July 17, 2007

As I indicated in my last posting to this blog; we were all set with our arrangements to ship Alchemy to the states.  Unfortunately all of that changed shortly after wrote the posting.

As you know, Alchemy was scheduled to be shipped on a vessel owned by a company named Dockwise.  The vessel was new and due to undergo sea trials about the time I signed the contract.

A few days after we arrive in Hong Kong we got an email from Dockwise telling us that they were cancelling the contract with no explanation.  After doing a little investigating we found that they had also cancelled the contracts of 35 other yacht owners who were shipping their boats on the same vessel.  We’ve heard two stories as to why they cancelled.

The first one was that they discovered problems during the trials.  Needing time to fix the problems would mean that they would have to delay the departure date.  Their vessel was scheduled to stop in Hong Kong, Brisbane. Auckland, Ensenada, Port Everglades, FL and Monaco where she was going to be shown off at the Monaco Boat Show.  Feeling that making the show was more important than fulfilling their contracts, they are now going to sail her directly to Monaco via the Suez Canal.

The second reason is similar to the first, but with this one they did not feel they would make enough revenue from their planned passage so they decided to go directly to Monaco.

Either way, they clearly are not concerned about customer relations or the possibility of repeat business.

As soon as we got the email we and the owners of three other boats started contacting other agents and shipping lines.  We found an agent who made arrangements aboard a container vessel (MSC Texas) to ship Alchemy to Long Beach.  The other three yachts were going to Florida so they are being shipped on a different vessel.

The Texas arrived in Hong Kong last Wednesday, Alchemy was loaded aboard and she is scheduled to arrive in Long Beach on the 23^rd.  I am flying to LAX on the 19^th to meet Alchemy and take possession of her.

When Alchemy is unloaded I will sail her to San Diego for a day or two so that brokers can see her while I interview them.  I’ve been in contact with several and want to find one and give her or him an exclusive listing.  From there I will sail her to Ensenada and put her in a marina.

Yu-ching has decided to stay in Taiwan and won’t be joining me until I arrive in Mexico.

All of this has been very stressful, time consuming and has taken its toll on us.  With Dockwise we didn’t need to have a cradle built, worry about cargo insurance, find an agent to clear Alchemy through customs (or even deal with US Customs - the Dockwise vessel was schedule to unload in Ensenada), make arrangement to have an $8,500 cradle disposed of or sail her to Ensenada.

Now you know the details and we hope you understand why we have not been in touch.

I promise to write more when I arrive in Ensenada and to keep everyone up to date with more timely postings.

I’ve posted some more pictures.  Blog 27 is of sights around Hong Kong, Blog 28 are the friends we spent time with while we were there and Blog 29 are of Alchemy being loaded on the MSC Texas.

I originally tried to post this on the 15^th of June but for some reason it got lost in cyberspace.  I guess I should read my own blog more often.

June 15, 2007

As I indicated in the April 18^th Blog posting, we have decided to end our journey and list Alchemy with a broker.  She is not the kind of vessel that is popular in this part of the world (over here they prefer fast cruisers that look more like a Nike shoe than a vessel built for ocean passages) so we decided to take her to Hong Kong, put her on a freighter to Ensenada, MX and list her with a San Diego broker (more about that later).

The typhoon season in the South China Sea begins in May so we felt, after we confirmed our booking on the freighter, that we should begin the trip to Hong Kong as soon as possible.  My brother, Keith, flew from Nashville to KK to help with the passage.  I don’t know what we would have done without him.  He was a big help taking a regular watch and keeping Alchemy running.

I plotted two courses on the charts.  One was a straight run from Kota Kinabalu to HK and the other included a stop in Subic Bay, Philippines.  In both cases we had to cross two straights that can be rough.  The first is the Balabac Straights between Borneo and Balabac Island, P.I. and the second is the Luzon Straights between Luzon Island, P.I. and HK.  In checking the weather the night before we left it appeared that we had a good weather window for about 3 and a half days, so we opted to head for Subic and stay there until we had another good window.

We, Keith, Geronimo and myself, left KK on May 4^th and arrived in SB on the 7^th.  This first leg of our trip was very smooth and we completed it a little more than 72 hours.  During our stay in Subic we spent our time catching up with old friends, cleaning the boat, restocking the galley at the duty free stores and watching the weather.

By the 11^th of May it looked like the weather was clearing so we made preparations to leave the next morning.  Everything was fine until we cleared the northern tip of Luzon.  Although the skies were clear, the seas were choppy.  We had about 30 hours of seas with waves of 8 to 10 feet hitting us on our beam.  Alchemy was built to cross oceans so she had no problems handling the waves, but her crew had an uncomfortable ride.

We reached the outer islands of HK at about 1:00 AM in May 14th.  My brother, who made the trip with us, had never been to HK so we spent the next 5 hours cruising around HK Island and Kowloon, so he could see the city at night.  During the day these waters are filled with freighters and ferry boats so you have to keep at eye on them at all times.  The normal rules of the road do not apply as the freights take a long time to change course and the ferries just don’t give a damn about who has the right of way.  It is much easier when the traffic is less and the captain can enjoy the view as well.

HK at night is spectacular.  It is a 24 hour city so all of the buildings were lit up.  We had a great time; it was a nice way to end the trip and made us forget all about the passage.

At 6:00 AM we set a course for the Gold Coast Yacht Club where we found an open berth to tie up.  When the marina office opened up we checked in and made arrangements to clear our arrival with the customs and immigration offices.

We are now spending our time exploring parts of HK that we had never visited and getting Alchemy ready for her boat ride to Australia, New Zealand and Mexico.  The vessel that will be carrying her is new and she just finished her sea trials.  Originally she was schedule to arrive in HK on June 27^th.  Unfortunately, during the trials a few small problems were found so her arrival in HK has been delayed for about two weeks until the early part of July.  When she reaches HK and has Alchemy and the other yachts loaded aboard her she will head to Brisbane and Auckland to pick up other yachts before she heads to Ensenada.  The anticipated date of arrive in Ensenada is now on or about the 20^th of August.

I will be making the passage with her, but Yu-ching has opted to stay in HK for a while visiting with friends and then go to Taiwan to see her family before joining me in Ensenada, MX.

As I said above, the boat that will carry Alchemy is a new vessel.  She was designed and built to transport yachts of all sizes.  There are ballast tanks on her that can be filled so that she sinks in the water allowing the yachts to be driven on and off of her as opposed to being lifted by a crane and set on the deck.  She has quarters for the owners of boats being transported and a swimming pool and weight room for their use.  Because of her planned far flung ports of call it will be a long trip but it should be an interesting one.  Lots of time to do some minor work on Alchemy, catch up on my reading, working out in the gym and relaxing by the pool.

We are in the process of selecting a yacht broker in San Diego who will sell her for us.  When she is sold we will return to Nashville where I will probably have my knee operation.  At this point we are not sure about what we will do next.  While we love Nashville and the loft we purchased, it is not large enough for us to live in full time.  We have been talking about purchasing a car and driving around the US to look for a place to settle down.  Yu-ching has seen parts of the US but there are lots of nice places she has not visited.  Since we are talking about a permanent place to settle down we want to make sure we consider all of the options.

I will try to post one more update before I leave HK and post some messages along the way to Mexico if I can get internet access.