The next chapter in of our Buzzards Bay adventures began Friday when Peter and I first set foot on our Maritimo M60. But before I get to that, a little bit about the adventure she had getting here.
As I mentioned last month, building Amazing Grace was delayed about a month. I never really expected her to arrive much before May, so that was not a big deal. But after the first ship decided to skip the east coast and we couldn’t get a spot on the May 5 ship, we ended up on the NORDPACIFIC, a May 25 ship – scheduled for Philadelphia on July 1.
Shipping Boats – A Cautionary Tale
FAIR WARNING: The following section is a bit of “inside baseball.” If you’ve never had a boat shipped and never plan to, you may want to skip the part where Amazing Grace offloads in Philadelphia. Of course, if you’ve just curious, read on…
When we bought Relentless in Florida, and a hired crew brought her up, the broker assured me, “It’s a five-day trip; we do it all the time.” But then we had two hurricanes, and a transmission overheated off the Chesapeake, and 5-days turned into a month.
Since then, I’ve been hearing boat shipping tales of woe from other boaters all over the country. The supply chain is improving, but an 80,000 lb. yacht is more complicated than a case of toilet paper!
I have a good friend – who will remain nameless, who ordered a new trawler from a top brand, and he’s been waiting two years! It’s finally on a ship heading for Baltimore, but it needs to go to Florida for a one-month commissioning process.
If you’ve been following my story, you’ve probably noticed that Amazing Grace did not arrive on July 1st but rather on July 12th.
Here’s what happened:
June 1 – 9: The original ship sat out a typhoon in the Pacific in New Zealand. Offload in Philadelphia slipped the July 5.
June 26: The shipper added a stop in Savannah for some unknown reason. The offload in Philadelphia slipped the July 7.
July 2: That was the day all hell broke loose! I woke up at 5:00 and immediately went to vesselfinder.com to see if the ship had left Savanah. It hadn’t. Around 6:00 AM, it reported its next stop was Zeebrugge, Belgium!
After a couple of panicked texts, I checked the receipt from US Customs and noticed that the ship’s name on the receipt wasn’t the NORDPACIFIC, but rather the NAVEGANTES. I researched the NAVEGANTES and discovered it had been sitting in Cartagena, Columbia, for five days. I also noticed that it was in Panama at the same time as the NORDPACIFIC.
It was a Sunday morning. The shipping broker was in Australia, where it was 1:00 AM. The ship was owned by a French company, and it was 1:00 PM on Sunday afternoon in France. This all led to a rather stressful day.
After a few phone calls with Dave Northrop – President of Maritimo Americas, I learned about something called Transhipping. It’s what they call it when a shipment is loaded onto a different boat before it gets to its destination. Apparently, it happens often, but never without informing the customer.
No one had told anyone that Amazing Grace had been offloaded from the NORDPACIFIC to the NAVEGANTES. Northrop sent someone to Savannah to see if Amazing Grace was indeed still on board.
July 3: Over the course of the day, we learned that Amazing Grace was not in Savannah. In fact, she had been loaded on NAVEGANTES in Panama on June 26, and no one had been notified. The NAVEGANTES lost an engine and went to Columbia for repairs.
July 6: The owner of the NAVEGANTES gave up on repairing her and sent the MALTA to Columbia to pick up Amazing Grace. She departed for Fort Lauderdale en route to Philadelphia. The offload in Philadelphia slipped the July 13 but ultimately ended up being early July 12.
Offload In Philly
I watched the port website Wednesday morning and saw the MALTA dock at 7:17. Captain Tom drove her off the straps about 90 minutes later.
This was a real break for us. It gave Tom and crew almost a full day to get to Cape May, remove packaging, fuel up, and install a few things that had come up from Florida by van.
Thursday turned into a perfect day for making way. The team left New Jersey around 6:30 and stopped in New York City for fuel before ending a very long day in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
Maritimo usually takes weeks, not days, to commission a new boat. But most owners want big stuff like davits for tenders added over here.
The only big item we were adding were the Humphree Interceptors, and when they realized we weren’t getting on the May 5 ship, they air-shipped them to Australia, and they were installed at the factory.
At some point, we’ll do a sea test, and I’ll report more about the Humphrees, but if you’re interested, check them out here.
We already have many My Buzzards Bay followers at Maritimo, and they know that Mrs. Horne and I are way behind on our 2023 cruising schedule. They have done everything possible to shave time off our delayed delivery since it became apparent in March. This continued last week.
Rendezvous in Newport
Captain Tom and I thought we might be able to shorten my operating training if I met them in Newport and rode up to Mattapoisett. Accordingly, Peter and I joined the crew on Friday morning at the Newport Yachting Center.
About 18 months ago, Mrs. Horne and I flew to Florida and spent some time on the M55. As soon as I got on board Amazing Grace with the thought of being the Master of this craft, it suddenly seemed much bigger than the M55.
The only helm is in the Sky lounge, and that’s twenty feet above sea level…
Friday was the kind of day that keeps most boats tied to the dock. It was raining, and thunderstorms were popping up now and then. That said, the marine forecast was quite sublime.
As we left the outer harbor, it was clear that the forecast was wrong. We could see a 100’ motor yacht off the port bow getting bounced around. The seas were 6-8’ with short periods.
Amazing Grace powered through them at 25 knots, but we were getting tossed around. Of course, it felt worse than it was because we were up on the bridge being subjected to the Pendulum Effect.
Despite the mess outside, the sky lounge on the M60 is ridiculously quiet – quieter than a car on the highway.
Brandt Cove Marina
A few years ago, Dave and Ned bought the old Leisure Shores Marina and renamed it Brandt Cove.
We talked about moving both Vigilant and Relentless over but ended up staying in the slip at the Mattapoisett Boatyard.
Amazing Grace has a 17’2” beam, and the boatyard slip was tight with Relentless’ 15’4” beam. Also, her length would have interfered with the fuel dock.
So Dave and Ned did a little magic and got us in at Brandt Cove.
The marina has a reputation for sneaky rocks, but the boys have done a great job marking the channel. It’s relatively shallow, but Ned swears it’s got 5’ of water at low tide. Amazing Grace has straight shafts in tunnels and only draws 3’ 10”; we should be fine.
We watched Tom back her into the new slip and after a brief tour for Mrs. Horne, we left the commissioning crew promising to leave them undisturbed to do their work for at least 3 days.
Very exciting! Can’t wait to read (and see) more about the new boat.
Looks as good as the promo videos
Wow what a beauty! Wishing you and Susan all the best. You must be so excited!
Congratulations! Grace is truly Amazing! Such a beautiful vessel. Best of luck to both of you!
Woodygabriel@verizon.com
She is absolutely beautiful can’t wait to see Her. Safe travels.
Beautiful! Are you still coming to Greenport?
Yes 8/3-5
We are docked at Port of Egypt in Southold. We’re restoring a 2001 Sabreline 34 FB. Our first. As an aside, maybe some of your followers might be interested in a tour of my sister’s winery, Sparkling Pointe in Southold during your stay.
The new boat looks beautiful, or should I say Grand! I imagine captaining a 60 is a bit more demanding. I’m still getting the hang of the 34. I was also brought up on the water, but mostly 18′ ski boats. My wife’s family had a few sport fishermans.
Let me know the schedule in Greenport, as I would probably walk over instead of traveling a mile or two to try and get a slip. Greenport is extremely busy this time of year and I would rather let the visitors have access.
Thank you for the great stories and videos. They really ignited my interest in a boat with a salon and fly bridge. We used your recommendations (albeit for dining) while in Newport for my son’s graduation from Officer Candidate School. He’s currently on a cruiser out of Virginia Beach.
Again, Bon Voyage
Thanks Keith. We’re in Mitchell Park.