VISIT TO CLYDE MARINA AT THE END OF NOVEMBER 2012

I flew over to Clyde Marin in Ardrossan Scotland on Monday the 26th November and came back on Friday 30th November. The intention was to check on the yacht to see if all was in order and to discuss additional equipment and the status of the retrofit modifications.
I actually organised my flights with Cargolux since they stop in Prestwick Westbound and Eastbound to the USA. So the flight into Prestwick on Monday evening was on the brand new B747-8F registration LX-VCG (delivered two weeks prior to my trip). On arrival into Prestwick I walked into the town and stayed in a beach front hotel. The next morning I picked up my hire car and drove up to Ardrossan where I met Chris and Simon and another person (Garth..). I spent the whole morning with them looking at the boat and the mast which was lying outside, then we went for lunch at the Marina, then continued some discussion on sails and signwriting.
On Wednesday I went back to talk to Chris after which I set out to explore the coastal area. On Thursday I made my way down the coast towards Prestwick. In the meantime I had been dumped from the flight (waitlisted) and reinstated. I dropped the car off at the airport at about 14.00 local ready for a 16.45 departure..HOWEVER I was then informed that the flight was 12 hours delayed, so I reluctantly settled in to a night at Prestwick airport trying to sleep on an arrival lounge seat...And it was very cold.

Items discussed:
-Asymmetric Sail or Code 1> I chose the A sail with snuffer and asked for the light blue stripes
-Dinghy and outboard > will probably opt for a 2.7 Waveline tender
-Signwriting the yacht name > selected dark grey and the font
-Antifoul type and colour > selected black over the present white
-Status of retrofits particularly the washing machine
-Launch dates > decided protem on end of March 2013

Some pictures:


Clyde Marina view

Yacht covered in plastic sheet

Water tank removed for access to install fwd aircon system

view of bowthruster with 4 batteries



Starboard side of cabin panels removed for aircon fit

Cupboard that will be demolished for wash machine

THE TV..

WE BOUGHT THE FLAGS
Since Kwanza is registered here in Luxembourg we have to abide by the rules and fly the Luxembourg Red Lion (in place of the Ensign). So we found a shop in Lorentzweiler that specialises in flags, and bought a 50 x 80 cm and a 70 x 100 cm flag.
They are super cool. Almost as nice as the Welsh Dragon. See below:

This is the official Luxembourg Maritime flag. Red lion overlayed on background of blue and white horizantal stripes.

OFFICIAL REGISTRATION
After our application to the Maritime ministry, we have now received our Registration Certificate.

Her name is KWANZA which means 'first' in Swahili.
Registration number is: LG-6610

SOME MORE PHOTOS
Chris sent me some more photos of the yacht in the shed at Clyde Marina. Apparently they are starting to cover various parts of the yacht to prevent damage by workers who will install the retrofits (aircon etc).

REGISTERING THE YACHT IN LUXEMBOURG
Heather went on line and filled out the application for endorsing my sailing licence, and also filled out the application for registering the yacht under the Luxembourg flag.
I had asked Sunbird to send us the bill-of-sale, Insurance certificate, certificate-of-compliance and various other documents for the certification.
The VAT was already paid in the UK, and we enquired if we could pay it in Luxembourg and retrieve it from the UK. Difference being 5% of the yacht value. Unfortunately Luxembourg are very strict with VAT inasmuch as the customs officials must see the yacht physically. Later discussion with the marine minister showed that some people trucked their yachts to the Luxembourg border to pay the VAT. This would be a bit difficult for us so we settled with the UK tax.

On the morning of the 23rd October 2012 at 09.54 I reported to the Ministry of Economy and Exterior Commerce to see the Government Commissioner for Maritime Affairs, at 19-21 Boulevard Royal. I was directed to the sixth floor where I spoke to Robert Biwer (the commisioner himself), a most pleasant person who spoke clear English. He complimented me on the thoroughness of the paperwork (thanks Heather !) which I presented to him, and duly filled out our details into the register system.

So now I have an endorsement for my RYA Day Skipper and Watchkeeper licence. This together with the yacht registration, which we have not yet received, allows us to sail under the Red Lion. We now have to find out what exactly the maritime version of the Red Lion looks like, and where we can buy it. By the way the tax for registering was 291.80 Euro. This will have to be paid yearly similar to the car road tax.

 

 

 

 

TRANSPORTED TO CLYDE MARINA
We just received an email from a person called Chris, that our Oceanis 48 has arrived in Clyde Marina on the flat bed truck. He sent four pictures, and assures us that the boat is in good order.

MOVING THE YACHT TO CLYDE MARINA
Where is Clyde Marina I hear you say.. Well its in Scotland on the West coast just south of the Clyde river estuary, the main base of Sunbird Yachts, who sell Beneteau yachts.
The end of the Boat Show was on Sunday and we were told that the moving truck would transport the yacht (by road) up to Clyde. David, who is our main contact at Sunbird, has assured us that the process will be okay and even offered the truck driver a bottle of Scotch to do a thorough job (of not damaging the yacht). Then the director of the yard emailed in response to our need for assurance, that he would keep us informed of the process. Meanwhile we will be planning a casual visit to Scotland to check out the area, yard and situation. It will be from this marina that we will hopefully start our expedition or adventure.
I should also mention that we are having some upgrades or retrofits done by the yard during this coming winter. The costs of the upgrades are included in our total price of the boat.
The upgrades will be:
- Installation of a 4G Radar system that will be coupled to the Simrad system
- Air conditioning reverse cycle system in three zones
- Two electric genoa winches
- A Bimini
- VHF AIS Symrad system
- 26 inch TV, DVD, MP3 system in saloon
- Washer dryer in aft port cabin
- Simrad wifi software to hook up to ipads etc.

We had emails and calls from other vendors that we had met at the show. Particularly Alex from Berthon. We explained to him that he had a very good chance of selling us the Oyster 53 if he had been available on the Monday when we had the decision dilema. We just needed more information about the 53 such as the type of operation and the environment it had been in, and the work which had been completed and therefore the work which would have to be done. For example a yacht of 10 years old definitely needs a refurbished standing rigging. In fact a complete replacement would be more appropriate. This typically costs up to 10k pounds. So buying old equipment needs careful analysis. We had been stung many times before buying old stuff and ending up with nasty surprises.
Anyway Alex just wished us luck etc and I suppose will pursue offers given by other prospective purchasers.

OUR CHOICE

As explained we concluded that a new boat, significantly cheaper than the type of second hand boat that we had concentrated on for the last four or five years, was a more comfortable choice for us. We did not really want to spend time renovating an old boat, and risk budget overrun.

WE CHOSE THE BENETEAU OCEANIS 48.

Why did we bother.? We could have just walked away..
The truth is that our project of sailng the world just HAD TO PROCEED. This boat was the easiest and least expensive way of doing it. Less expense means that we will have more budget remaining for other enjoymants and of course to support our children in their real estate initial experiences.

THE PROS
New design boat / newly built / up to date Navigation equipment / most of the extras we needed for long passages / modern and dynamic interior / not expensive / warranty on everything / free year at Clyde marina.

THE CONS
Not a high latitude boat / not enough cockpit cover / shallow draft / basic build quality / smaller than we wanted / shortage of interior space / show boat and possible minor damage / some required equipment missing such as aircon.

THE CREDENTIALS
LOA > 14.60 m
Hull Length > 14.30 m
LWL > 13.90 m
Beam > 4.74 m
Draught > 2.15 m
Air draught > 21.30 m
Displacement (light) > 13,300 kg
Fuel capacity > 400 l
Fresh water capacity > 690 l
Engine power 75 hp

Naval Architect > Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design
Interior design > Nauta Design

3 double cabins and two wash rooms

Across the world

OUR ADVENTURE TO CROSS THE WORLDS OCEANS STARTS HERE...

We travelled to the 2012 Southampton Boat Show during this last week. Our intention was to BUY the yacht that would start the adventure. So we covered old ground by once again, searching the second hand market. This entailed a visit to Swanwick Marina and Limington Marina. The first boat we viewed was a Najad 490. One of those beautifully made Swedish vessels with solid wood interior trim. She was in fact looking very nice for her age (2001 model). The second boat we looked at in Swanwick was a Moody 54, again a 2001 model. Good condition but potential expenses. Then across in Lymington we saw what was in our view the best looking Oyster 56 so far in our price range, and also a more recent Oyster 53 with the ideal interior layout (2003 model). Our contact person at the boat yard spent a good few hours with us showing and discussing the various yachts (we also had a look at a Discovery 55, Hylas 54, Trintella 47).

Next stop was the Southampton Boat show to see new yachts and equipment. Here we spoke to the Jeaneau people and had a look at a 50 foot model to get a feel of the interior furnishings. If we were to buy one of these it would have been the 57DS. Then we went over to the Southerly 47 to get excited about a yacht which we knew was outside our price range. Nevertheless we had fun discussing all the details with John the sales chief. We had a look at the Danish North 45 which has a nice cute interior layout, and a quick look at the Maramu 55 which was too special and expensive to waste time on.

THE DILEMMA

We had one more appointment at the show with our acquaintance from Gocek. He worked for Sunbird who were the biggest Beneteau dealer in UK. They had all the new yachts on their hard stand. So on Monday morning at 10.00 we went to the Red Funnel entrance of the show and called David. He came to the gate shortly afterwards and arranged our entrance. The first boat he showed us was the Sense 55. Very modern interior which in our view was simply not substantial enough for ocean sailing. Then he showed us the new Oceanis 48. This looked more sensible although at the same time had some more radical furnishing. The owners cabin at the front was striking. THEN David introduced us to the Director of Sunbird and they offered us the display boat at a reduced price. In essence we were faced with a new boat at 100k gbp less than a decent second hand boat. THIS WAS THE DILEMMA..

The decision time was upon us. This was our last day at the show and we had intended to conclude our purchase. The night before we had reviewed the financial situation and were clear on what we could afford. The Oyster 53 was in the running, and the Oyster 56 could have been considered if all the stops were pulled out. We went and sat down on the wooden steps of a Chalet vendor somewhere in the show and deliberated on the pros and cons. The whole scene had changed. The new boats had only occupied our curiosity until now, but the thrill of new boat and equipment was looking very attractive. There is a big downside to the Beneteau Oceanis, and that is the quality. Being a mass produced boat there was no finesse in the build. It was just a modern hull with machine made panels that formed the furnishing. Nevertheless all the equipment was provided by support vendors. The generator was from Onan, engine from Yanmar etc. The way things were going before our encounter with Beneteau, we had the Oyster 53 in mind. All it needed was for us to make an offer because we were not going to pay the asking price of 465k gbp. However the second hand boats were fraught with danger of financial uncertainty. Old boats need refurbishment and rigging changes. We had seen quite a few high priced Oysters which were very badly up kept, and all old boats have the same kind of problems.

The time came to eliminate boats form our choice list. The Oyster 53 and the Oceanis 48 were in the final running. We therefore drove back to Lymington to see the Oyster once again. Phone calls were made to ensure the boat and sales people were available before we set out. On arrival in Lymington there were no available sales staff so we looked around the yacht from the outside. It didnt look tidy at all. It just meant that WORK was needed to make the boat presentable. Not attractive. We rushed back to Beneteau and had another word with David. He again went over the features and equipment. The offer was good and included a full year of berthing at the Clyde marina and the promise that the boat would be fully refurbished after the show. (the fact that she was the show boat was worrying..). The geographical location of the Clyde Marina was coincidentally right in the area where we intended to start our sailing experience...On the West Coast of GB..