Sometimes you get lucky. A friend in the Amel fleet knew we were buying an Amel in Martinique so he introduced us to the great folks at Caraibe Marine. Dragonfly just spent the past four days cruising the west coast of Martinique and the only way we were able to do this was because of the amazing work and dedication from so many folks at Caraibe Marine
In the late 1980s Philippe Leconte raced in the mini transat single handed regatta in a 21 foot sailboat like the one below – France to Martinique non stop. Crazy!
Across the Atlantic in a 5.8 meter bateau
When he arrived in Martinique he did not have enough money for a plane ticket home. So he stayed on the island and started doing rigging work. Over the past 30+ years Philippe has grown his business to be one of the premiere repair and refit shops, with many customers sailing for two weeks just to have work done by them. Caraibe Marine now has seven divisions and over 50 employees.
You’ve found a great place when the owner Philippe gets involved and personally fabricates and installs a new genoa furler sleeve.
Given all the work Dragonfly needed I was fortunate to get to know many of the employees, and it was a little sad to say au revoir.
What a wonderful person – Aurélie the customer services manager. She coordinates all the people from every division and is always pleasant to work with even when there are delays, breakdowns, scope changes, and bad weather. Gaetan is the general manager of the Rigging division and Aurélie’s husband. In addition to helping Philippe with my rigging, he was exceptionally good at bringing a solution with every problem that came along. Meddy on the right was the Rigging team leader and worked closely with Dim on the left. Meddy spent a lot of time aloft……….and he was counting on Dim to not let go of the halyardYann is the artist at Caraibe Metal who designed and fabricated our custom stainless steel solar arch – lots of unsolicited compliments on the dock Nicholas supervised the Metal crew – this guy knows his trade, works hard, meets his deadlines and has a great attitude Christophe is a master Electrician, trained in the Belgium Army repairing tanks and other complex military equipment. An expert at diagnosing issues and implementing fixes, he was invaluable to us. Victor hanging out on Dragonfly while installing the solar panel wiringManu rebuilding the reverse osmosis water maker high pressure valve
There were so many other quality folks: Sabine, Bruno, Aurore and Tom in the Chandlery, Pilo and Mavrik at the Metal shop, Hugo in Electronics, and Marcus, Marco and Gerald in Rigging.
Dragonfly Waypoints 
Thank you Dragonfly for the lovely writing! It was our pleasure working with you! Safe travels and don’t hesitate to give us a call when in need
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Thank you Picasso for your kindness !
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