Hauled out...

Wildfox
Anthony Swanston
Sun 30 Nov 2014 06:11
On Wednesday I hauled out. For a boatyard that handles superyachts they seem to have taken lessons from Fawlty Towers. Everything had to happen at slack water as the strong current makes the lifting bay dangerous. At slack water the line handlers are missing. They are found. The travel lift then cannot get to the lifting bay because a lorry is in the way. The driver has gone to lunch. Anyway, I have put in a new position report just a couple of hundred yards away from my last one. These Google maps seem to be acurate to only 3 millemetres. Time for them to get there act together!

A boat opposite is having a paint job. At A$1 million. The third million the owner has spent in as many years. Anyway I am ashore now and the fit out facilities are good. The weather mostly sublime. Bright sunshine streams through the hatches from 0430. Work starts at 0530. Much of this year's work I can do myself. Just as well as I am running out of money never having quite recovered from the New Zealand spend.

I have become friendly with the skipper of Rasa. Her tender is hauled out beside me. With engines of 500 HP her tender's engines are 16 times more powerful than Wild Fox's main engine. With permanent crew of nine the owner is looking at an annual wage bill of A$1.5 million before he does anything with his boat!

On Thursday I watch a thunder storm approaching. The sky above me is bright blue, beside it jet black; like somebody had drawn a line with a ruler. It rains on me, admittedly, with some serious thunder and lightening. Less than five miles away the wind is 70 knots, there is widespread flooding and hailstones like golf balls. Cars are decimated with huge dents and broken windscreens. It is all over in 20 minutes. The damage bill is estimated at A$150 million. Sometimes there is a price to pay for bright sunshine. Anyway, I am glad to have missed the 70 knot winds...

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