I just received notice about this event being held tomorrow in St. Maarten in honor of Capt. Drew Gollan, who was killed in Antigua in January:

Parsifal III & the Soggy Dollar Bar are holding a fund raiser for Drewy's family on Thursday night.

For those in St Maarten, please come and show your support and celebrate a wonderful life that was tragically taken from us and his beautiful family. There will be a Bbq & bar.

The fund raiser begins at 5 p.m. To RSVP and find out more, click here.

Here’s your chance to own--and possibly build--a piece of history.

From March 18 to 20, IpAuctions, an intellectual-property Internet auction firm, will sell 10 designs from the late naval architect Tom Fexas to the highest bidder. His estate is offering the designs, each of which comes with profile and general-arrangement drawings, five hours of free consultation from the Fexas Yacht Design Team to ensure the hull design meets intended usage, and the right to build a second yacht for a $5,000 license. A certificate of authenticity is also provided.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Fexas, who died in 2006, he was a well-known and well-respected designer. He opened Tom Fexas Yacht Design in 1966, and went on to see about 1,000 boats and megayachts hit the water with his handiwork. While his fast Midnight Lace boats are perhaps his most famous designs, built in conjunction with Cheoy Lee, he also collaborated with several megayacht builders, ranging from Palmer Johnson (see Time pictured above) to Burger Boat Company and Royal Denship, as well as sportfishing builders such as Mikelson Yachts. On a personal note, I came to know Fexas as both a brilliant designer and a sometimes-ornery man with a heart of gold when I worked for Power & Motoryacht starting in the early 1990’s, as he wrote a monthly column for the magazine for more than a decade.

Both potential owners and shipyards are encouraged to bid on the designs, ranging to 145 feet LOA. In fact, eight of the 10 measure 85 feet or larger.

Of course, buying a piece of history comes with a price: Opening bids range from $10,000 to $20,000, depending on the size of the yacht. But imagine seeing the design come to live, with Fexas’ name gracing it. That, no doubt, is priceless.

For more information, contact IpAuctions.

This megayacht is a long way from the small boats he honed his skills aboard on the St. Croix National Scenic Waterway and the Great Lakes, but she's no less reflective of Bill Prince's passion for all things nautical.

Prince created this 60-meter (197-foot) design to appeal to owners who want the ultra-luxe features of a mega-size megayacht but in a more manageable size, given the never-failing desire to pull into traditional marinas.

One look at the profile, and you can tell she's not an ordinary design. The "wall of glass" treatment for the side windows, as Prince calls it, particularly stands out. Measuring 1.5 meters high and 15 meters long (five feet by 50 feet) on both sides, the windows span the full-beam (10-meter, or nearly 33-foot) main saloon and dining room. I find them particularly striking due to their geometric shapes, and the seeming wave-like design running their length. And if you take a look at the aerial view below, the design is mimicked in the hardtop over the Jacuzzi (aft) and lounging/bar area (forward) on the sundeck.

Also note that the sheerline/bulwark is finished in a matte aluminum. Prince says this can be achieved by either clear coating the aluminum plating or fairing and painting the surfaces to look like aluminum if another material is employed. While clear coating "would give some remarkable reflections off the water in low sun angles," he says, it would definitely be higher maintenance for the crew. Regardless, and regardless of the hull color an owner chooses (Prince also has the design in a striking light grey), "This defines the overall proportion of the yacht and is something that, to my knowledge, has not been done on a stylish yacht before." I agree.

While fold-down platforms to either side near the transom permit tenders to launch and the owners and 10 guests to dive off the yacht, they can also serve as extra relaxation spaces when outfitted with lounge chairs. But the primary focus for relaxation is the main deck's "resort spaces," as Prince calls them. They're indoor-outdoor areas that can be used daytime or night, starting at the long swimming pool and flowing forward to a shaded seating space. Should an owner wish to host a large cocktail party, at the touch of a button the pool can convert to additional deck space, providing a total of more than 65 square meters (700 square feet) to enjoy here.

Full specifications are available from Prince, if you're interested in the project.

The Antigua & Barbuda Marine Association has taken an active role in the days following the shooting death of Capt. Drew Gollan, including arranging a meeting with island officials and police. The organization released the following statement this morning, which addresses both the fear some yacht owners and brokers have exhibited (perhaps understandably) as well as the overwhelming support many within the megayacht community have shown:

Following the tragic murder of the Australian yacht skipper, Drew Gollan, on the evening of Thursday 22nd January 2009 a group of restaurant owners called a meeting for 10.30 on Friday morning. The Prime Minister of Antigua, the Justice Minister, the Tourism Minister, the Commissioner of Police and some of his colleagues were invited to attend. The President of the Antigua & Barbuda Marine Association conducted the meeting.

The meeting was very emotive and more heat than light came from it, however, at a subsequent meeting of yacht skippers the following day attended by the Commissioner of Police, a more rational discussion was held and the need for the protection of the yachting community established. Over 30 letters from skippers have been received confirming their support for Antigua but requesting better protection.

There was undoubtedly a suggestion that a number of yachts were likely to leave as a result of the murder however, on cool reflection, most of the skippers agreed that Antigua, despite this murder, was still the safest Caribbean destination. One skipper, who had been ordered to take his yacht to an alternate island, said “It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire.” Another skipper, also ordered to leave, stated that he knew that Antigua is basically safe despite a rise in crime, not unknown throughout the world, however, getting the message through to worried owners, charterers and yacht management companies was much more difficult. It is reported that there have been some cancellations. This has been rather an over-reaction considering the substantially larger numbers of murders which occur on other islands that do not get reported as they are so commonplace. The reason this murder has received such widespread attention is because it is so rare in Antigua.

In the dozens of interviews given by the Antigua & Barbuda Maine Association to both the local and international press in both the printed and broadcast media it has been stressed that Antigua is still a safe haven for yachts and that this is recognised by the vast majority of yacht owners and skippers as evidenced by the lack of yachts leaving.

To date only three yachts are absolutely known to have left as a result of the murder with a rumoured further three also leaving. Yachts can be seen continually coming and the Immigration service have confirmed that the majority of yachts departing immediately after the incident had already been booked to leave prior to the murder and that an equivalent number had arrived since the incident. With over 100 yachts still in Falmouth and English Harbours there has not been the mass exodus some had predicted.

The President of the Antigua & Barbuda Marine Association attended many meetings and had numerous telephone and e-mail conversations with members of Government, government agencies and officers at all levels of the Royal Police Force of Antigua & Barbuda. The result of these discussions culminated in a strategy which will seriously enhance the safety and security of visiting yachts, their crew and their guests. Details can be found in the NEWS section of the Antigua & Barbuda Marine Association website – www.abma.ag.

The good news is that on 30th January the alleged murderer was arrested and charged with the homicide of Drew Gollan. This was as a direct result of good police work, the co-operation of the public and www.crimestoppersantigua.com.

A large portion of the economy of Antigua is dependent upon the yachting industry and the Antigua & Barbuda Marine Association together with the Government and the people of Antigua is dedicated to the continuation of this very important sector of the country’s tourism and maintaining Antigua’s reputation as the ‘best yachting destination in the Caribbean.’