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Dragon's Toy was ordered on the 25th of May 1995 though the Bay Area Island Packet dealer Passage Yachts. It takes a pretty good leap of faith, even for an over trusting soul like me, to write a check for $17,000.00 and mail it off to a person (a salesman no less) that you had only met once and talked to a few times on the phone. Especially when you are living 8000 miles away (Hong Kong). But in the end all worked out well and sometime in June of '95 the keel was laid (glassed? formed? molded?) for hull number 32. By August, the boat was completed to Island Packets usual high standards of fit and finish. This point the refrigeration, electronics and dodger were installed. Meanwhile, Ben Oldham at Passage Yachts was frantically trying to find a shipping line that would transfer the boat to Hong Kong at a reasonable price. He had estimates ranging from $7000 to $60,000. In the end we chose NOSAC who expertly brought the boat over on the Tanabata, a roll-on-roll-off freighter. The first mate was a very tall Swede that loved sailboats and took a personal interest in making sure this one arrived intact. Unfortunately the stevedores didn't have the same level of concern for the boat and it arrived with a crushed pulpit and a nasty scratch in the starboard side. Both were easily repaired though. Getting Dragon's Toy from the roll-off trailer into the water was a real heart stopper. The only cranes on the dock were the container cranes. The dock did have slings, but it was obvious that the dockhands did not lift boats very often as it took three tries before the boat could be lifted out of the cradle without the slings slipping off. When it did finally go up, the crane operator insisted on taking the boat up 50 feet in the air before moving it out over the water. Enough to cause palpitations in a nervous new owners heart. Gradually the boat settled nicely in the water and my heart slowed down a bit. From there it was off to the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club for fitting out. Once in the water, I lived aboard the boat in the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter for 6 months. The boat was cleaned daily by a lovely lady named Dai Moi (little big sister). She would come on every day, air the boat out, dust, wash the toilet, fill the water tanks, and wash down the decks. All for about US$180 per month. She even scolded me one time for leaving out my $25 fake Rolex. She was afraid one of the service people might walk off with it. In April of '96 Dragon's Toy and I relocated to Singapore. There she sat badly neglected in the Johor Straight for 9 months before being put up on the hard for another 18 months while I returned to the U.S. In August of '98 she was cleaned up and placed back in the water. In September, we finally continued our voyage together, still heading south. |
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