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.