Shipping yachts across the Atlantic 17/06/21

Yesterday I sailed with a friend on his 46-foot catamaran around to the capital St John’s. His boat is being put on a ship and transported to Majorca. The photos below give some idea of what’s involved…

It’s a niche industry – there are several cargo ships supplying this trade. Not cheap: one-way cost for a 46-foot catamaran is over US$30 thousand. An 80-foot catamaran was being loaded: we reckoned this must easily be $80-100 thousand. I guess a 40-foot monohull like Manuka would be  around $15,000. 

The business of loading is complicated. The 80-footer delayed things horribly yesterday, and then today strong winds led to further delay in loading. A loading master is flown in specially from Europe simply to supervise loading.

It was interesting sailing on a catamaran – my first time. Very well-equipped: electric winches, everything operated from within the cockpit, with mirror controls and wheel on each side of the boat. Strange steering something so wide: it felt like driving a truck compared to sailing a monohull! Plus it has 2 engines, which can be played against one another to enhance manoeuvrability.