Sunday 10 November was set aside for finally loading Ciao Bella onto the trailer. This was an exceptionally exciting time because it meant that all of our yard-work was over.
The abnormal load permits arrived on Monday the 11th, and at 5am on Tuesday the convoy left Carletonville - one MAN truck driven by Robtek's trusted Danny-boy, followed by a step-deck trailer carrying the precious cargo, and Toyota Fortuner escort vehicle driven by yours truly.
At 60km/h this was going to be a long journey, which got made slightly longer when we were made to stop in Harrismith because we didn't have the right sticker on the back of our trailer (can you say J22 nationals?). After hunting around for a short while, we found the correct stickers and got on our way again.
We were set for a 5pm arrival in Durban until we got flagged over to a weigh-bridge on Estcourt. Unfortunately we were dealt the Simon Cowell of traffic officers, who told us that some information on our permits had been filled in the wrong block. He then took the liberty of calling the KZN traffic dept and had them cancel our permits, and instructed them not to issue a new permit to us before 12.30 the next day. So we parked the truck at the weigh-bridge for the night, and I went to spend the night in Maritzburg, ready to pick up the new permits the following day.
As the clock struck 12.30 the permits were issued, and we continued our journey.
We made it to Durban before nightfall, but a whole day behind schedule.
Thursday we offloaded the boat at Durban Marina Yacht Lift, and fitted the keel and the rudder. Ricky and Lauren (Rick's girlfriend) we're there to help out from here.
Friday we had the SAMSA hull inspection, erected the mast and launched the boat (woohoo!).
Saturday we did the rigging and the remainder of the deck fitting. The had to jet back to Jozitown for the Wits Yacht Club dinner.
All of this stuff sounds pretty quick and easy, but we were grafting 14/15 hour days to get everything right. From sweltering Durban heat to pouring rain, the work didn't stop. In the words of every South African rugby captain: "you know, all credit to the boys", Danny and Ernesto from Robtek helped us get there and offloaded safely, but our boys Simon and Johannes have played out of their boots in getting this boat on the water and working.
That's a big chunk of job done.
We left the rest of the family in Durbs to continue the graft. keep tuned in for more updates!
Brennan
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