The Time Has Come

We awake to a morning very different from the past three days. The wind has stopped and the rain is gone.

The call from YachtPath was that we are to off-load OceanFlyer at 10am. We are all ready to get this done and start our journey back to Bellingham.

Back to the Coast Hotel docks to board the RIB for a nice smooth ride out to Palembang. It’s 11:30 before we arrive at OceanFlyer. Because of the calm conditions, OceanFlyer had been lowered into the water. The lifting straps are removed and she is held alongside Palembang with some extra straps.

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OceanFlyer waiting for us on a very calm morning.

Compared to boarding Lady Jane yesterday in the wind and waves, we all get on OceanFlyer with no effort and start getting her ready. Scott goes below to make his engine room checks and Tom, Martine and myself start removing the shrink wrap and stuff it into the lazarette.

Once we are all ready, Scott starts the engines and we cast off from Palembang. Our first stop is the Coast Hotel docks so I can return the rental car. My three crewmates take OceanFlyer back to the inner harbor docks where Lady Jane awaits.  I grab a cab from Hertz back to the inner harbor and we cast off Lady Jane and OceanFlyer and go to the fuel docks to take on enough fuel to make it back to Bellingham. At 1:47pm we make our way out of Victoria Harbor.

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​The last time I saw Palembang in Victoria Harbour.

It’s been five months coming, and it feels great to be underway. Because of our late start, our plan is to overnight at Friday Harbor. We need to stop here to clear customs, and since we did not arrive until 5pm as the sun went behind the horizon, it was an ideal stopover. Friday Harbor has some great restaurants and we can rest easy having completed the hard part of this ferry trip. Tomorrow we have an easy 2 ½ hour cruise over to Bellingham. 

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​OceanFlyer rests at Friday Harbor docks.

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The sun sets over Friday Harbor.

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A beautiful sunset predicts a great trip tomorrow to Bellingham. 

Time to Off-Load

Early in the morning I get a call from Scott who tells be that he was just informed that Lady Jane/Telita would be offloaded first  this morning and we are to make our way to the Coast Hotel docks to meet the RIB that would take us out to Lady Jane.

Since we were all rather bored with having wasted a day yesterday, all four of us decide to go off-load Lady Jane.

Tom, Scott and Bob standing around in the wind and rain waiting at the docks.

The rain had stopped but the wind was still up. We stood around at the docks as the Captain of the RIB keep checking with YachtPath to see if they were ready for us.

​Is it time yet?

Finally, the word came that it was time to offload Lady Jane. We all boarded the RIB and made our way out to the commercial docks. The waves were three feet in the harbor and the ride in the RIB was a white knuckle, bone-jarring trip.

As we approached the Palembang, we could see Lady Jane hanging in the lifting straps just a couple of feet above the water. They did not want to launch her as they would normally would because the waves were so high. The fear was that Lady Jane would be slammed up against Palembang with the resultant damage.

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​Lady Jane hovering above the waves.

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​Big boat, little boat.

Having a motor-yacht configuration, there are not a lot of ways to board her from the water. Add to that the high waves, and it took four attempts until we could find a relatively safe way to transfer to Lady Jane. The RIB was more like a human launching pad. We each timed the waves so we would be deposited aboard Lady Jane on the crest of a wave.

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​How are we going to get aboard?

Scott immediately went to the engine room to do his checks of the thru-hulls, engines and transmissions. The rest of us placed fenders over the starboard side and got ready to launch the boat into the water. There would be a critical time between when we get lowered into the ocean and when we can clear the lifting straps. During that time, we need to be ready to fend off from the Palembang.

Once we were all ready, we gave the signal and the crane operator lowered us into the ocean. Scott got the engines started and we helped walk the straps from under Lady Jane. As soon as the straps were clear, Scott took control and maneuvered Lady Jane clear of Palembang without an issue. Scott again earned his reputation as an excellent boat handler.

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A view of the Palembang and the large yacht on the starboard side. She unloads in the Far East.

The wind continued to blow and the waves in the harbor continued to build. Lady Jane, weighing 30 tons, was a much more pleasant ride than the RIB. I looked back at Palembang once we were around the corner and could see the large Feadship still on the starboard side.

Scott dropped me off at the Coast Hotel docks so I could retrieve the rental car and then we both proceeded to the inner harbor docks to await word when we would off-load OceanFlyer.

We continued to explore Victoria, finding more pubs to try. Around lunchtime we got a call that they had stopped off-loading operations when the boat after Lady Jane sustained some damage during the process.

We were instructed to stay at the ready, since they would be resuming operations as soon as the conditions got better.

As I checked weather, I was doubtful we would see much improvement before very late in the evening.

At dinner, we were working under the assumption from YachtPath that we might be off loading OceanFlyer around 11pm. None of us were looking forward to that. The wind was less, but still up. And doing an off-load in the dark was not something we were looking forward to.

After we got back to the hotel I called the loadmaster from YachtPath and he confirmed that there would be no operations tonight. He "forgot to call me earlier.” He said we could expect to offload OceanFlyer tomorrow morning, but there was no specific time available.

Four Wayward Crew in Victoria

Fortunately for us, Tom has spent a lot of time in Victoria during the many times he has picked up boats here in the past. So we follow his lead, making our way from one pub and restaurant to another. In between breakfast, lunch and dinner we did some shopping, all the while trying to stay dry in the heavy rain.

On The Town, MGM 1949

It reminded me of the 1949 movie On The Town with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra about  three sailors on leave in New Your City.  They were in town for 24hrs with nothing much to do except get into trouble. But the vision fell apart when I remembered we all cannot dance. Given the heavy rains, maybe I should have chosen the other great Gene Kelly movie Singin' in the Rain as a better metaphor.

YachtPath is ever obtuse in their communication and asks that we stay on high alert, ready to off-load the boats. We continued on with our exploration of Victoria, knowing that nothing was going to happen today.

Again after dinner and after our persistent calls requesting an update, we were told that we would be offloading OceanFlyer tomorrow morning and LadyJane/Telita early afternoon.

Off to Victoria, B.C. to Offload OceanFlyer

Based on the published schedule from YachtPath today, I’m flying to Victoria so we can offload the boat tomorrow. We all think the schedule is going to slip because of the weather. The Palembang has been slowing down the as she makes her way into ever increasing seas. But YachtPath has not been willing to change the schedule so we need to be prepared to be there to offload OceanFlyer.

I land about 1pm and I'll get a rental car and make my way down to the seaplane terminal in Victoria to pick up my broker, Scott Blake, and Tom Selman who are going to be meeting Lady Jane and taking her back to Bellingham. After I have Scott and Tom in tow, we go over to the high speed ferry docks to pick up Martine Mariott who will be my mate for this trip since Karen has a business conflict.

The bad weather that the Palembang has been experiencing in the Strait of Juan de Fuca makes is way to Victoria as we pick up Martine. The rain and wind is upon us as we go to check in at the hotel. Our plan is to get a good dinner in anticipation of a very busy day tomorrow.

Once I get to the hotel, I boot up my computer and check the location of the Palembang. She has continued to slow and based on my calculations there is no way she will make it to her berth in Victoria tonight.

I reach out to the local contact of YachtPath and he is not yet willing to commit to a revised schedule based on the actual location of Palembang. He says he will be calling all the pick-up crews later tonight with a schedule for each of the boats. As the four of us gather for dinner, we compare notes and all come to the same conclusion. We will need to find a way to kill a day in Victoria because the Palembang will not be here in time.

After dinner we finally get a call from YachtPath telling us the obvious. No off-loading tomorrow.

Passing Carmel

I checked MarineTraffice.com around 4:30am EST and the Palembang is passing Monterey California. She is making 13.4 knots over the ground. That’s only 841.7km to go to Victoria, B.C.

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All Wrapped Up

One of the decisions we had to make was whether to shrink wrap the boat for transport. After reading many horror stories about boats being covered in exhaust soot and slime upon arrival at the final destination, we decided to have the boat wrapped. 

People who had the exhaust soot problem recounted spending lots of money and all season trying to clean their boat. Given that the cost to wrap our 49 foot Grand Banks was only $1,800, we decided that it would be good insurance. 

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OceanFlyer in her new suit of shrink wrap film. 

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​The decks get their own protection.

This is a footnote to this blog after delivery. There was no soot or slime on our shrink wrapped boat when we picked it up. So we could have done without.

Further, it cost us about as much to get all the tape slime off the boat as it did to shrink wrap it in the first place. Tape is used only around the edges to secure the shrink wrap film, but it's still a lot of tape. After being on the boat for over a month, much of it in the tropical sun and heat, the adhesive separated from the tape as we removed it. The resulting adhesive residue took lots of time to remove. Further, some of our varnish was damaged when the tape was removed, even though we were very careful as we removed the tape.  Would I do it again? Probably not.

We Have Yet Another Vessel

Alter making three phone calls to Dennis at YachtPath to find out what happened to the updates for the vessel that was supposed to load in three days, I finally got an update stating that there is a new vessel in play and that the projected date to load in Port Everglades was December 16th.

It’s the COSCO Da Qiang. Click here a link to see the vessel on Marine Traffic. 

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The vessel arrived today at the port of Guayaquil in Honduras to load it’s below deck cargo. Dennis finally did call me and proceeded to take me through the whole process of what they do in his business to get a vessel. It would be interesting if it was not having such a negative impact on my life.

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Da Qiang in Honduras

I asked the direct question: ”What do you think the probabilitly is that this will actually happen”. I did not expect a direct response. However, Dennis said “95%”, although he said he did not want to “jinx it”. To me it all sounds like gambling rather than a rational business model.

You’re Not Going To Believe This!

As you are aware, the last and only update from YachtPath said the planned arrival of PAC Athena into Port Everglades was November 29th with loading taking place on the 30th.

When I checked online last evening, this site showed that PAC Athena left New Orleans around noon on Thanksgiving.

PAC Athena Leaving New Orleans headed south. 

Of particular concern is that the destination is listed as Panama with an arrival date of November 28th. I doubt the vessel would go to Panama and then return to Port Everglades. If this information is correct, it would appear the November shipping of OceanFlyer is not going to happen.

I have called all my contacts at YachtPath and no one is in the office and no one is returning any of my voice mails.

At this point, my frustration is indescribable. If anyone has a trick to get accurate information on PAC Athena’s schedule, I would be most appreciative of your help.

Having exhausted all my contacts I reached out to my two boat brokers to see if they had any ideas for get information. Not long after I send out my plea, Steve Fithian of HMY sent me a text. It seems Steve has a “Secret number” that will actually get answered by YachtPath. He was able to confirm my suspicions that the owner of PAC Athena decided to bypass Port Everglades to try to get back on schedule.

He further relayed that YachtPath had identified another ship that should load on or about December 5. The rub is that this is a smaller vessel and there is no room for all the boats previously scheduled for PAC Athena. Steve made a point of how important it was to him, HMY Yachts and Grand Banks, Inc. (all good clients of YachtPath) that OceanFlyer get on this new vessel. Here’s hoping his leverage will work. I’m also working with my other broker, Scott Blake of NW Explorations to apply some pressure. He is about to close on another Grand Banks in Fort Lauderdale and I’m hoping we can use that as a wedge to secure a place on the December 5th vessel.

Realize that all of this is second hand information because YachtPath has not been forthcoming with any updates or changes. What a lot of drama for what should be a simple logistic transaction.

PAC Athena Makes it to the Grain Elevator

Yesterday evening PAC Athena started to move. However, to our surprise, it appeared as if the ship was sailing up the river and then back down the river. This went on until we when to bed. My only speculation is that they had to vacate the mooring that they were occupying for the last few days and the grain elevator was not yet ready for them. 

This morning when I checked the ship’s position, it was at the grain elevator and the track history indicated that it arrived at about 3:30am EDT. Well, that’s progress. Now if only someone would tell us what that mean’s to the schedule so we know when it will arrive at Port Everglades for loading.

This is the moorage next to the grain elevator in New Orleans. PAC Athena looks a lot like the front ship in this picture. (photo from Google Earth)