Fighting Lady Yellow

A Final Farewell for a Special Sailboat

Looking at all the boats tossed on shore by Hurricane Helene’s record storm surge in Florida prompted me to pull up these photos of O’dege—a sailboat at the heart of my sailing experiences on St. John, USVI, and a casualty of Category 5 Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Painted “Fighting Lady Yellow,” O’dege had a sun-goddess spinnaker, a bad-ass woman captain, and almost always an all-female crew.

O’dege was painted “Fighting Lady Yellow,” a color chosen for the name, and the fact that one could pee off the stern—something at which the captain was impressively adept—and not interfere with the paint job. 

NOT ON ANY MAP: ONE VIRGIN ISLAND, TWO CATASTROPHIC HURRICANES, AND THE TRUE MEANING OF PARADISE

I learned to race on her, steer her, trim her sails, clean her bottom, and pee off her stern. I made fast friends, laughed until my sides hurt, bruised muscles I didn’t know I had, tested my limits, and found the confidence to embark on an epic adventure. All on a 33-foot boat that was not some rich person’s toy, but a real woman’s home.

I jumped at any chance to sail on O’dege because the captain wasn’t a control freak, so you got to do stuff—that is to say I, the inexperienced one, got to do stuff. 

NOT ON ANY MAP: ONE VIRGIN ISLAND, TWO CATASTROPHIC HURRICANES, AND THE TRUE MEANING OF PARADISE

Nothing compares to loss of life, but these storms also threaten a way of life, and that is a very sad story.

Thanks for all the memories, O’dege. 💛

Read more about the adventures of O'dege and her crew in NOT ON ANY MAP: One Virgin Island, Two Catastrophic Hurricanes, and the True Meaning of Paradise by Margie Smith Holt.
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