Looks like it's getting cold in Sweden

Just got a note from the Broker indicating that it's very cold in Sweden (yes that is snow) and the boat needs to come out of the water soon. I wonder what they do to protect them over there? My friend, Ed, sent me a picture of a plastic wrapping technique that they use on Rhode Island over the winter. I assume it will be something similar...

A bad day financially

Further to "Obsessed with Forex": The Swedish Krona has strengthened against the British Pound (or maybe the Pound has weakened againse the Krona).

1 British pound = 11.5695856 Swedish kronor

I think it was 12.5 when we had the offer accepted. Basically this means that the boat now currently costs £4K more than we were going to pay for it and £6K more than we could have paid for it if we'd closed at the right time. Really is an emotional rollercoaster.

Feeling a bit bad

After complaining that the surveyor had not called. I got a call from him saying that he had been ill and he was returning to work today. The boat looks good apart from rigging, saildrive diagphram and propeller, though I keenly await the official document.

Further to my comments about the demise of Sweden Yachts mentioned last month: He also mentioned that he thought that Sweden Yachts would live to see another day. It turns out they negotiated to pay a percentage of what they owed to the creditors to allow them continue trading rather than they were liquidating and the creditors would only get 25%. So here's hoping.

Discovery 55 Discovery

I was really surprised to find out something today about the astonishingly beautiful Discovery 55: They were nearly a Westerly. This month's Practical Boat Owner (No. 504 December 2008) states: "The last era of the Westerly saga started in 1995 when the final set of new owners took over and asked Ed Dubois for yet another 33 footer and went to Ron Holland to design new Ocean 43 and 55 models. In conjunction with the Dutch yard Trintella, a plan was hatched to lift the westerly marque further upmarket and further away from its traditional roots and core clientele. A mere 10 of the fine Ocean 43 were build and Westerly died before its first 55 appeared. However the 55's moulds survived and are put to excellent use by John Charnley who has since sold 27 discovery 55s from them". I'm not sure if that makes them a bit less aspirational for me - anyway I think the HR62 is still the ultimate blue water cruiser.

We first heard of these boats when Becks & I were sailing with an Australian boat in Thailand. We were doing the King's Cup Regatta. We got protested by someone who in our opinion who was taking Ocean Rover class a little too seriously we ended up meeting the skipper of another boat who had also been protested by the afore mentioned wanker. Nick Pochoin & his Discovery 55, Festina Lente had been protested for something like "attempting to propel the boat by means other than sail". There was almost no wind and for a joke they'd got one of their crew to take a line from the bow to her teeth and attempt to tow the boat. Anyhow - We got talking to him at the ceremony and he was doing the Blue Water Rally as a kind of midlife crisis after his wife died. Seemed like a really nice guy - apparently he's written a book.

Frustrated

I remember when I was sailing on a boat in 2005 the owner of the boat would continually grumble about people in the boating industry, citing them all as being incredibly unreliable. I didn't really think much about it at the time.... Anyway I'm someone that sits in front of a computer during my working day, as are most of the people that I work with, which means you usually get an answer in hours or minutes. During the negotiations with the broker and particularly with our surveyor I find that emails are checked every few days. This is making progress very frustrating. For example - I know from the broker that the surveyor visited the boat last Friday... No phone call, email or any communication from him. /Sigh

Obsessed with Forex

Since we've agreed to buy this boat, I've become more addicted to checking the exhange rates between the UK and Sweden than a 16 year old to Facebook. With these turbulent times and the UK's finances going down the toilet, the price that we've agreed to pay is fluctuating wildly (we're talking about hundreds of pounds a day). I'm like a horribly addicted gambler feeling pleased at making £250 only to hit rock bottom when the pound tumbles 3 hours later. This must be what bankers feel like all the time right now.

So lesson learned: If you're buying a boat overseas (particularly during turbulent economic times) - Plan for the boat costing 10% more than you expect before considering all the other stuff like surveys, registration, tax, etc etc.