Passages Flies

[Quickmarch 488]

Finally shipped - Saturday, April 20 out of Brisbane for Vancouver, Canada.

 

It's very scary to see your home here:

 

 

Or here:

 

 

I wasn't too worried that the crane could handle the weight - after all, I emptied the water tanks, as instructed.

 

Safe Landing:

 

 

Whew!!!!

[allardjd 1,853]

Wow! That's got to get your pump to pumping.

 

Congrats on the safe loading and best wishes that it comes to no harm during the transit. It looks like a modern ship and I suspect it's operated conservatively and safely and in accordance with the wishes of the insurance underwriter, no matter how anal and unreasonable his mandates may be.

 

I suppose this would be a great place for a tasteless joke about you being homeless, but I'll restrain myself for now.

 

Hope you connect up with Passages on the other end and that it looks just like it does in the photo when you see it next.

 

Job 1 before re-floating - be sure the bilge plugs are back in!!!

 

John

[Quickmarch 488]

Thanks for the advice, John.

 

There are no bilge plugs, but it is SOP to check the bilge immediately the boat has hit the water. You'd be amazed at the number of things that can go wrong and the only safe route is a checklist and a routine - same as flying.

 

My buddy Ed, co-incidentally an Airbus driver for a US major, dropped his boat in the water after winter storage to find that he had a rat move onboard and chew holes in his wiring and his hose connections to the through-hulls (not to mention the inflatable floor for his rubber dinghy - hungry rat). Darn good thing he was still in the slings.

[mutley 4,498]

Wow, thanks for sharing March, Passages looks so small and fragile compared to that ship.

She looks in pretty good shape, have you already cleaned and repainted the hull?

I hope you manage to get shots when she is offloaded in Vancouver and she arrives in good order.

Bests.

Joe

 

 

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

From one old sea dog to another, May you have fair winds and following seas, for a safe voyage home. I ask for Posiedon to keep you and your craft on an even keel. 

[brett 2,315]

Sort of looks like that fifth engine on the 747, out of place but still in theme.   Fair seas ahead for all.

[Quickmarch 488]

Thanks all,

 

@ Joe - we used to have a saying (they probably still use it, but I'm not around anymore) on the motorcycle roadracing circuit that paint jobs had to meet the 50/100 rule: "It's got to look good viewed from 50 feet away at 100 MPH". Passages has a few well earned bumps and scratches picked up since her last paint job in 1998. It's the same stuff they use on aircraft - linear polyeurethane, I think they call it. I call it Bullet Proof Paint.

 

@ Alan, Thank you. Please pour one for the old guy for me as well.

 

@ Brett, good comparison. Commonly referred to as a redundant aberration. 

 

FYI - I'll post another progress picture on "If you thought our skies......"

[M31 0]

Wow March ... I can just imagine your feelings taking those pictures, you must be very proud and rightly so, I'd love to own something like that and learn its intricacies and foibles, heck I'd treat it as a second home even if it never left harbour!

 

When I was well off in my younger days (Heh) I had the pleasure of being able to afford the best road Superbikes of the time and seeing them delivered to the local dealer (I even built one from the crate myself) but that was something else indeed, a new Bike had a factory smell about it even that was special and lives in memory.

 

I can only imagine how you feel with something like this.

 

Enjoy, we only live once.