By Michelle Slade
Sailing in his 7-foot, 9-inch Optimist dinghy, Carrack Jones, 14, set off on November 22, 2023, at 4:30 pm, from Falmouth Harbor, Antigua, making it into Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten, just before midnight on November 23, after a mostly downwind sail with a reach for the final twenty miles or so. Conditions were light the entire way, never breaking 10 knots and often much less. Nonetheless, Jones cracked his remarkable goal—to set a world record for sailing 100 nautical miles across open ocean unassisted in an Opti.
Jones was inspired to make the crossing after learning of 13-year-old Lolie Osswald’s success sailing 80 nautical miles from Antigua to St Barts in June 2022. Even though his dad, Tanner Jones, tried to talk him out of it, citing concern over the youngster’s safety over such a long distance, young Jones was determined. He even made a bet with his sailing mate Henry that if he made the crossing, Henry owed him a McFlurry on arrival at Sint Maarten (there are no McDonalds on Antigua!).
Jones’s biggest concern, unsurprisingly, was falling asleep on the job. He prepared for the epic crossing by endurance training — spending hours at a time in the boat after dark.
“I practiced staying up late sailing on the boat over long distances. After sail training, I made trips in the dark of five to eight hours, in Falmouth Harbor home to Jolly Harbor where I live,” he noted.
Safety being the foremost priority, Jones carried a tracker, EPIRB, radio, GPS, and a compass. Three support boats, two with ABSAR (Antigua Barbuda Search and Rescue) crew on board, included a catamaran, monohull and a 20-foot RIB for medical emergencies. The boats followed Jones for the duration of the crossing: “The more support, the better,” acknowledged his dad. Nutrition was all-important and Jones carried plenty of energy drinks and sugary foods on board.
Jones felt excited as he left the dock in Falmouth Harbour, and confident, but some 11 hours into the trip — around 4 am — he capsized. “The wind came in from a weird direction and I was sitting in the wrong position when the boom came across and I wasn’t ready,” Jones recalled. “I had to swim around in the dark for all of the stuff that came out of my boat. There are still about 50 granola bars floating out there right now!” he laughed.
Fortunately, Jones had another dry bag of food, but exhaustion really began to set in around 5 am.
“As the sun rose, I thought, ‘This is a really dumb idea, and why am I right next to St. Kitts?’ ”Jones said.
His GPS had filled with water when he capsized, and while he could see all the islands before the capsize, by the time he got back in the boat he had lost them in his vision. Conditions had become cloudy and he had sailed farther down than he intended to.
“Going the wrong way really got me and it probably put 30-60 minutes on the trip. I was going in and out of sleep; I felt like I was hallucinating and seeing things.”
His dad and his mom, Shari Potts, watched as he started heading toward Eustatia and were worried he wouldn’t turn back.
“Near St Barts, we tried to convince him to quit, and he said ‘Okay,’ and sailed toward us, but about 10-15 feet away, he started sailing away again,” Tanner said. “It was hard to watch him struggle and unable to assist; the last ten miles into Sint Maarten felt longer than the 90 before.”
Jones finally arrived at Simpson Bay after 31 hours in his boat to a crowd cheering on the docks. He was completely spent, and sleep deprivation had taken its toll.
“I was feeling pretty bad, I was exhausted. When I got off the boat, my feet were moving but my body wasn’t,” he said, smiling at the painful memory.
Nonetheless, barely caught up on sleep let alone full recovery, the very next day Jones jumped into the 18th Annual Optimist Regatta hosted in Sint Maarten. He placed sixth overall and was awarded a sportsman trophy for an outstanding accomplishment — his epic crossing and rolling immediately into a three-day regatta.
Karl James, MBE and two-time Olympian, has been Jones’s sailing coach at the Antigua Yacht Club for many years and knows the young sailor well.
“I am a true believer that people are inspired in many different ways,” James said. “I would say to the kids, ‘This side of the course is favored which would be the side closest to shore,’ and it fascinated me that Carrack would go off on his own on a long tack offshore — it’s like it is in his DNA that he needs to explore.”
Jones’s world record for sailing the longest distance unassisted in an Opti has been validated by both the Antigua Yacht Club and the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, as well as the St Barth Yacht Club and the Caribbean Sailing Association. A perpetual trophy is being established by Caribbean clubs which will recognize not just distance racing but exceptional sailing accomplishments, with the hope of inspiring more young sailors to follow their dreams.
While he never considered himself in danger, Jones good-humoredly noted his advice to other kids wanting to break his record.
“Do not do it, it’s a terrible idea!” he joked, before continuing on a more solemn note.
“Seriously, make sure you do a lot of endurance training before the attempt. You need to be able to stay up at night and keep yourself awake.”
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