If you haven’t been checking our HH55 Ticket to Ride Facebook page, you might not know that after seeing the container ship holding TTR anchored in the harbor for 7 days, our sailboat was finally unloaded!  The process of unloading a sailboat and setting it up again has been very interesting! Well, I have found it interesting, but it is my home, so that could add to the appeal.

First, I must tell you that the week Ticket to Ride was delivered, L.A. was experiencing more rain than usual. In fact they received almost as much rain that week as they usually receive in a whole year!!!

This was not perfect weather, but we were so happy that TTR was arriving, it didn’t bother us a bit during the off loading process.

Chris Bailet, Gino Morrelli, Frank, Mary Grace, Mark Womble, Scott Gray

Chris Bailet, HH commissioning skipper, Gino Morrelli and Mark Womble of M&M and Scott Gray of Rigging Projects and Frank and I arrived at the port bright and early wearing our foul weather gear. We were escorted to the container ship immediately.  TTR was in the hold of the APL Sentosa which was in the process of being unloaded by cranes.

(Video of a crane unloading a container.)

I was amazed at how huge and fast and organized the process of offloading the containers actually occurs. But when you consider that the APL Sentosa can carry 13,892 containers, they better load and unload quickly.

Midway up the stacked containers – the photo doesn’t really capture it.

We climbed ladders and gangways in the Sentosa until we were about midway up the height of the stacked containers where the ships’ bosun met us and unlocked the doors where TTR was secured.

 TTR was snuggly wrapped and strapped down inside a locker all to herself.

Our first step was to unwrap the lower half of the shrink wrap protecting Ticket to Ride so the U.S. Customs officers could board and inspect her. We were not allowed to board TTR until Customs gave us the all clear.

Seeing “Ticket to Ride” written on the stern for the first time.

Once TTR was inspected, the crane operator removed the three sections of roof covering Ticket to Ride.  Chris Bailet, commissioning captain for HH Catamarans, had wisely directed us to leave the top of the shrink wrap on the boat until the container tops were lifted.  The noise of that process was deafening and dirt and rust rained down on the boat. I was super happy Chris had told us to wait to unwrap the boat!

After the roof was gone, we unwrapped the remainder of the protective plastic and unstrapped TTR from the Sentosa.  The crane hooked into the HH shipping cradle and began rising to tighten the straps while Chris verified that TTR was properly balanced before actually lifting her out of the ship.

Shrink wrap off and ready to lift.

Chris had just signaled the ‘go ahead’ to lift TTR when suddenly the electricity to the whole port of L.A. went out!

How could that even happen?

Mort, the foreman from the port, told me that almost anytime it rains they experiences ‘brown outs.’    Seriously?!

We were surprised and disappointed the electricity had gone out but we were really, really glad the outage happened before TTR was lifted!!!  Can you imagine the stress of having your boat suspended 100 feet above ground and having the electricity go out?!

About 30 minutes later the electricity was restored, the crane was recalibrated and the lifting process began again. While we waited for the electricity to be restored, the wind and rain settled down which made hoisting Ticket to Ride a good bit safer.

TTR was gently lifted out of the confines of the ship and hoisted over the side of the Sentosa above the concrete loading area of the port.

(Video of TTR being moved sideways above the port loading road.)

The crane move sideways, parallel to the Sentosa until it was aft of the container ship and across from an area of the dock open to the water.

Gino Morrelli, Mary Grace and Frank.

Since TTR was still strapped to the shipping cradle, she had to be lowed to the peer and unstrapped so she could float free when the platform was in the water. Chris removed straps and once more verified the balance of the boat on the cradle while Frank and I took pictures and celebrated that TTR was finally here in the States and almost in the water.

Finally entering the water!

We watched as Ticket to Ride was lifted one last time and moved toward the water, then we scrambled over to the Towboat USA boat which ferried us the few meters over to TTR while she was still slightly suspended in the water on the cradle.

Chris made short work of starting the engines and making sure all was well aboard before asking the crane operator to release TTR to the water.

Chris piloting TTR away from the port of L.A.

Amazingly, after TTR’s 7,035 mile trip on the Sentosa, she was in perfect condition and the engines started up without a hitch.

The rain had included a good bit of wind and kicked up the sea state, even behind the breakwater it was quite rough as we motored to the Alamitos Bay Marina.  But HH did an excellent job of securing the mast and boom and they didn’t budge a bit even with the steep waves.

Waves breaking over the breakwater.

If you look beyond the TowBoat, you can see the spray of the waves pounding against the breakwater.  The swells were pretty big where there were breaks in the sea walls but even with the slippery shipping rudders, Chris handled TTR without any difficulty.

Needless to say all of us exhaled a sigh of relief after Ticket to Ride was off the ship, back in the water and safely at the dock.

Next up would be swapping out the shipping rudders for our spade rudders, stepping the mast and tuning the rigging. BUT California had another surprise in store for us…. the shipyard won’t operate the cranes in the rain so we actually had to wait four days before we could begin that process.  Which I will share in the next blog.

After waiting what felt like a very long time for the delivery of TTR, Frank and I are excited to feel like this dream is really coming to fruition. We couldn’t wait to move on board, so we spent that very first night on Ticket to Ride and have been here every night since.

We are thrilled to be back on a floating home and hear the sounds of water at night as we drift off to sleep.

Once more we must express our sincere gratitude to the many people who have and are helping us with TTR.  Hats off to HH Catamarans for building our very special home with excellent quality and high standards. AND for understanding the need for and providing the help of the commissioning team.  A huge thank  you to Morrelli and Melvin for designing such a great catamaran and incorporating the modifications we wanted so TTR would suit our needs very well. Innumerable thanks to Chris Ballet and Lauren Battaile as they spearhead the commissioning and  teach us to make this cat purr – or roar!   

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