For the past six months, seven international sailors have been literally left high and dry at Tyrell Bay Marina on the Caribbean island of Carriacou. Their boats can no longer be launched because a fence has been erected across the marina grounds. A couple who own one of the affected boats spoke to YACHT online about how they are fighting for their freedom and why life on board is becoming an increasing burden.
It’s hard to imagine. Your own sailing boat has been moored at a marina in the Caribbean for three days, where routine maintenance work is being carried out ahead of the hurricane season. It is due to be launched back into the water in early May. But then builders turn up and, in the space of just one weekend, erect a fence which has since made it impossible to launch the boat back into the water.
What sounds like an episode of “Verstehen Sie Spaß?” actually happened to the sailors involved six months ago on the island of Carriacou. The background to the story is complicated and stretches all the way to the UK’s highest court of appeal in London.
In the wrong place at the wrong time
Leslie Bell and her partner Michael Friedel look back on the weekend in question with some bewilderment. “When they started putting up the wire mesh, there was no gate, no doors, nothing. That’s when it dawned on us that this wasn’t a joke,” say the couple. The pair had had their catamaran lifted out of the water by the marina’s crane on 22 April 2026 for scheduled maintenance. “Nobody had said a word to us about it beforehand.” When they then had to watch as they were effectively locked in, neither of them believed that there really wouldn’t be a way back for any length of time. “We thought: OK, a couple of weeks, then the court will sort it out and everything will be fine again.”
In the meantime, the two have joined forces with other detained sailors and are trying to secure a legal ruling to have the fence opened. But they are facing considerable resistance: five-figure sums spent on lawyers, inconclusive court rulings and a completely disorganised bureaucracy.
What those affected only learnt after the fence had been erected was that this action is merely the latest escalation in a conflict that has been ongoing on Carriacou for over ten years. The seven international sailors had the incredible misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and have consequently found themselves caught right in the middle of a legal dispute.
A pawn in a wider conflict
The dispute over the land began as early as 2013. The Government of Grenada had leased around three hectares of mangrove land to the marina operator, Carriacou Devcor Ltd, for expansion purposes. The heirs of the former owner, Samuel Corion, brought a legal action. The case went through all the courts up to the Privy Council in London, which, as Grenada is part of the British Commonwealth, is the court of last resort. The judgement was handed down in 2023 and confirmed that the land belongs to the estate of Samuel Corion. The current owners are now suing the government and claiming damages.
It is not entirely clear why the Corion family decided, of all times, to erect a fence across the site. The legality of the fence’s construction is also in question. According to the German couple who own the property, whilst the 2023 judgement did rule on the ownership situation, it did not explicitly rule on the right of use: “Ownership and possession are not the same thing. The right of use remains with the marina.”
Legal dispute
Those affected have brought four cases. According to the sailors, all of them have failed. The proceedings in court were also said to have been rather peculiar. It is reported that, during one of the cases, the judge left the courtroom almost in tears. She is said to have explained, in essence, that she could not rule in favour of the boat owners without risking her job.
“Since then, the public has interpreted the ruling as meaning that the court approved the fence,” said Friedel and Bell. But that does not correspond to the facts. Another skipper affected by the case commented when asked: “The hearing was a complete farce. Nothing was done properly, and the opposing lawyer seemed to be dictating the proceedings to the magistrate.”
Mental strain
The owners find themselves in a difficult situation. The psychological strain, the damage on board and the many minor inconveniences are making life on dry land an increasingly trying ordeal. As key systems on the couple’s catamaran rely on the seawater supply, they have now been unable to use either their fridge or their air conditioning for half a year. Furthermore, the water coming out of the hoses at the marina is not drinkable, meaning that a daily trip to the supermarket on Carriacou is essential to secure a water supply.
Friedel and Bell’s catamaran stands six metres above the ground. The nearest toilets are about 100 metres away, on the other side of the fence. “When we need to go to the toilet, we climb down the ladder and walk 120 metres round the fence,” say the couple. Jeremy, another of the sailors affected, reports: “Attending doctor’s appointments is extremely difficult, if not impossible. My wife has already had to postpone scheduled check-ups.”
According to the German couple, other people affected have lost their income. Several of them have to travel to Martinique for work, but as they live on their boats, they are now unable to leave the island. This has serious consequences, as, in addition to the many problems they face, there is the constant threat of a hurricane: “The boats aren’t adequately protected in the event of a hurricane. We would most likely lose them,” says Jeremy. Several of those affected already lost their boats during Hurricane Beryl in July 2024.
The Road to Freedom
Yet the path to freedom is actually very close at hand. According to the harbour operator, the crane is fully operational and has been serviced. A statement to the local newspaper in Grenada states that it could launch the boats immediately, “as soon as there is a clear, unobstructed path to the slipway”. French skipper Jeremy also writes: “The fence could simply be opened, the boats could be launched one after the other using the travel lift, and then the fence could be closed again. To this day, we still don’t understand what’s standing in the way.”
The owners rule out a cloak-and-dagger operation. Whilst the fence could be removed in a matter of minutes, the risk is simply too great: “Someone’s done it before. They arrested him and threw him in jail.” What’s more, a 60-foot catamaran cannot be hoisted onto a crane in a matter of minutes, and the process can take several hours even for experienced hands. With a boat worth over two million euros, this is not an acceptable risk for the owners.
Statement from the family who own the property
The Corion family has not yet responded to our enquiries. In an official statement to the Grenadian newspaper The New Today They contradict the sailors’ account. The fence was not erected overnight. The affected owners had been given prior warning and the construction was lawful. They are levelling serious allegations against the government and the harbour operator, claiming they illegally allowed the harbour to be built on their land without them having been adequately compensated.
David Ingelfinger
Volontär