The latest Vendée Globe race has been brutal enough without an obstacle course thrown in at the last minute. When this container was reported offshore of France — right in the path of finishing Vendée boats — a Marine Nationale ship was sent out to retrieve it.

In most places where Carnival is celebrated, all the wild times are supposed to end at midnight on Tuesday — Mardi Gras. It’s then that you’re supposed to give up something dear for Lent. "Religion," one wag suggested.

But as you might expect, they do things differently in the French West Indies. For on the evening of Ash Wednesday, there’s another big celebration, the Cremation of Vaval. Everyone dresses in black and white for this event and, on St. Barths, parades around the streets, following the drummers and old Vaval who is carried on a stretcher. The ultimate destination is Shell Beach, where Vaval is to be strung up and burned.

It’s something of an unofficial tradition on the island for the lighters of the fire, who are apparently firemen, to have a terrible time getting the darn bonfire going. They don’t have many fires on St. Barth, so they seem a little short on experience. But the crowd of 1,000 or so, which for reasons we can’t explain, was much larger this year than last, didn’t seem to mind. After all, the ‘ti punch was flowing, the drums were pounding, and lovely women such as Kat were dancing in the warm surf. And, as you can see from the photos, the pile of wood and Vaval eventually became the inferno that everyone was looking for. After a little more dancing, drinking and hollering, everyone gladly went home, eagerly looking forward to a little post Carnival rest.

Cruisers Jim and Emma Mather of the Redondo Beach-based Down East 45 Blue Sky alerted us to a horrible boating accident that occurred several days ago in Thailand, where they are currently cruising with their kids, Phoebe and Drake. As sad as it is, the Mathers feel there are valuable lessons to be learned from this tragic incident.

Australian Ali van Os, 16, was with her parents aboard a friend’s boat at Phuket’s Yacht Haven Marina when a monstrous ‘superyacht’ approached. She instinctively jumped up to have a closer look, but when the yacht surged into a wharf where she was standing she was struck in the head, apparently by a 4-inch hawser.

The vibrant teenager was rushed to Phuket’s Bangkok Hospital, where she is said to have received excellent care, but her head trauma and substantial blood loss apparently caused extensive brain damage. On Monday, Ali’s parents, author Joanne van Os and attorney Lex Silvester, reluctantly made the decision to turn off their daughter’s life support system.

Family friend Terri Robson was quoted as saying Ali was an "amazing young woman. . . one of those people that’s just so engaging. People were entranced by her."

The Mathers were deeply saddened by the tragedy, as they had spent Christmas with the van Os/Silvester family, and had gotten to know Ali well. "She was a very special girl, and a person that will not be forgotten," explains Jim.

He asked us to spread the word to other boating parents so they can recognize the hazards of docking, and keep their children an appropriate distance away. "Our two children are still very small so it has always been our rule that they occupy themselves below deck when we are docking or anchoring. If Emma and I are assisting another boat to or from a dock, the children stand back (way back)." Blue Sky will soon depart Thailand and head west across the Indian Ocean.