Waiting For Amazing Grace

As a Christian, I’ve spent my life praying and patiently awaiting God’s Amazing Grace. But lately, we’ve been waiting for a different kind of Amazing Grace – our new boat!

As you may recall, we ordered our Maritimo in 2021. At the time, they were booking for January 2024 delivery, but Maritimo Americas President Dave Northrop swapped spots with other customers and booked us for an April 2023 delivery.

This would unquestionably be the biggest investment we’ve ever made, and I wanted to get it right. Before selecting the Maritimo M55, I looked at Sabres, Riviera’s, and Princess Yachts.

In July of 2022, Maritimo contacted us and made us an attractive offer to switch to an M60. They had just announced the M60, and they had so many orders for the M55 that they were having difficulty locking in prices so far in advance. Our M60 will be hull number 14 and the first M60 in America.

Since I picked out the boat, it was only right to let Mrs. Horne pick the name. Of course, being a control freak, I gave her a list of “suggestions” to consider.

Here are some of the original suggested names:

My favorite was Veracity. In case you’re not familiar with that word, here’s the Merriam-Webster definition:

Mrs. Horne had already locked in on Amazing Grace, and the more I thought of it, Veracity and Amazing Grace both revolve around never-ending truth.

With this in mind and considering the relentless truth – Happy Wife, Happy Life, the name of our new boat became Amazing Grace!

It’s Getting Real!

Production began on January 12, 2023, and although a year and a half had passed since we first placed the order, it was never real until I got photos from the factory floor.

As happy as I was to see production begin, the wheels of progress were grinding very slowly. With demand for boats and yachts skyrocketing around the world, Maritimo had ramped up their production plan for 2023.

But like most manufacturers, staffing the plan proved challenging, and our completion date slipped from March to April. Maritimo arranged a Zoom call with their executive team. They committed to finishing in time to be on a freighter leaving Brisbane the last week of April. This would mean taking delivery around Memorial Day – the unofficial start of Summer in New England.

Alas, what that it were…

Yacht Shipping Is A Sketchy Business!

There are several ways to ship a yacht. When we bought Relentless in Fort Lauderdale, I offered the seller his asking price with the delivery to Mattapoisett at his expense. Vigilant had come by truck and assumed Relentless would too.

But with her flying bridge, Relentless was too tall for Interstate 95, so she was delivered by a captain and crew over water.

That seems to be the preferred method for Florida to New England and in between.

Beyond that, there are Yacht Carriers that partially submerge so that yachts can float on. Then divers build a cradle under the yacht, and the water is pumped out for transport (example Mega Yacht Transport.)

I think this is more of a solution for getting a yacht to Bermuda or from the West Coast to the East Coast. The preferred method from Australia to The East Coast is a chartered freighter.

Our late April shipment was to be a chartered freighter headed for Ireland. We were one of many yachts earmarked for that voyage, but with weeks to go, both Maritimo and Riviera canceled spots because the boats would not be done in time. No longer able to justify the trip to America, the charter owner switched the route to the Suez Canal, and our May delivery vanished.

Another ship was leaving for Newport on May 5, but it was sold out. There was a yacht carrier with a loose departure date of May 20, but as I said, it was loose – particularly with regard to the date of arrival.

Apparently, Seven Seas (the Yacht Freighter) picks up boats and goes from port to port, taking on more boats and/or dropping them off. This is why yacht shipping is a bit of a sketchy business!

Having missed the unofficial start of summer (Memorial Day), we wanted to do everything possible to make the official kickoff – The 4th of July. Seven Seas couldn’t even commit to a delivery week, so July Fourth was highly unlikely.

There was a Container ship set to depart Brisbane on May 28 with a scheduled arrival in Philadelphia on July 1st. Container ships are more expensive but far more reliable in terms of scheduled stops.

On May 3, we pulled the trigger and booked passage on The NORDPACIFIC.

Shipping Amazing Grace

The Maritimo Campus is located in Coomera, Queensland, Australia, which is where Amazing Grace was launched.

Although the final commissioning will occur in Mattapoisett, she needed to be completed enough to run from Coomera to Brisbane to join the NORDPACIFIC, then from Philadelphia to Mattapoisett – about 400 miles.

Once she reached Brisbane, she was hauled and mounted on a shipping frame. She was then loaded back into the ocean for loading on the ship.

The shipper has the option of loading her on deck – amidst the containers or below deck in the Ship’s Hold. Maritimo requested below deck, and much to my delight, that’s where she’s currently strapped.

The NORDPACIFIC actually departed a day early (May 27), and I’ve been tracking her ever since. She left territorial Australia on June 2nd, and she’s due in New Zealand tomorrow. Once she clears the Panama Canal, we’ll have a firm date for the Philadelphia arrival.

Meanwhile, I keep checking the shipping website, playing a little golf, and volunteering if anyone needs a crew!