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From: john brees (no email)
Date: Sat Jun 02 2007 - 13:01:17 EDT
A few of you were interested in our experience with Yachtpath and shipping
our boat from New Orleans to Victoria. Here is the abridged version of the
saga. If anyone is interested in pictures or further details, e-mail me
off-list and I'll send them.
Huckleberry is now a Pacific Northwest cruiser. After 6 months of planning,
worrying, waiting, shipping and receiving, we are finally finished with the
arduous process of moving a boat from one coast to the other. All and all,
it was a good experience. Thanks to the great people at Yachtpath
International (www.yachtpath.com), everything went very smoothly and
Huckleberry arrived nearly on time and none the worse for wear.
Our story is not much different from many others who decide to take up the
boating life. We have never owned a boat before and have had practically no
boating experience. We started looking for our perfect boat about 18
months ago. At first, we had a very general idea of what we wanted to do,
but no clue what kind of boat we needed to do it. Living in Idaho, we are
500 miles from the nearest salt water. We became very familiar
withYachtworld and the Power Boating Guide. Several trips to Seattle and
Puget Sound, looking at everything that floats, narrowed our search to 2
specific boats, the Defever 44 and the Krogen 42. Unfortunately, the
inventory of those 2 boats on the West Coast was limited. Our search
expanded to the East Coast, Florida, and the Gulf Coast. Late last fall, we
made a 2000 mile loop through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and points
in between looking at 10 Defevers and Krogens. At last we found Huckleberry,
a 1992 Kadey Krogen 42 wide body, in Houston.
Now the task of moving her to our preferred cruising grounds in the Pacific
Northwest. Again the internet proved useful. We found 2 shipping companies
specializing in yacht transport, Dockwise and Yachtpath International
(www.yachtpath.com). For various reasons, we chose Yachtpath and have not
regretted our choice. From our first contact, they were completely
competitent and professional. Yachtpath contracts with ships to carry yachts
as deck cargo. They have a fleet of container ships that they use regularly
and provide all the necessary cradles, tackle and equipment for safe
handling and securing the boats to the deck. They send their own crews to
load and unload. We were somewhat nervous about having Huckleberry lifted
out of the Mississippi River onto the deck of a container vessel but
Yachtpath crew was meticulously careful and thorough. They even had a diver
to position the slings properly. Only after they were certain that
everything was correct did they lift her out of the water and then ever so
carefully. Once on deck, she was set in the cradles, the cradles welded to
the deck and she was strapped down and secured. When she reached Nanaimo BC,
again Yachtpath crew were there to insure safe discharge. The ship was
anchored in Nanaimo Harbour and we were carried by water taxi to Huckleberry
who was tethered to the ship. We boarded her and sailed away. Yachtpath even
arranged through a local customs agent to provide us with the proper
Canadian Customs forms in advance. Nothing could have been easier.
A few observations and suggestions: The shipping industry does not operate
on a firm schedule. We were originally scheduled to sail out of Port
Everglades, FL in mid April. Time and dates are only estimated until 2 or 3
days before sailing. We left Houston on March 6 leaving us plenty of time
for unexpected delays. Our planned cruising time was 18 to 22 days. About
the second day out, Yachtpath called and offered the option of loading in
New Orleans. New Orleans is not one of their usual ports of call. However,
one of their vessels, PAC Athena, was loading grain to be delivered to
Singapore and 4 yachts were in the New Orleans to be loaded. That saved us
at least two weeks travel time and expense. It did mean that we would have
to leave huckleberry in New Orleans for a month before loading and it
changed our loading date. The discharge port was supposed to be Victoria BC.
Once loaded, the voyage was supposed to take about 3 weeks. Yachtpath sends
daily e-mails to track to progress but advises not to make travel plans
until 3 days before arrival. We were anxious to receive Huckleberry and made
reservations to stay in Victoria for a few days before her arrival. Our stay
in Victoria turned out to be 3 days longer than expected (definitely not the
worst place to be stranded) and the ship was not able to dock in Victoria
due to port congestion. We had to rent a car and drive to Nanaimo about 60
miles north on the Vancouver Island East Coast. The point is: Flexibility
and patience are key to mitigating stress.
The entire cost of shipping was $20,475 (after a 15% discount for early
booking) plus $617 for shipping insurance (whichYachtpath arranged through
an independent broker). Im sure that others may have had different
experiences but we will highly recommend Yachtpath. Special kudos to
Colleen Cummings, our booking agent; Amber Post and Julez Chappell,
scheduling and communications; Dennis Cummings, operations manager; Kevin,
loadmaster in New Orleans; and all the Yachtpath crew. They made the process
as easy as possible. They know their business and did their best to address
our concerns. Thanks to them, Huckleberry is in safe harbor in Port Ludlow
WA, ready to begin a new chapter in her and our life.
The usual disclaimer: No affiliation with Yachtpath; just a satisfied
customer.
John and Karen Brees
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