Right balls up.

I've been trying to get a NZ tow ball for my WITTER UK spec tow bar, as Sacré Bleu! has a NZ spec 1 7/8th tow ball. And it's the easiest way to trail the boat from the docks.

I've been communicating with a great Tow Bar company in NZ who were sorting this out for me, but it looks like it's not going to happen. For no other reason that in NZ they use a different tow bar system with a flat tongue bar that the ball bolts through. We on the other hand tend to have a cast upside down "T" with two bolts. Looks like we are back to the flat bed trailer for the trailer option.

Transfer season...

OK, the boat is now half way around the worlds oceans, tucked safely into a 40 foot container. And it's now time to pay for the shipping. As I mentioned before I had got a little fleeced by my bank when using them to transfer the money for the boat. So I set about finding a different way of transferring funds overseas. Well I can now recommend using MONEYCORP A a fantastic firm that normally only charges £15 for a transfer of the size I am making. But because we had seen a web article on the Telegraph website which described them as the "go to business for money trading" they would do the first transaction for FREE! A world away from my banks attitude! A great firm, really friendly and helpful staff. In short I wish I'd found them at the beginning!

Holiday hiatus...

The family and I been away salt water fly fishing in southern Ireland for a week, hence the blog break. See some of the results of the trip below....

I can report though on the trailer hitch situation. Sacré Bleu! trailer has an old style 1 7/8th's  trailer hitch... bummer... so I will need a trailer for the trailer when I pick up the boat from Tilbury docks. :-(

Oh balls!

There's me feeling all smug about a bringing over a really nice box trailer and I have a sudden thought about tow hook sizes! Are they the same size in NZ as the UK? "This will dampen my day when I pick the boat up at Tilbury Docks if it doesn't hitch to my tow hook", I thought. Well it turns out I was right. They have 2 sizes of hook in NZ. The old style: 1:7/8th's (47.6mm) and the newer 50mm type, brought in to align with Europe. Another email has just been sent to the other side of the world to check.

Box trailer envy!

There was a bit of chatter on the Yachts and Yachting forum about how the guys and girls in the Southern Hemisphere do a nice job of there boat trailers. They seem to do it quite differently to us up here in the North. I've seen quite a few Int Moth box trailers but very few on other classes. Maybe it's time we joined in? This is 'Sacré Bleu!' trailer...

Ready and waiting!

Here she is at the dock in Auckland, New Zealand. All packed up and ready to go. She should be posted into her container by the 13th and be here in 30 days. All being well I'll be sailing her by mid May at Burghfield Sailing Club. Let's hope the ship dosen't run into any bad tropical storms and dump my container over the side.

copyright: Peter Kovesi

Blood sucking banks!

The things you learn when going through an exercise like this. I'm sure many of you know this fact already, but I didn't. There are exchange rates and then there are exchange rates! So you do all your calculations on the price of the boat and shipping. You do these against the costs of what the price would be to have the boat built in the UK. It all looks good, you use the freely available, up to the moment exchange rates on the web. In full understanding of the little caveat at the bottom of the page, that says these rates may change. You are happy the with a currency like the NZD the exchange rate is pretty stable, and, well it might move a couple of points but nothing drastic. Then you go to the bank to do the funds transfer. And you find the bank in it's wisdom set a daily rate. The daily rate, it is said it is set to allow for any fluctuations in the rate that day. Well that's fine, but does it really mean that it has to be set at a level where the boat you have just bought costs an extra £250, yes £250! Well if you are a banker I'm sure the answer is yes, if you are a regular guy trying to import a boat, the answer in most defiantly NO!

Farr 3.7 import goes ahead

So what's all this then....? Some of you will know me as Jack Sparrow, if you read the Yachts and Yachting magazine forum. Others will just know me as Daryl, that is if you have sailed in the UK Cherub, National 12, Buzz or possibly the 29er fleets. And if you do, you'll also know I have just sold my beloved 'Banshee Ambulance' a multi-mode, foam composite boat that was built within UK Cherub rules, but was envisioned to perform many more roles than just that.

She was put up for sale as a 'use it or lose it' challenge to my 14 year old son. And well unfortunately he lost it!

So what next? Well I imagine that most of you will have guessed by the title of the blog what's next! Yep, a Farr 3.7. And that's what this blog is going to be all about. The trials and tribulations of importing, sailing and encouraging others to sail this cracking little trapeze boat, that not many have heard about. Well not unless you are one of the 390 odd New Zealander's that have built, sailed and raced these great little boats since Bruce Farr designed it in 1970/1.

As we speak, or I type, I am just about to transfer the funds to a great guy in New Zealand who has agreed to sell me his National Championship winning boat. And hopefully in some 30 days or so I should be the proud owner of 'Sacré Bleu!'.