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As you know, Bruce on Ocean Planet broke his boom and needed replacement. He called the “Go To” people when it comes to custom carbon work, Composite Engineering. At which point, Ted VanDusen dropped everything and got working on a replacement boom. Truly a daunting task when considering the time frame. Ted’s crew was able to keep the construction process reasonably on schedule. An additional problem was shipping a 34’x4’ boom across the Atlantic, clearing British customs within a week and for next to nothing. I caught wind of Bruce’s dilemma from Rusalka’s post on the S.A forum. Investigating a bit, I heard a quote of $250,000 to hire a 747 was provided! The quotes Ocean Planet received from the “official” Around Alone shipping company was more reasonable at $25,000! Being familiar with the shipping process, I knew they were getting hosed. At this point, I called in a professional favor (thanks Leanne!!) and was able to quote Ocean Planet’s Shore Team manager, Ashley Perrin, $2,280.00. SOLD!! Quoting was the easy part, executing was the challenge. This is where everything went south in a hurry. The basic idea was to pick up the boom at Composite Engineering in Concord, MA. trailer it to Logan Airport (Boston) by noon on Saturday Oct. 5th. in order to be trucked to JFK airport in New York. From there, flown to Preswick, Scotland and finally trucked to London Heathrow where Lydia (my contact, Bruce’s cousin and OP’s volunteer network backbone) would along with her friend Andrew, transport the boom to Brixham. Simple, no??
At 9:30 on Saturday morning, I brought my trailer to the Composite Engineering facility. The boom wasn’t ready. These guys gave it their all, but the manufacturing process only works so fast. Ted’s guys assured me it’d be ready in a couple of hours. At 11:30, I pulled Ted aside and let him know that it was “go time”. We loaded the boom on my trailer, (built for a 20’ boat.) along with a carbon batten, which was being consolidated with the boom. We committed no less than 10 moving violations trying to meet the noon deadline. We were actually looking good at one point, aaaannnd STOP!!!!!! Welcome to Boston traffic. The Noon dead line came and went as we idled in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Maxing out my cell phone minutes, we arranged for the spar to be picked up later in the day (thanks again, Leanne). The boom was transported later in the day, but would arrive at JFK to make its flight. All was going as planned until 4:30 am on Monday the 7th when I received a panic call from Lydia in England. She explained that the mast was on its way to Paris. Options are limited at that time, so I told her I’d get back to her after I arrived at my office. Turns out, the flight to Preswick was cancelled due to mechanical issues with the plane. Considering we were late on the first leg and the airline dropped the ball, we were only 20 hours behind schedule. Trust me, it could have been a whole lot worse. Lydia and Andrew arrived at Heathrow at 1:30 am on Wednesday, the 9th to pick up the boom, get it on the truck and drive the 5 hours to Brixham. Because the boom would be immediately exported (the start of the second leg), it cleared customs without the required 17.5% VAT England places on imports. Done Deal? Not yet.
Wednesday October 9th, I received a call from Ashley. Apparently, there was a communication breakdown somewhere and 2 battens were supposed to be shipped with the boom. Bruce was adamant that the second batten was required. After calling all of my regular shipping contacts, I was advised there is simply no way the battens could be shipped by the Friday deadline. The problem being, the 10’ batten length and the couriers (next day service) had a maximum linear size limit of 48”. Also, it can take up to 24 hours to clear customs. I contacted Ashley and explained the situation but Bruce wouldn’t accept it. Determined, but keeping a sober mind, I figured I’d give the, ”When you absolutely, positively need to have it the next day” company a try. I hadn’t before due to their high costs. Their response was, ” there is absolutely, positively no way it’s going to happen”. OK, now what??
“Did you pack your own bags?” “Did anyone give you any items to carry for them?” “Have you been in control of your bags since packing them?” “Passport please”. “Gate 21, sir”. “Enjoy your flight.” After 10 hours in a pressurized tube, bad food, bitchy flight attendants, cramped seats, and the lovely reprocessed air, “Welcome to London and thank you for flying Switz Luft”. Andrew met me at the door. Funny, he picked me out right out, (we had never met). I guess, when you exit customs with only a carry on and a bag that’s 10 feet long, it’s a gimme. 5 hours later, I meet Ashley and Bruce for the first time. After the initial meeting, I’m pondering something warm and amber color from the local pub. I didn’t realize my free weekend in England would consist of 12-hour workdays of hard manual labor in horizontal rainstorms. (More on that later.)
The boom and batten were delivered on time and at the lowest cost possible. Bruce, it’s up to you. “Try not to break anything, Mr. Bond.” (Q) After everything is said and done, the entire experience was an awesome adventure. A number of people who had never met one another, worked toward a common goal, to make a complicated problem go away. Which, was accomplished. Team work at it’s finest. John
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