is our next step? We know that we can get it off the bottom, it is just a matter of how much money it will cost us. We are looking at our options. There are some commercial divers in Chaguaramas, who have been working on a barge in Montserrat, and have agreed to give it a look when they get back and see what they think. As they work out of the Trinidad area, we think that their local knowledge will give us some options.
Other obstacles: We had originally thought we were getting it floating on a mooring for a dollar. Then we were paying the scrap value upon floating, no floating ship, no payment. With the price of steel going up, we may have to pay more for it as it is worth more, from the scrap dealers point of view. We now additionally have to pay to get if off the bottom.
This is where we are sitting now with our project. We are still very enthused and eager to move forward. Our original estimation was that it was going to cost us around a hundred thousand dollars for the project. Now, we are not sure. We have raised quite a bit of money for our project, from private donors as well as all members of the BVI SCUBA Organization. It is important for everyone to know that ALL private donations are sitting in our 501 (c) agents non profit account. They will be returned IF we cannot move ahead with the project.
If anyone has any expertise and/or ideas to help us meet our goal, please let us know! We have received a lot of positive encouragement and support from individuals, BVI Government and Media.
From the August Issue of All at Sea
From The August Issue of the Caribbean Compass
From the August Issue of the BVI Yacht Guide
The response from people sending in stories and pictures has been wonderful! The Flying Cloud, and indeed, the entire Windjammer Fleet has touched many peoples heart and soul! Keep them coming and we will continue to update you on what is happening with our "Sink The Flying Cloud Project"!
July 15th, 2008: It has been a busy month for the "Sink The Flying Cloud Project"....
1) This Website has been created so our Flying Cloud project has a permanent "home" all its own!
2) We are now up and running with Ocean River acting as our non -profit 501(c) 3 partner. Additionally, we can accept small donations online through Paypal on our DONATIONS page.
3) We have been down to Trinidad to go over the Flying Cloud, made sure she can withstand the tow up to the BVI. It looks like an arrival date in the BVI for the Flying Cloud will be in late October.
4) We have received the support of the National Parks Trust for our project and its sinking!
5) Conservation and Fisheries have supported our choice location to sink in between Cooper and Ginger Island and we are busy doing addtional studies that they have asked for. These are called Bathymetric surveys. One will be a large scale chart of the area it is to be sunk in, with GPS and Depth scales. We must also make fish counts, and plot how far out from the reef the barrel sponges go so they can decide exactly where she will lay.
6) We have started collecting stories, and pictures and making "Memory" Pages on the Flying Cloud by the year. We have several up already, check them out with plenty more to come!
7) Our very own Brian Olson, from Sunchaser SCUBA on Virgin Gorda has written an article "The Caribbean's Newest Artifical Reef?" You can read it here.
8) The BVI Yacht Guide has an article on the Flying Cloud out this month. Full story at the link and here is a PDF
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