moonlight 1931

We are putting the project on HOLD today.

The situation was getting to hot on schedules. We were about to take too many risks that could turn out to become extremely expensive in the near future.

We considered this could happen since a few weeks. That is why a few new directions are already open to the future.

Monday 2nd June we will contact all remaining parties involved, to point out the new direction for the project….

We want to thank everybody who is till on our side in this :

• MR. HERMAN PUNDT & STEPHANIE SHMIDT FROM ALLIED RICHARD BERTRAM MARINE GROUP.
• MR. JEFF FULCHER FROM JARRETT BAY BOATWORKS INC. BEAUFORT N.C.
• MR. JAN MAARTEN BOISSEVAIN FROM SEVENSTARS BOATTRANSPORTS HOLLAND.
• THE FURAT BROTHERS & MR. ORHAN FROM ZEPHYRIA YACHTING BODRUM TURKEY.

And all hidden fellow supporters & advisors who have remained behind closed curtains till now.

To have remained with us in this till now…We will go on with them as from Monday…..Their efforts will not remain unrewarded.

ARE THE SUNNY SKIES COMING IN JUNE….???

Today MMC made her first move.

JARRETT BAY BOATWORKS took her out of the yard of Moores Marine Inc.

We are now in the hands of MR. JEFF FULCHER : www.jarrettbay.com

This project can go anywhere form now on. Today the boat should already have been listed on www.yachtworld.com again since we are preparing to…perhaps.., abort the project and put MMC for sale again. As we said before…When a hobby starts to turn into a nightmare it is time to take hard decisions…

When you fight you can loose……When you do not fight you have already lost…

So we are looking forward to new solutions and support from JEFF to get the boat in time to the point of departure to Turkey.

We must reach the port of SAVANNAH GIORGIA before the 15TH OF June…..we hope to get a better picture of all new plans tomorrow.

Gentle flames are licking the woods in the fireplace next to my kitchen desk from where I always work when I am at home……I look through the big window to the forest and the farmlands. The patio door is open and the smells & sounds of nature finally give me back the peace in my life that I so much desire.

JACK was, as always, the first to welcome me back home…..I felt, he had been waiting for my return since a while…..

Unexpected visit, of my wife who got home….in a rush just to find out how I was….welcome back kissing & hugs and of she went back to her kitchen.

No mails since the very busy day of yesterday. AMERICA is preparing for a long weekend…

I thank the ZEPHYRIA team for giving me the drive I was loosing because of all the U.S.A. problems…..I have found people who love the project.

FINALY GETTING THE RIGHT SUPPORT IN THE U.S.A…..?

It seems that the real CLASS of the people involved in the U.S.A. is taking a significant distance from the… (fill in what you want).

We are finally getting the real support for this project to get MMC on her way to TURKEY…

Thanks to all my U.S.A. supporters…..you will not regret this.

The only one, who really knows what I am doing, is my friend BILL.

Remember him as my very-best boat-adviser who forgot to send me off from PHUKET without his very best LAST ADVISE.

Maybe I did not want to listen to him, when he told me “Why don’t you just do it… so you will find out“.

Today was the first meeting with the owners of ZEPHYRIA YACHTING. English was the language of all, so we went over a scheduled number of points to start the planning of this side of the project.

MR. Mehmet Ali FURAT was the only member of the meeting who had actually ever seen the boat in the U.S.A. He had inspected the boat in BEAUFORT N.C. for about 4 full hours and had the best idea of what will have to be done…

Details of all the works etc….would only make you readers more nervous than ourselves…
Conclusion of the meeting was : THE PROJECT CAN BE DONE with lots of care and lots efforts from all of us.
We were invited by MR. Halil FURAT on their beautiful gullet CASSANDRA, one of the 4 ships properly built and owned by the company…

Captain Cemal TEKE, Chef MALIBU & Deckhand MESUT were waiting for us and served us a delicious lunch of fresh local produce… One of us could only look to all that delicious food while restricted on a severe diet of boiled potatoes, boiled plain rice & boiled spaghetti all without any sauce or side dish…

After lunch we went to the shipyard of ZEPYRIA YACHTING where it all will happen and where Margie Mc. Coy will be transformed into MOONLIGHT 1931.

This shipyard even has a space already waiting for the boat to arrive and start the works. What a difference to the situation we are facing in the U.S.A.
This is HOSPITALITY & COSTUMER SERVICE….!!!

According our last information we expect the boat to arrive the MARMARIS PORT OF IMPORT only by mid of July. Will we ever get her away from the U.S.A.?

We arrived at BODRUM TURKEY……And had a short talk with MR. ORHAN…The young nephew of the owner of ZEPHYRIA YACHTING…

This story is doing a good job……All parties involved (or almost all) seem to follow and have told me a lot of things that are clearly showing that we are facing some kind of obstruction in this whole project.

Good news from SEVENSTARS. They let us know that they will not load the mother ship to Europe before 07 June….That gives us 16 days from today…..Only a miracle can help us to get on board of this transport to Europe.

We wait for some news from Moores Marine and more pictures from the works under way. They seem to be so quiet again. Why do they get me so nervous and suspicious?

Hard decisions have to be made in conflict situations. We feel we are reaching the moment that a hobby could turn into a nightmare. We will not at all accept this..!!

Boats sail in and out of the wonderful port of BODRUM. Too bad I did not bring my binocs….I can admire them all form the MARMARA HOTEL on top of the hill overlooking the old city and the marinas around the centuries old castle…..My god…do I envy all those people…. But in the deep of my heart I know I will also be among them sooner or later, strolling in late afternoon with the last gold of the sunset.

We just had a call with Moores Marine Inc…. Late at night from Thailand to find out if Yanmar will quote today or not.

JUDI CURRIER is on the project and the works are in progress. We advised her to contact CATERPILLAR immediately for a proposal of a pair of C12-es if Yanmar does not proceed in time with their offer…..

This boat-world is so strange that even a speed-up of things is threatening the way everybody wants to have the time to find out that bottom of the pocket first before making a quote……

WELL here is the moment to the first who comes up with a descent proposal & a fair quotation for these new engines we need after all.

23.30 H in Thailand. We received the pictures of today’s & yesterday’s works. And indeed more works need to be done to the hull so that Margie Mc. Coy would not sink on her way out to the point of departure to Turkey.

This starts to be a mystery. We did not hear anything from our DUTCH supplier SEVENSTARS since they know we will miss the 30 may departure at FORT LAUDERDALE. Our transport contract with them is fully paid but no sign of life…..?? We did advise them late last week after they confirmed their final departure schedule.

Moonlight 1931 is the first concern… but… will we ever see her?

The first meeting with captain Bill put us back with our feet on the ground or maybe a little bit under the ground. We are convinced that we need to give Moonlight 1931 a new life as a fast performing commuter boat. She is a planing hull and the more power we giver her the better she could perform. But here come the first real problems.

Will her schafts and propellers be compatible to her new engines? No! We will need a boat architect/engineer to calculate all this and replace them by new.

Tomorrow we visit Yacht Heaven Marina here in Phuket-Thailand, to take al look at some of the latest restoration projects under Bill’s supervision. One can never learn better than from the latest projects and I am proud to be walked around and advised by the manager of the best and biggest private boat operation in Asia - Amancruises by Amanresorts - thank you, Bill. The best idea of Bill always comes last. “Why don’t you hire Nanar as your project manager in Turkey”. Nanar is a good old friend. Fully vacinated french boat captain & engineer. I hope I can introduce him once he joins this project.

I am not finished here in Phuket because I will go around with Bill tomorrow and - remember - before I leave Phuket-Thailand to Bodrum-Turkey, I will get his last advise. Will that be again the very best one?
Soon I will come up with an unexpected companion for Moonlight 1931 if Moonlight 1931 will show up on the waters of Bodrum. She might not show up alone, just by herself. Some of you readers may have an idea what we have in mind ?